Event
Bioengineering Distinguished Guest Seminar: Mark Prausnitz
Friday, October 2, 2015
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Pepco Room (1105), Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Dr. Christopher Jewell
cmjewell@umd.edu
Mark Prausnitz
Regents' Professor, Love Family Professor in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Translation of microneedles for drug and vaccine delivery into the clinic
Drug and vaccine delivery are often limited by the need for hypodermic needle injection. This method of administration is not only painful and unpleasant, but it also limits the ability of patients to self-administer medicines and does not enable sufficiently precise drug and vaccine targeting to specific locations in the body.
Leveraging technology from the microelectronics industry, we have developed micron-scale needles that can be used for precise microinjection using hollow microneedles and for simple administration using a microneedle patch. Vaccine delivery using a microneedle patch can enable self-vaccination against influenza to protect against seasonal and pandemic disease and simplified mass vaccination against polio and measles in developing countries. Use of hollow microneedles for microinjection of drugs allows precise drug targeting to specific tissues within the skin and the eye to increase drug efficacy and reduce side effects.
This presentation will describe translation of microneedles technology toward and into the clinic. The first part of the talk will address development of microneedle patches, especially for vaccination. The second part of the talk will describe injection into the suprachoroidal space of the eye for improved drug targeting.
About the Speaker
Mark Prausnitz earned his BS from Stanford University and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Prausnitz and his colleagues carry out research on biophysical methods of drug delivery, which employ microneedles, lasers, ultrasound, electric fields, heat, convective forces and other physical means to control the transport of drugs, proteins, genes and vaccines into and within the body. A major area of focus involves the use of microneedle patches to apply vaccines to the skin in a painless, minimally invasive manner. In collaboration with Emory University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations, Dr. Prausnitz’s group is advancing microneedles from device design and fabrication through pharmaceutical formulation and pre-clinical animal studies through studies in human subjects. In addition to developing a self-administered influenza vaccine using microneedles, Dr. Prausnitz is translating microneedles technology especially to make vaccination in developing countries more effective.
