Drug Delivery : An Integrated Clinical and Engineering Approach

Integrating the clinical and engineering aspects of drug delivery, this book offers a much needed comprehensive overview and patient-oriented approach for enhanced drug delivery optimization and advancement. Starting with an introduction to the subject and pharmacokinetics, it explores advances for such topics as oral, gastroretentive, intravitreal, and intrathecal drug delivery, as well as insulin delivery, gene delivery, and biomaterials-based delivery systems. It also describes drug delivery in cancer, cardiac, infectious diseases, airway diseases, and obstetrics and gynecology applications. Examining special clinical states requiring innovative drug delivery modifications, such as hypercoagulability often seen in pregnancy, cancer, and autoimmune diseases, the book also discusses methods for improved drug delivery in clinical settings using clinical end points, clinical trials, simulations, and other venues. It also describes the latest drug delivery advances involving nanomaterials, NEMS and MEMS devices, hydrogels, microencapsulation, lipids, stem cells, patches, and ultrasound. The book is rounded out by a chapter on the FDA regulatory and bioethical challenges involved in advancing drug delivery.

Dr. Yitzhak Rosen, MD, is a graduate of the Tel Aviv University of Medicine. He is currently working in the Cardiology Department at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He was previously a visiting research scientist at the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the president and CEO of Superior NanoBioSystems LLC, a biomedical company. He has served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a medical officer and physician in militarily active areas. He completed a medical internship at the Rabin Medical Center and has worked at the Oncology Institutes of both the Rabin and the Sheba Medical Centers in Israel. He has invented a microfluidic chip platform, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), for effecting extremely rapid blood typing and cross-matching for mass casualties in collaboration with the MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange. In addition, he is the inventor of several medical ultrasound technologies.

Dr. Pablo Gurman received his MD from Buenos Aires University School of Medicine in 2002, where he worked at the Pharmacology Department for 10 years. Dr. Gurman is currently the Chief Medical Officer of GearJump Technologies, a biotechnology company dedicated to develop innovative solutions to public health problems. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Gurman was a research scientist at the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Texas-Dallas, as well as research collaborator at Dr. Elman’s group at the Institute for Soldiers Nanotechnologies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Gurman was a visiting scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, where he worked under the artificial retina program. Dr. Gurman’s primary research interests involves micro and nanotechnology for medical diagnostics and therapeutics, controlled release technologies and biomaterials.

Dr. Noel Elman is the CEO and Founder of GearJump Technologies, LLC, a company dedicated to development of biotechnological solutions for public health applications. GearJump has received support from DoD, US Army, US Navy, USDA, as well as Global Grand Challenges via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Elman is also an adjunct professor in Technology and Innovation at Buenos Aires Institute of Technology. Dr. Elman worked at Draper Labs, an MIT-affiliated DoD-supported R&D, where he was appointed as Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff. Prior to that appointment, he was a research scientist and principal investigator at the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT, leading a translational research group focused on developing technologies for biotech, biomed and public health applications. In addition, Dr. Elman was appointed an Innovation Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Elman’s research focus is on rapid translation from idea conceptualization to experimental realization. Dr. Elman received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering applied to microsystems from Cornell University, PhD in Physical Electronics applied to lab-on-chip microsystems from the Electrical Engineering Department at Tel-Aviv University and performed postdoctoral studies at MIT, investigating several micro- and nanodevices for therapeutics and diagnostics.