The paper "Molecular Imprinted Polymers with Specific Recognition for Macromolecules and Proteins" by Nicki Bergmann and Nicholas Peppas, published in Progress in Polymers Science, 33, 271-288 (2008)  is one of the "Top 25 Hottest Articles" in the field according to Elsevier's "Hottest Articles" Web site, based on the number of "hits" over the past year.

Five BME and ChE undergraduate students receive URF fellowships in the Fall 2008

Five undergraduate students from Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering have received prestigious URF Fellowships to work in our laboratories this year. They are Barbara Ekerdt (ChE), Matt Winters (ChE),  Derek Jones (BME), David Cantu (BME) and Robert Seidel (ChE).

The  University Cooperative Society provided generous funding for the Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) Program. The Co-op gift, with additional funds from the Student Government and University colleges and schools, provides university-wide funding for undergraduate student research.  The Undergraduate Research Fellowship program provides support for specific scholarly research projects conducted by full-time UT undergraduate students.

Daniel Carr graduates with a PhD degree

On Friday, September 26, 2008, we celebrated the graduation of the 78th PhD student of the laboratory. Daniel A. Carr defended his PhD thesis on "Molecular Design of Biomaterial Systems for the Oral Delivery of Therapeutic Proteins".  Daniel has submitted four publications from his PhD thesis. In addition, he is the co-inventor of one US patent.  Daniel was a graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA, and was a National Science Foundation Fellow during most of his time here at UT.

Nine Graduate Students in International Internships

During the summer 2008, nine PhD students of our group completed international internships from one to three months in various European and Japanese Universities.

Carolyn Bayer was a Visiting Scientist at the Materials Science Department of the University of Tokyo working with Professor Miyahara on novel patterning techniques for advanced recognition. Melissa Kanzelberger was at the Pharmacy Department of Hoshi University in Tokyo where she worked with Professor Mariko Morishita on novel oral protein delivery systems. Finally, Diana Snelling spent two months at the Tokyo Women Medical University where she worked with Professor Teruo Okano and his associates learning novel microfabrication techniques.

Brandon Slaughter was a Visiting Scientist at the Pharmacy Department of the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where he worked with Professor Dolores Torres and Dr. Marcos Garcia and focused on novel micro- and nanoparticulate systems. Amber Doiron has a short internship in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Marty Gran, Maggie Phillips and Shahana Khurshid interned in the laboratories of Professors Jeff Hubbell and Melody Shwartz at the Ecole Polytechnic Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. Justin Shofner did a short internship at the laboratories of Professor Juergen Siepmann in the Pharmacy Department of the University of Lille in France.

Omar Fisher Defends PhD Thesis

On August 6, 2008, Omar Fisher successfully defended his PhD thesis in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Omar joined the laboratory in 2004 and leaves as PhD number 77. He will join the laboratory of Professor Bob Langer at MIT as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. Congratulations Omar!

Matt Winters Receives Best Poster Award

Matthew Winters, a junior in Chemical Engineering, won the Spring 2008 Chemical Engineering Department's Research Poster Award on April 23. His award winning paper was "Dextran Containing Hydrogels for Oral Protein Delivery," a project supervised by BME PhD student Maggie Phillips. Here, Matthew is shown with Professor Roger Bonnecaze, Chair of the ChE Department.

Steve Dietz wins Important University Scholarship

Steve Dietz, a junior in Biomedical Engineering who is working under the supervision of Omar Fisher, a BME PhD student, has been awarded the Fall Unrestricted Endowed Presidential Scholarship of The University of Texas at Austin. This is a most prestigious award and comes with a very significant financial reward.

Irma Sanchez defends PhD Thesis

On January 21, 2008, Irma Yolanda Sanchez successfully defended her PhD thesis in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico. Irma worked in our laboratory from January 2006 to May 2007. Her PhD thesis was co-supervised by Professor Peppas and Professor Sergio Martinez of Tecnologico. Her PhD thesis addressed the synthesis of novel hydrogel materials containing glucose oxidase, systems that can be used for glucose recognition and insulin delivery. The recovery of diminished or lost regulatory functions of physiological systems drives important research efforts in biomaterials and modeling and control engineering. Special interest was paid to diabetes mellitus because of its epidemic dimensions. Hydrogels provide the multifunctionality of smart materials and the applicability to medical regulatory systems, which is evaluated in this dissertation. The polymeric matrix of a hydrogel experiences reversible changes in volume in response to the pH of the environment, which depends on the presence of key metabolites in a physiological medium. The hydrogel swells due to internal repulsive electrostatic forces opening the matrix and releasing a preloaded drug. The contracted state of the hydrogel hinders the diffusion of the drug out of the polymer. In this work, poly(methacrylic acid-graft-ethylene glycol), P(MAA-g-EG), hydrogel membranes that incorporate glucose oxidase were used for insulin delivery. These glucose sensitive membranes were characterized and modeled for the closed loop treatment of type I diabetes mellitus. A physiological compartmental model was extended to represent the treatment system of a diabetic patient. Physical parameters of the P(MAA-g-EG) hydrogel material were obtained from experimental characterization and used as a basis to describe anionic and cationic hydrogels. The performance of the system closed by a hydrogel-based device was explored and compared to the dynamic behavior of a conventional scheme with an explicit controller element.

