ABSTRACT
One of the greatest challenges in drug delivery is transporting drugs to
targeted locations in the body. The biological barriers that block
transport are usually in the form of lipid bilayers, either cell
membranes or the lipids found in skin that prevent drugs from entering
the body. By selectively and reversibly disrupting those biological
barriers, drugs can be delivered into the body across the skin and into
targeted cells through short-lived holes their membranes. These
barriers can be transiently disrupted using ultrasound and microneedles.
We will present studies which address the mechanisms by which ultrasound
can reversibly disrupt cell membranes, which has recently been reported
in the literature. We will also describe micron-scale microneedles
fabricated in our lab and used to painlessly disrupt biological barriers
in the skin. Both mechanisms of barrier disruption and applications to
drug delivery will be presented.


BIO
Mark Prausnitz is Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomedical
Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has a B.S.
(1988) from Stanford University and a Ph.D. (1994) from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Dr. Prausnitz' research interests concern
novel uses of ultrasound, electric fields, and microfabricated devices
to enhance and target drug delivery. Dr. Prausnitz has received the
CAREER Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation,
TR100 Young Innovator from Technology Review, Junior Faculty Research
Award from Sigma Xi, Outstanding Pharmaceutical Paper and Outstanding
Transdermal Drug Delivery Awards from the Controlled Release Society,
and Best Paper Award from the Journal of Clinical Engineering. He has
published almost 50 research articles, holds almost 20 issued or pending
patents, consults for a number of companies, and has served as an expert
witness.