Nanosystems for targeted drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier

Are you a graduate interested in in the promising and ever-growing interface between the medical sciences (drug delivery) and chemistry of nanotechnology? An exciting opportunity has arisen to undertake a Medical Research Council (MRC) funded Industrial Case Training Doctoral Grant in collaboration with the University of Brighton, Pharmidex Ltd and the MRC.

The brain and central nervous system (CNS) tissues are particularly difficult to target for ailments such as malignant brain tumours and neoplasia (also metastatic cancers) but also epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, trypanosomiasis, Alzheimer’s Disease, etc. This is due to the physiology of the neuronal sheath and inter-cellular junctions (tight-junctions; plasmodesmata), which differ from most other tissues in the body. This is often referred to as the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) or haematoencephalic barrier. The BBB is useful in maintaining the integrity of CNS and brain tissue from invasion but unfortunately also serves as a hindrance in terms of targeting disease.

The principle focus of the PhD programme is to construct BBB-specific drug delivery systems (nano-devices) that will circumvent this barrier and permit focussed administration of a range of therapeutic molecules via entrapment in a nanoparticle. We would refer to this as a ‘de novo platform technology’, which can be added to in order to modify its suitability or particular use. A nanoparticle of this type e.g. a simple liposome or a polymeric micelle/capsule usually has dimensions in the range 15-40 nm (nm = 1 x 10-6 m; an atom being around 0.05-0.08 nm). The biocompatible nanoparticle needs to be ‘small’ and ‘actively’ taken-up across the BBB and have an enhanced persistence in vivo to permit less-punishing dosage regimens, without significant non-specific toxic response. We would also be looking to instil the nanoparticle vehicle with other characteristics, such as environment sensitivity. Active uptake of the nanoparticle can be “engineered” into the device by using a range of conjugation chemistries and appropriate chemical labelling of the moiety.

The ideal candidate will be highly motivated and enthusiastic individual with a strong background in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Materials Engineering and/or Applied Nanoscience, whom desires to further their skills in liposomal drug delivery expertise. The candidate will work within a dynamic supervisory team comprising chemistry of nanomaterials (Dr Whitby), nanosystems for drug delivery (Dr Sarker), physical chemistry of biomaterials (Prof Mikhalovsky) and drug delivery across the blood-brain-barrier (Dr Alavijeh) specialists.