A control algorithm for optimal insulin delivery in a type I diabetic patient was presented based on the linear quadratic control problem theory. The glucose-insulin dynamics was first represented by a linear model whose state variables are the glucose and the insulin concentrations in the blood. These variables allowed the formulation of an appropriate cost function for a diabetes treatment in terms of the deviation from the normal glucose level and the dosage of exogenous insulin. The optimal control law was computed from this cost function under the servocontrol and regulatory approaches. Superior robustness of the regulatory control design is shown before random variations of the parameters of the linear physiological model. Further evaluation of the regulatory controller was realized with a high order nonlinear human glucose-insulin model. The control system performance could be improved by adjusting the weighting factors of the optimization problem according to the patients needs. The optimal controller produced a versatile insulin release profile in response to the variations of blood glucose concentration. Simulations demonstrated limitations in the range of swelling and contraction of hydrogels in a physiological environment due to factors such as the continuous presence of glucose in blood composition, the buffer characteristics of physiological fluids and the Donnan equilibrium effect. Results showed that insulin loading efficiency is critical for the long term service of a hydrogel-based device, while delivery by a diffusion mechanism was convenient since it allowed a basal insulin supply. The evaluation of hydrogel macrosystems prompted the consideration of the detected pros and contras in hydrogel microsystems, as well as in composite systems that may combine different materials and structures. Irma's work has been accepted for publication in the AIChE Journal. Irma has accepted a position as Associate professor at the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico.

Tania Betancourt joins group as a Postdoctoral Fellow

Tania Betancourt, a recent PhD graduate of the Biomedical Engineering Department who finished her PhD with Professor Lisa Brannon-Peppas, joined our group as a postdoctoral fellow effective January 16, 2008.

Participation in the 2007 US-Japan Drug Delivery Meeting

Seven PhD students participated in the 9th US-Japan Drug Delivery meeting in Kaanapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii. Organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this meeting presents novel and advanced drug delivery systems. In this meeting Daniel Carr presented his latest results on "Complexation Hydrogels of Methacrylic Acid and N-Vinyl Pyrrolidone for the Oral Delivery of Therapeutic Proteins", while Carolyn Bayer talked about "Conductive Polymers for Recognitive Hydrogels". Justin Shofner addressed the problem of "Oral Delivery of Insulin-Transferrin Bioconjugates Using Intelligent Complexation Hydrogels", while Maggie Phillips presented her new work on "Carbohydrate-Containing hydrogels for Oral Protein Delivery", Proceed. US-Japan Drug Delivery Meeting, 9, 56 (2007).

In the same meeting, Steve Marek talked about "Intelligent Glucose-Responsive Insulin Delivery via Cationic Hydrogel Systems", while Marty Gran analyzed new work on "Metal-Polymer Composites as Externally-Controlled Intelligent Therapeutic Systems". Finally, Diana Snelling talked about "Towards the Development of Biodegradable Sensors from Smart Hydrogels".

Barbara Ekerdt wins Senate Undergraduate Research Award

Barbara Ekerdt, a sophomore in chemical engineering, is the winner of the inaugural Undergraduate Research Award of the Senate of College Councils. The award is sponsored by the Senate of College Councils along with the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. The award seeks to encourage students to get involved in research early in their undergraduate experience. Barbara started working on research from her first day here at UT, first with Steve Marek on enzyme-sensitive drug delivery systems. Since May she has been working with Peppas on synthetic and mechanistic aspects of molecular recognition of undesirable biomarkers (analytes) with associated intelligent delivery of therapeutic proteins. Barbara will receive a $1000 award from the Senate of College Councils.

The Senate of College Councils is a body of student governance at the University charged with the specific task of "representing students of the University of Texas at Austin in academic affairs." The constitutional purpose of Senate is: the representation of the students of The University of Texas in academic affairs; the coordination and representation of the various student councils of the Colleges and Schools of The University of Texas at Austin; to be a medium for exchange and presentations of the ideas and opinions of the student bodies of the various councils of The University of Texas at Austin; and the administration of funds collected through the Student Services Fee.

