On observations which might open new avenues for drug delivery

Topic: On observations which might open new avenues for drug delivery  

Speaker: Stefaan De Smedt (Ghent University, Belgium)

Time: 14:30-15:30, Nov 27, 2023

Location: 2108 conference room

Biosketch 

Professor De Smedt graduated from Ghent University (Belgium) in 1995 and joined the pharmaceutical development group of Janssen Research Foundation. In 1999 he became Professor in Physical Pharmacy and Biopharmacy at Ghent University where he initiated research on advanced delivery of biologics/nanomedicines and founded the Ghent Research Group on Nanomedicines. The research focus in his lab is on the delivery of bio-therapeutics, nucleic acids and proteins, for future therapies of lung and ocular diseases and cancer (through mRNA vaccination and cell therapies).

Professor De Smedt served as dean of his faculty between 2010 and 2014. From 2014 till 2022 he has been a member of the Board of Directors of respectively Ghent University and the Academic Hospital of UGent. He has been a Guest Professor at various universities in Belgium and China. Since 2004 he serves as the European Editor of the Journal of Controlled Release, since 2023 he leads the JCR as Editor-in-Chief. He is a Distinguished Visiting Scientist of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has been elected as member of the Flemish Royal Academy of Medicine, the European Academy of Sciences and the Académie Nationale de Pharmacie de France.

Abstract of Lecture

Delivery of - especially biological - drugs into the various compartments of the eye remains an enormous challenge. In this talk Prof. De Smedt will highlight recent work of their group in which they evaluate the potential of pulsed laser light to cross biological barriers in the eye. In the first part of his lecture, Prof. De Smedt will explain recent data they obtained on the delivery of nucleic acids in the front of the eye, more precisely in the epithelium and endothelium of the cornea. In the second part Prof. De Smedt will explain how pulsed laser light and optimized photosensitizers, like ocular dyes packaged in nanoparticles, allows to safely destroy pathological collagen aggregates which appear upon aging in the vitreous of the eye and which heavily disturb vision. Finally, Prof. De Smedt will introduce photoporation of the inner limiting membrane and how this might be of interest to improve transport of nucleic acids into the retina.