Dr Peter Griffiths Project Titles
1. Mucus Permeating Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems
This project aims to develop novel nano-delivery systems to overcome mucus gel barriers (e.g., intestinal, nasal, ocular, vaginal, buccal, pulmonary) without destroying them. Novel strategies will be explored that promote for example, enhance the diffusion of the nano-delivery system into the mucus without disrupting the mucus disulfide bonds, nanoparticles that undergo structural rearrangement once they have permeated the mucus gel barrier as well as self-nanoemulsifying-drug-delivery-systems (SNEDDS) that spontaneously form microemulsions upon contact with the aqueous media of the intestinal fluid.
To this end, small-angle neutron scattering and a range of spin-resonance spectroscopies will be used to quantify the structure and dynamics of mucin/nanoparticle systems, and to optimise the formulation of such drug delivery systems.