Three Former Students Elected AIMBE Fellows

Three former associates of this laboratory have been elected Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE), the biological sciences academy. The new Fellows are Richard Korsmeyer (MS '80, PhD '83), Head of Global Licensing, Pfizer, Balaji Narasimhan (PhD '97), Associate Dean and Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Iowa State University, and Julia Ross (BS '90), Head of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Maryland at Baltimore County.   Election to this Institute is done by nomination, selection by a primary committee and final vote by 75% of the current AIMBE membership. Election to Fellow of AIMBE is one of the highest scientific recognitions in the biological and biomedical sciences.

This election brings to eleven the total number of former lab associates who have been AIMBE Fellows (including Robert Gurny, Tony Mikos, Surya Mallapragada, Lisa Brannon-Peppas, Chris Bowman, Kristi Anseth, Tony Lowman and David Meadows).

New Chronobiology Volume Edited by Professors Smolensky and Peppas

A new edited volume on Chronobiology, Drug Delivery and Chronotherapeutics was published this week by Elsevier as a special volume of the journal Advances in Drug Delivery Reviews.  The volume was coordinated by Professor Michael H. Smolensky, of the School of Public Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Professor Nicholas A Peppas. Dr Smolensky is the world's expert on chronobiology and is widely recognized for is pioneering books in the field.

This volume brings together the leading scientists in the fields of medical chronobiology and chronopharmacology. Chronobiology is the study of biological rhythms and the mechanisms that drive them. Chronopharmacology is the study of the manner in which the endogenous body rhythms of diverse period, for example, from the short-period pulsatile to the intermediate-period circadian (24-hour) and longer-period menstrual and annual ones, affect the pharmacokinetic and dynamics of medications as a function of the time when they are ingested, injected, infused, or applied by other routes. For nearly 3 decades, medical chronobiologists have been regularly meeting with peers at international congresses of chronobiology and chronopharmacology to report important findings relating to the predictable-in-time 24-hour variation in the pathophysiology, symptom intensity of acute and chronic human diseases, and dosing-time differences in the kinetics and dynamics of medications. For decades drug-delivery and pharmaceutical scientists have been meeting with peers at national and international drug-delivery and pharmaceutical science congresses to present new advances in drug-delivery technology, systems, and devices. Medical chronobiologists have been searching for systems to make possible better and safer therapeutics based on the principles and findings of chronobiology, and drug-delivery scientists also have been searching for new applications or already existing systems and technology to make possible better and safer therapeutics.   Many chronic and acute medical conditions exhibit prominent circadian patterns of symptom manifestation and severity. Among the many examples are allergic rhinitis, bronchial asthma, and peptic ulcer disease; all tend to worsen overnight. The circadian patterns in the signs and symptoms, risk of severe life-threatening cardiovascular events, and medical conditions that are predisposing to serious disease present a new, i.e., chronotherapeutic, opportunity and approach, one in which the delivery of medications are synchronized in time to biological need and respects the chronobiology of the target tissues. Thus, future applications of drug-delivery systems ought to be based on release-response to high or low concentration of analytes/markers to realize optimal chronotherapeutic systems.

After an introduction to the field of general and medial chronobiology, chronopharmacolgy, and candidate systems for chronotherapeutics by the guest editors, subsequent articles address the topics of: (i) allergy and asthma, (ii) pain and arthritis, (iii) aminogylcoside antibiotics, (iv) blood pressure rhythms, (v) hypertension, (vi) cardiac arrhythmias, (vii) ischemic heart disease, (viii) hemostasis, (ix) endocrine system, (x) clocks for rhythmic delivery of cancer medications, (xi) cell cycle automaton model for cancer chronotherapy, and (xii) modeling oxaliplatin drug-delivery to circadian rhythms in drug metabolism and host tolerance. These articles clearly make apparent the many potential applications of existing drug-delivery systems and devices.

Seven BME, ChE, and Plan II Undergraduate Students Receive URF Fellowships in the Fall of 2007

Seven undergraduate students from Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Plan II (Honors) have received prestigious URF Fellowships to work in our laboratories this Fall. They are Alex Corona (ChE), Farha Butt (BME, premed), Alper Konuk (ChE, plan II), Steve Dietz (BME), Kristin Lutek (ChE), Yonic Medina (ChE) and Akshar Patel (ChE).

The University Cooperative Society provided generous funding for the Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) Program. The Co-op gift, with additional funds from the Student Government and University colleges and schools, provides university-wide funding for undergraduate student research. The Undergraduate Research Fellowship program provides support for specific scholarly research projects conducted by full-time UT undergraduate students.

