Other nanomedicine and drug delivery related topics

We have studied the direct functionalization of drugs to protective polymers. In collaboration with the research group of Prof. Prabal Maiti of the IISC Bangalore we have modeled the interactions between dendrimers designed as delivery agents in gene therapy and short strands of double stranded DNA (ds-DNA). We have also developed and characterized polymer and nanostructured lipid based drug nanocarriers in order to improve the bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs. We have been pioneering the development of printable drug delivery systems for personalized medicine and are currently studying the utilization of gold nanoparticles as potential drug targeting and delivery systems. Our publications in this area of research are linked below.

Publications in this area:

Mohamed A. Akl, Alma Kartal-Hodzic, Teemu Suutari, Timo Oksanen, Isabella Monia Montagner, Antonio Rosato, Hatem R. Ismael, Mohsen I. Afouna, Paolo Caliceti, Marjo Yliperttula, Ahmed M. Samy, Francesca Mastrotto, Stefano Salmaso and Tapani Viitala: Real-time label-free targeting assessment and in vitro characterization of curcumin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles for oral colon targeting. ACS Omega 4, pp. 16878-16890 (2019)

Elena Ambrosio, Adrian Podmore, Ana L. Gomes dos Santos, Aniket Magarkar, Alex Bunker, Paolo Caliceti, Francesca Mastrotto, Christopher F. van der Walle and Stefano Salmaso: Control of peptide aggregation and fibrillation by physical PEGylation. Biomacromolecules 19 (10) pp. 3958 – 3969 (2018).

Markus Selin, Sami Nummelin, Jill Deleu, Jarmo Ropponen, Tapani Viitala, Manu Lahtinen, Jari Koivisto, Jouni Hirvonen, Leena Peltonen, Mauri Kostiainen and Luis Bimbo: High-generation amphiphilic Janus-dendrimers as stabilizing agents for drug suspensions. Biomacromolecules 19, pp. 3983–3993 (2018).

L. Preem, M. Mahmoudzadeh, M. Putrins, A. Meos, I. Laidmäe, T. Romann, J. Aruväli, R. Härmäs, A. Koivuniemi, A. Bunker, T. Tenson and K. Kogermann: Interactions between Chloramphenicol, Carrier Polymers, and Bacteria-Implications for Designing Electrospun Drug Delivery Systems Countering Wound Infection. Mol. Pharm. 14(12) pp. 4417-4430 (2017).

Mohamed Akl, Alma Kartal-Hodzic, Timo Oksanen, Hatem R. Ismael, Mohsen M. Afouna, Marjo Yliperttula, Ahmed M. Samy, Tapani Viitala: Factorial design formulation optimization and in vitro characterization of curcumin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles for colon delivery. J. Drug. Deliv. Sci. Technol. 32, pp. 10-20 (2016).

Mohammed Elmowafy, Ahmed Samy, Mohamed A. Raslan, Ayman Salama, Ragab A. Said, Abdelaziz E. Abdelaziz, Wafaa El-Eraky, Sally El Awdan, and Tapani Viitala: Enhancement of Bioavailability and Pharmacodynamic Effects of Thymoquinone Via Nanostructured Lipid Carrier (NLC) Formulation. AAPS PharmSciTech 17, pp. 663-672 (2016).

Sami Rissanen, Marta Kumorek, Hector Martinez-Siera, Yen-Chin Li, Dorota Jamróz, Alex Bunker, Maria Nowakowska, Ilpo Vattulainen, Mariusz Kepczynski and Tomasz Róg: Effect of PEGylation on drug entry into lipid bilayer. J. Phys. Chem. B 118(1), pp. 144-151 (2014).

Bidisha Nandy, Prabal Maiti and Alex Bunker: Force biased molecular dynamics simulation study of effect of dendrimer generation on interaction with DNA. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 9(1), pp. 722−729 (2013).

Ruzica Kolakovic, Tapani Viitala, Petri Ihalainen, Jouko Peltonen and Niklas Sandler: Printing technologies in fabrication of drug delivery systems. Expert Opin. Drug Deliv. 10, pp. 1711-1723 (2013).

Yen-Chin Li, Sami Rissanen, Michał Stepniewski, Oana Cramariuc, Tomasz Róg, Sabir Mizra, Henri Xhaard, Magdelena Wytrwal, Mariusz Kepczynski and Alex Bunker: Study of interaction between PEG carrier and 3 relevant drug molecules: piroxicam, paclitaxel, and hematoporphyrin. J. Phys. Chem. B 116(24), pp. 7334–7341 (2012).

Niklas Sandler, Anni Määttänen, Petri Ihalainen, Leif Kronberg, Axel Meierjohann, Tapani Viitala, Jouko Peltonen: Inkjet Printing of Drug Substances and Use of Porous Substrates-Towards Individualized Dosing. J. Pharm. Sci. 100, pp. 3386-3395 (2011).

Elina Pohjalainen, Maija Pohjakallio, Christoffer Johans, Kyösti Kontturi, Jaakko Timonen, Tapani Viitala, Markku Heino, Eira Seppälä: Cobalt Nanoparticle Langmuir−Schaefer Films on Ethylene Glycol Subphase. Langmuir 26, pp. 13937-13943 (2010).

J. Shan, J. Chen, M. Nuopponen, T. Viitala, H. Jiang, J. Peltonen, E. Kauppinen, and H. Tenhu: Optical Properties of Thermally Responsive Amphiphilic Gold Nanoparticles Protected with Polymers. Langmuir 22, pp. 794-801 (2006).

Jun Shan, M. Nuopponen, Hua Jiang, T. Viitala, E. Kauppinen, K. Kontturi, and H. Tenhu: Amphiphilic Gold Nanoparticles Grafted with Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and Polystyrene. Macromol. 38, pp. 2918-2926 (2005).