The students will integrate and complete their knowledge on polymers of pharmaceutical interest, functional excipients and actual drug delivery approaches related to the current applications of nanomedicine and personalized therapeutics. The roles of polymers in drug pharmacokinetic improvements and drug stabilization, as well as their inherent/adjutant bioactivity and their use in recently available processing technologies (eg.  nanoparticle technology, printing and electrospinning). The course will focus on the critical aspects correlating the chemical-physical features with biopharmaceutical aspects, regarding either therapeutics and diagnostics. In details, the following topics will be introduced and discussed with the class:

Classification, synthesis and characterization of polymers

Regulatory aspects of new polymeric excipients

Biostable, biodegradable, natural derived and stimuli-responsive polymers

Scaffolds for pharmaceutical and regenerative medicine applications

Surface and bulk interactions with the physiological environment

Hydrogels: control of drug dose in hydrogels, release mechanisms and in-situ gelling mechanisms

Examples of 3D micro-nanostructured devices and microscopic characterization

Personalized pharmaceutical dosage form, targeted drug delivery and triggered delivery of drugs.

Nano-structured drug delivery carriers: formulation, preparation and characterization.

Focus on the physiological barriers and the biopharmaceutical approaches to overcome them.

Polymer and lipid based nanocarriers: relations with macromolecular biological drugs therapies and administration routes.

New frontiers and opportunities: the camouflage

Examples of pre-clinical and clinical studies.

During the oral examination, the actual knowledge of the subject is ascertained. The students will demonstrate the acquisition of the main aspects by focusing on a topic of interest and discussing the relevant questions proposed by the teacher.

Student will learn technological and biopharmaceutical skills to provide critical view points and propose ad hoc formulations for novel pharmaceutical dosage forms.

During the oral examination, the skills on advanced pharmaceutical technology approaches are ascertained. The students will be asked to propose a recent nanomedicine research study, highlight its limitation and discuss on alternative approaches or improvements.

The student will be stimulated and asked to participate in workgroups for focusing on specific questions and discuss possible technological approaches.  

Easy relations within working groups and shared constructive outcomes will be appreciated