Two Graduate Students Participate in the International Meeting of the Microencapsulation Society

Two PhD students of our laboratory, Daniel Carr and Justin Shofner will present their most recent research at the 16th International Symposium on Microencapsulation in Lexington, Kentucky, on September 9-12, 2007.

Daniel Carr, a third year PhD student will discuss his latest work on novel carriers for oral protein delivery, especially delivery of growth hormone. A NSF and Thrust Fellow, Daniel is a 2005 ChE graduate of Louisiana Tech in Ruston, LA. He has filed for US patent for his latest work and has several presentations and awards to his credit.

Justin Shofner, a third year PhD student will present his latest finding on transporters used for improved bioavailability of proteins during oral delivery. A NSF/IGERT and Thrust Fellow is a 2005 ChE graduate of the University of Kentucky. In the summer 2006 he spent an internship in the laboratories of Prof. Bruno Gander at the Swiss Technical University (ETH) in Zurich. Justin has also presented several papers in national meetings.

Maggie Phillips Receives Cockrell Fellowship

Maggie Phillips, a second year PhD student in biomedical engineering, was just awarded a multi-year Cockrell Fellowship. Maggie is recognized for her exceptional academic and research performance. A BME graduate of St Louis University, Maggie joined our group in September 2007 and is already working on a NIH-sponsored PhD project involving carbohydrate-decorated structures as protein carriers.

Steve Marek is Awarded Special Fellowship

Steve Marek, a third year PhD student in chemical engineering, was just awarded a special supplemental Fellowship from the School of Engineering. A  ChE graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology, Steve is working on enzyme-triggered recognitive systems for insulin delivery.

Brandon Slaughter on Internship in Switzerland

Brandon Slaughter, a second year PhD student in biomedical engineering, is spending the months of August and September in the laboratory of Professor Melody Swartz at the Ecole Polytechnic Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland. Brandon, who is an NSF Fellow and also an IGERT Fellow is studying fundamental aspects of drug delivery in the lymphatic system.

Isis Trenchard wins BMES Undergraduate Award

Isis Trenchard, a senior in biomedical engineering, will be the recipient of the 2007 Undergraduate Research & Design Award of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).  Isis is recognized for her work on "Doping of Polyaniline for Use in Recognitive Hydrogels", done in my laboratory and supervised by BME PhD student Carolyn Bayer.

Isis' award will be given at the Annual Meeting of BMES in Los Angeles on September 26-29, 2007. The award comes with complimentary registration to the meeting, a travel grant-in-aid, and an honorarium/stipend.

Isis is spending her summer doing research in Dr Suh's laboratory in BME at Rice University as a NSF/REU Fellow.

Ruben Morones Awarded Scholarship for Performance in Entrepreneurship Competition

Ruben Morones, a ChE PhD student co-advised by Nicholas Peppas and Wolfgang Frey, has been awarded the Malcolm Milburn Endowed Scholarship and Award in Entrepreneurial Studies from the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.

The award is the result of Ruben's exceptional performance in the I2P Competition earlier this year.

Publication of the Latest Analysis of the Dynamics of PEG-Tethered Biomaterials

The latest work on the Dynamics of Poly(ethylene glycol)-Tethered, pH Responsive Biomaterials was published this week in the journal Polymer, volume 48, pp. 5042-5048 (2007).   The work describes the latest results from the PhD thesis of J. Brock Thomas, who defended his PhD thesis in July 2006. In his thesis, Brock, who is now a researcher with Eastman Chemicals in Kingsport, TN, analyzed the dynamics of chain distribution and swelling behavior of PEG-tethered structures. Co-authors of Brock's published work were former undergraduate students Joe Tingsanchali, now a PhD student at the University of California at Berkeley, Adrianne  Rosales, a NSF fellow and also a ChE PhD student and at Berkeley, Courtney Creecy, now a second year PhD student in BME at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Professors James McGinity and Nicholas  Peppas.

Maggie Phillips Elected President of the Society for Biomaterials Student Chapter

Maggie Phillips, a PhD student in BME, was elected President of Society for Biomaterials National Student Organization for the 2007-2009 period. Founded in 1974, the Society represents all biomedical engineering programs with active Biomaterials Programs and has about 550 student members on 16 campuses nationwide. Maggie joined our group in August 2007, after a BS degree in BME at St. Louis University. While there, she worked on biomaterials research under the direction of Professor Rebecca Willits.

