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Distinguished iNANO lecture by Paolo Decuzzi, Italian Institute of Technology and Stanford University

Microstructured Drug Delivery Platforms for Complex Combination Therapies in Cancer and Chronic Inflammatory Disorders

Info about event

Time

Friday 6 December 2024,  at 10:15 - 11:00

Location

iNANO AUD (1593-012)

Organizer

Associate Professor Ken Howard (kenh@inano.au.dk)

Paolo Decuzzi, Senior Researcher Tenured - Principal Investigator, Italian Institute of Technology and Stanford University


Microstructured Drug Delivery Platforms for Complex Combination Therapies in Cancer and Chronic Inflammatory Disorders

Despite significant advancements in early diagnosis, targeted therapies, robot-assisted and image-guided surgery, and the advent of immunotherapies, high-grade gliomas, chronic inflammatory joint diseases, and other medical disorders remain incurable. Drug delivery systems and nanomedicine could play a crucial role in addressing these challenging medical conditions.

This lecture demonstrates the fundamental importance of such a multidisciplinary approach by reviewing a few examples of nanomedicines and multiscale drug delivery systems developed over the past 10 years. Examples include: microMESH, a regular network of microscopic polymeric filaments designed for treating glioblastoma and other tumors through complex immunochemotherapies; microPLates, shape-defined polymeric particles engineered for the pharmaco-mechanical and anti-inflammatory treatment of osteoarthritis; micro-Combinatorial hydroGel Particles, spongy discoidal carriers designed for the precise delivery of potent chemotherapeutic agents, targeting cancer metastasis within the pulmonary microvasculature.

Through these examples, basic concepts in nanomedicine and drug delivery will be introduced and the potential of hierarchical-organized platforms, enabling the precise deployment of complex therapeutic regimens, will be demonstrated to address biophysical barriers and biological heterogeneity in cancer, chronic inflammatory diseases and other medical disorders.

References
Di Mascolo D, Guerriero I, Pesce C, Spanò R, Palange AL, Decuzzi P. μMESH-Enabled Sustained Delivery of Molecular and Nanoformulated Drugs for Glioblastoma Treatment. ACS Nano. 2023 Aug 8;17(15):14572-14585.
Palange AL, Mascolo DD, Ferreira M, Gawne PJ, Spanò R, Felici A, Bono L, Moore TL, Salerno M, Armirotti A, Decuzzi P. Boosting the Potential of Chemotherapy in Advanced Breast Cancer Lung Metastasis via Micro-Combinatorial Hydrogel Particles. 2023 Apr;10(10):e2205223
Gawne PJ, Ferreira M, Papaluca M, Grimm J, Decuzzi P. New Opportunities and Old Challenges in the Clinical translation of Nanotheranostics. Nat Rev Mater. 2023 Dec;8(12):783-798
Bedingfield SK, Colazo JM, Di Francesco M, Yu F, Liu DD, Di Francesco V, Himmel LE, Gupta MK, Cho H, Hasty KA, Decuzzi P, Duvall CL. Top-Down Fabricated microPlates for Prolonged, Intra-articular Matrix Metalloproteinase 13 siRNA Nanocarrier Delivery to Reduce Post-traumatic Osteoarthritis. ACS Nano. 2021 Sep 28;15(9):14475-14491
Di Mascolo D, Palange AL, Primavera R, Macchi F, Catelani T, Piccardi F, Spanò R, Ferreira M, Marotta R, Armirotti A, Gallotti AL, Galli R, Wilson C, Grant GA, Decuzzi P. Conformable hierarchically engineered polymeric micromeshes enabling combinatorial therapies in brain tumours. Nat Nanotechnol. 2021 Jul;16(7):820-829.