Classic Paper from Lab Research is the Most Highly Cited Paper in the History of the "Journal of Controlled Release"

The Journal of Controlled Release was published in 1984 by Elsevier. Since it inception it has been the official organ of the Controlled Release Society. Its first two editors were Jorge Heller (previously of APS) and Jan Feijen (of Twente University). Among 4,367 papers, the two most cited papers in this journal are the well-known contributions of Phil Ritger and Nicholas Peppas that introduced the exponential equation for the analysis of relaxation and diffusion-controlled release behavior from swellable and non-swellable delivery systems. The paper "A simple equation for description of solute release. II: Fickian and anomalous release from swellable devices", published in 1987, in volume 5, pp. 37-42, has 565 citations and is ranked first among all papers of the journal, while the first part of the same work "A simple equation for description of solute release. I: Fickian and non-Fickian release from non-swellable devices in the form of slabs, spheres, cylinders or discs", published also in 1987, in volume 5, pp. 23-36, has 468 citations and is ranked second. The exponential equation was actually introduced in a simple form in a 1985 publication in Pharmaceutica Acta Helvetiae by Prof. Peppas, but it was in these two 1987 papers out of the MS thesis of Phil Ritger that the full mathematical analysis for all geometries was presented.

It was announced recently that the most cited publication among 9,180 papers in the 31-year history of the International Journal of Pharmaceutics   is the paper "Mechanisms of Solute Release from Porous Hydrophilic Polymers"  co-authored by Drs Richard Korsmeyer (now Global Head of Licensing, Worldwide Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pfizer Global Research & Development), Robert Gurny and Eric Doelker (now professors at the University of Geneva), Pierre Buri (now retired professor at the same University) and  Professor Nicholas Peppas. Published in January 1983, this paper has become a "classic" in the field and the most cited publication of this premier international pharmaceutical journal published by Elsevier. Published in Volume 15, pages 25-25, this paper reported the earliest studies on the mechanisms of Fickian and anomalous transport of drugs from glassy, hydrophilic polymers. Most of the work was done in collaborative research by Purdue and University of Geneva investigators and especially when Dr Korsmeyer had visited the University of Geneva in 1981. Dr Peppas was on sabbatical leave at the University of Geneva in September-December 1982.  This paper has received 316 citations.

Most Cited Article in the History of the journal "Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy" is Based on Lab Research

It was also announced recently that the most cited publication among 3,878 papers in the 33-year history of the international journal   Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy   is the paper "Pharmaceutical and Medical Aspects of Bioadhesive Systems for Drug Administration"  co-authored by Drs Dominique Duchene (now retired professor of the University of Paris-Sud), Frederic Touchard of Paris and Professor Nicholas Peppas. Published in February 1988, this paper has become the most cited publication of this premier international pharmaceutical journal. Published in Volume 14, pages 283-318, this paper reported on fundamental studies on mucoadhesion, performed while Dr Peppas was on sabbatical leave at the University of Paris-Sud in July-December 1986.  This paper has received 148 citations.

Six Current Papers Authored by Researchers in the Lab are in the List of "Top Twenty Five Hottest Articles" of Science Direct ^TM

A recent analysis of the "Top Twenty Five Hottest Articles" as reported by the Science Direct TM revealed that six articles co-authored by present or past laboratory researchers and based on their work here at UT, are in the list of "Hottest Papers"

After almost three years in the list, Jay Blanchette's paper on "Nanoparticle and Targeted Systems for Cancer Therapy" published in  Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, Volume 56, Issue 11, 1 September 2004, Pages 1649-1659  with Professor Lisa Brannon-Peppas is still No 13 in the list!  Jay (a 2005 PhD of the lab) is now an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Program of the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of South Carolina.

Nikhil Kavimandan's article on "Nanoscale Analysis of Protein and Peptide Absorption: Insulin Absorption Using Complexation and pH-Sensitive Hydrogels as Delivery Vehicles" published with Prof. Peppas in  the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Volume 29, Issue 3-4, 1 November 2006, Pages 183-197    is No 10 in the list. Nikhil (a 2005 PhD of the lab) is now with Novartis in New Jersey.

Don Owens' article on "Opsonization, Biodistribution and Pharmacokinetics of Polymeric Nanoparticles" published with Prof. Peppas in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Volume 307, Issue 1, 1 January 2006, Pages 93-102    is ranked No 10.  Don (a 2007 PhD of the lab) is now with ExxonMobil

Mamuru Fukuda's article on "Floating Hot-melt Extruded Tablets for Gastroretentive Controlled Drug Release Systems" published with Professors J. McGinity and Peppas in the Journal of Controlled Release, Volume 115, Issue 2, 1 October 2006, Pages 121-129 is ranked No 13. Mamuru-san is now back in Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co.

Two review articles are also ranked in the first ten hottest articles. The recent review of professor Peppas on "Is the Oral Route Possible for Peptide and Protein Drug Delivery?" published with professor M. Morishita of Hoshi University (Tokyo) in Drug Discovery Today, Volume 11, Issue 19-20, 1 October 2006, Pages 905-910  was ranked No 8. And the review on "Structure and Interactions in Covalently and Ionically Crosslinked Chitosan Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications"  published with Prof. R. Gurny of the University of Geneva in the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, Volume 57, Issue 1, 1 January 2004, Pages 19-34 is still No 6 after 3 1/2 years in the list.

Most Cited Article in the History of Prestigious European Journal is Based on Lab Research

It was announced recently that the most cited publication in the 50-year history of the Swiss Journal  Pharmaceutica Acta Helvetiae is the paper "Analysis of Fickian and non-Fickian Drug Release from Polymers" authored by Professor Nicholas Peppas. Published in 1985 in Volume 60, this article was one of the earliest references on the use of the exponential release expression for the analysis of drug release behavior and introduced the idea of relaxation-controlled transport during drug release from swellable systems. The main idea of the paper was conceived when Peppas was a Visiting Professor and Zyma Foundation Fellow for the Advancement of Medical and Biological Sciences at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in 1982-83.  This paper has received 365 citations.

Most Cited Article in the History of the "European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics" is Based on Lab Research

It was also announced recently that the most cited publication in the 52-year history of the European Journal  European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics (previously known also as Acta Pharmaceutica Technologica)  is the paper "Hydrogels in Pharmaceutical and Medical Applications" authored by Drs Petr Bures (now with Bayer in Pittsburgh, PA), Bill Leobandung (now in Jakarta, Indonesia), Dr Hideki Ichikawa (now a professor at Kobe-Gakuin University in Kobe, Japan) and Professor Nicholas Peppas. Published in July 2000, this paper has become the most cited publication of this premier European pharmaceutical journal. Published in Volume 50, pages 27-46, this paper was commissioned by the Chief editor of the journal to commemorate the journal's fiftieth issue.  This paper has received 343 citations.

Two More PhD Students Graduated in the Spring 2007 Semester

Two PhD students of our program graduated in June 2007. Don Owens defended his PhD thesis in Chemical engineering in February 2007. Originally from Bloomington, Indiana, Don met Prof. Peppas while at Purdue University where he received his B.S. in 2003 with an Honor's thesis in the are of  "Nanoscale Molding of Nanostructured Carbon Powders and Thin Films" advised by Prof. Hugh Hillhouse.  During this time he also had the opportunity to spend a semester of study at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.  During his PhD he presented in about 12 national and international conferences, published 6 papers, was the co-inventor of one patent and worked for a while in Dr Teruo Okano's laboratories in Japan.  Don is now employed at ExxonMobil in Houston. Don's PhD thesis was on "Thermally-responsive Polymer Nanoparticles and Nanoshells as Intelligent Therapeutic Systems" and was co-supervised by Prof. R. Richards-Kortum. Don was a NSF/IGERT Fellow (class of 2003). He is the second recent PhD graduate of the lab to work for this company, the previous one having been Jenny Harting-Ward.

Terry Farmer defended his PhD thesis in ChE in May 2007. The subject of his thesis was "Intravenous Closed-Loop Glucose Control in Type I Diabetic Patients" and was co-supervised by Prof. Thomas Edgar. Terry is from Lampasas, TX, about 70 miles from the University of Texas and received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from UT in 2003. During his stay here, Terry participated in 6 conferences and has submitted 7 papers for publication. Terry was a National Science Foundation Fellow (class of 2003)

Don and Terry are PhD graduates Nos 72 and 73. With their departure, all new graduate students arriving in the Fall 2003 have graduated. Additionally, Michael Marks graduated in December with his M.S. in Chemical Engineering and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Tony Lowman's lab at Drexel University. Now the senior graduate student is Omar Fisher who started with the group in October 2004.

Congratulations!

Carolyn Bayer US Delegate to the Nobel Laureates Meeting in Lindau, Bodensee, Germany

Our own Carolyn Bayer, a PhD candidate in BME, has been selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as one of 20 outstanding research participants to attend the 57th Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students in Lindau, Germany, from July 1-6, 2007.

Since 1951, Nobel Laureates in chemistry, physics and physiology/medicine have annually convened in Lindau to conduct open and informal meetings with students and young researchers from around the world. This year's event, which traditionally rotates by discipline each year, will focus on physiology and medicine. Carolyn Bayer will be one of 30 representatives of the United States to the meeting that will be attended by 500 other international students. During the meeting, the Laureates will lecture in the mornings on the topic of their choice related to physiology and medicine and participate in less formal small group discussions with the students in the afternoons and some evenings. The primary purpose of the meeting is to allow the graduate students to benefit from informal interaction with the Nobel Prize winners. During lunches and dinners, Laureates will join participants at local restaurants for informal discussions. Various social events are also on the agenda to allow participants to meet other attendees from around the world.

Carolyn Bayer is a 1998 graduate of ECE at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. After a number of years in industry, she joined Prof Peppas' group in August 2005 and is working on novel molecularly recognitive biosensors.

Graduating Seniors Going to Prestigious Graduate or Professional Schools

Once more this has been a great year for our graduating seniors who worked in our laboratory the past two years.

Gail Su has accepted an offer from Harvard University and will pursue a Law degree. She is the second student to go to Harvard Law School in the past two years. Last year Marshall Silver did the same. We thank Michelle LeCointe of Baker & Botts for being such an inspiring mentor to these students.

Adrianne Rosales will be joining the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California at Berkeley as a PhD student and NSF Fellow

Joe Tingsanchali will also be joining the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California at Berkeley as a PhD student

Sheena Black has been admitted to Medical School at the University of Texas, Southwestern in Dallas

David Beavers has been admitted to Medical School at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston

Peter Jian has been admitted to Medical School at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston

Congratulations to all!

Daniel Carr and Amber Doiron win Two of the Six GAIN Awards

The Graduate Engineering Council presented the third annual Graduate and Industry Networking (GAIN) conference at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center. There were six winners of poster and presentation awards from the UT College of Engineering.

Daniel Carr, who is doing his PhD in Chemical Engineering was honored with the Best Paper Award in the Materials Science/Nano, Micro, Bio and MEMS Division. His presentation was on "Molecular Analysis of Interpolymer Complexing Hydrogels Based on Poly (Methacrylic Acid) and N-Vinyl Pyrrolidone as Carriers for Protein Delivery".

Amber Doiron who is doingher PhD in BME with professors Brannon-Peppas and Peppas presented a poster entitled "Polymeric Microparticles for the Imaging of Atherosclerotic Plaques" that won two awards - the GAIN Marathon Oil Company Poster Award for Outstanding Poster in the category of Materials Science/Nano, Micro, Bio & MEMS Engineering and also the Cisco Systems, Inc. and the Poster Award for an Outstanding Poster, an overall poster award.

GAIN is a conference hosted by students to promote graduate research and to offer networking opportunities. One hundred graduate students participated in this year's conference from all engineering departments.

Carolyn Bayer named a Bruton Fellow

Carolyn Bayer has been awarded the David Bruton, Jr. Graduate Fellowship for 2007. The Bruton Student Endowment Fellowships were established by The University of Texas System Board of Regents in September 1991.

Two Students form the University of Lille Working in Our Labs

Our laboratory is welcoming two new students from France who will be working on nanotechnoloy and drug delivery. Florence Desthieux and Maxime Teisseire are visiting as exchange students from the University of Lille, where Professor Peppas spent some time in the early 1980s, and where his former PhD student Jurgen Siepmann is now a professor.

PhD Student from Spain Works on Novel Oral Delivery Systems

Our laboratory is hosting Marta Gomez, a PhD student from the Pharmacy Department of the University of Complutense in Madrid, Spain, who is working with Daniel Carr on the development of novel oral delivery systems for therapeutic proteins exhibiting high isoelectric points. Such systems are extremely difficult to prepare but Marta's expertise has been helping in their development. Marta is a PhD student in Complutense, working with Professor Santiago Torrado. professor Peppas was a Visiting Professor at Complutense on a sabbatical leave in the Spring 2001.

Ming Lin Wins Best BS Thesis Award Among all Plan II (Honors) Students

Ming Lin, a BME senior and research assistant in our laboratories received the first prize for best BS thesis in the University among Plan II (honors) students. Her thesis was entitled "Intracellular Drug Delivery Using Intelligent Polymers", was conducted under the direction of Professor Peppas and was presented at the Undergraduate Research Forum. The selection was made from a field of 123 others.

Ruben Morones, Team Win I2P Competition

Ruben Morones participated in the Idea to Product Competition (I2P) this past weekend and his team took first place. They will most likely be invited to participate in the Global Idea to Product Competition representing The University of Texas at Austin! The winning project involved the development of a commercialization plan for an Antibacterial Polymer (Haloamine based) for application in coatings on hospital textiles.

Diana Snelling and Adrianne Rosales Receive NSF Fellowships

We are delighted to announce that Diana Snelling, a ChE PhD student in our group with a BS degree from The Ohio State University is the recipient of a 2007 NSF fellowship. Also Adrianne Rosales, a senior in ChE working in our laboratory is another recipient of a NSF Fellowship. Finally, Marty Gran, a ChE PhD student in our group with a BS degree from the Iowa State University is the recipient of an honorable mention in the same competition.

Congratulations Diana, Adrianne and Marty!

Two Former Graduate Students Elected AIMBE Fellows

Two former associates of this laboratory have been elected Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE), the biological sciences academy. The new Fellows are Anthony Lowman (PhD 1997, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Associate Dean at Drexel University) and David Meadows (MS 1981, Director of Research of Alcon Laboratories in Ft Worth, TX). Election to this Institute is done by nomination, selection by a primary committee and final vote by 85% of the present AIMBE membership. Election to Fellow of AIMBE is one of the highest scientific recognitions in the biological and biomedical sciences.

This election brings the total number of former lab associates who have been AIMBE Fellows to eight (including Robert Gurny, Tony Mikos, Surya Mallapragada, Lisa Brannon-Peppas, Chris Bowman, and Kristi Anseth).

Five new PhD students join the laboratory

Last week we welcomed five new PhD students in the laboratory. Marty Gran, originally from Omaha, Nebraska, received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Iowa State University in the spring of 2006. At Iowa State, he researched the use of novel polyanhydrides for the release of therapeutic proteins under Professor Balaji Narasimhan (a 1996 graduate of the group). As an undergraduate he also worked as a process engineer intern for Cedar River Paper in Cedar Rapids, IA and studied abroad in Oviedo, Spain. Marty is a NSF/IGERT Fellow and a Thrust Fellow.

Shahana Khurshid grew up in Karachi, Pakistan where she completed her A-Levels in 2000. She graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from MIT in 2003. She then spent a few years working for engineering consulting firms in Boston, Karachi, and Austin. In 2006 she joined the BME Department to pursue a Ph.D. under the joint supervision of Professors Christine Schmidt and Nicholas Peppas. Shahana is a NSF/IGERT Fellow and a Thrust Fellow.

Maggie Phillips joined the BME Department after a BS at the St Louis University where she did research under the direction of Professor Rebecca Willits. She is a NSF/IGERT Fellow.

Brandon Slaughter joined the BME Department after a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Brandon, who worked in the group also as an undergraduate, is a NSF Fellow, a NSF/IGERT Fellow and a Thrust Fellow.

Diana Snelling is originally from Middletown, OH. She received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Ohio State University in 2006. As an undergraduate, she researched the use of cationic surfactants to reduce turbulent drag for Dr. Jacques Zakin at OSU. She also co-oped four quarters at DuPont Teflon in Parkersburg, WV. She is a NIH Fellow and a Thrust Fellow.

An unprecedented number of fourteen BME, ChE, Biology and Plan II undergraduate students receive URF fellowships in the Fall of 2006!

Fourteen undergraduate students from Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Biology and Plan II (Honors) have received prestigious URF Fellowships to work in our laboratories this Fall. They are Hannah Chen (BME), James Dempsey (BME and Plan II), Dhruv Desai (BME), Tommy Haynes (Biology), Wesley Hunt (BME), Benafsha Irani (BME), Timothy Kim (BME), Ming Lin (BME and Plan II), Michael Nelson (ChE), Kelly Osman (BME), Susannah Payne (BME), Aimee Peterson (BME), Alaknanda Renukuntia (ChE), and Diane Wang (BME Honors).

The University Cooperative Society provided generous funding for the Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) Program. The Co-op gift, with additional funds from the Student Government and University colleges and schools, provides university-wide funding for undergraduate student research. The Undergraduate Research Fellowship program provides support for specific scholarly research projects conducted by full-time UT undergraduate students.

Don Owens recognized for imaginative nanomicrographs

The new UT Nanotechnology Center has announced its winners of the Grand Opening nano-micrograph competition. PhD candidate Don Owens is the grand prize winner of this competition. His award winning nano-micrograph will be displayed at the NST Grand Opening Art Exhibition on November 3, 2006. Don will also receive a travel award and a certificate at the Nanomaterials Conference on November 3, 2006.

New Nanotechnology Book Edited by Three Chemical Engineers Published

A  new book on nanotechnology is in press by Horizon Press of UK.  Entitled "Nanotechnology in Therapeutics: Current Technology and Applications" this book has been edited by Professors Nicholas A Peppas of the University of Texas at Austin and J Zachary Hilt of the University of Kentucky, and Dr J. Brock Thomas of Eastman Chemical Co. and will be published in the next five months.

Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary field covering a large and diverse array of devices and materials in nanometer scale, derived from engineering, physics, chemistry and biology. The field of applied nanotechnology in medicine is growing fast and the application of nanotechnology to therapeutics has led to advances in drug delivery, biomaterials, biomedical devices, intelligent processes and in many other areas of medicine and applied biomedical sciences.

The authors of this volume describe and discuss current technology and the applications of nanoparticles and nanostructures in various aspects of therapeutics and drug delivery. The chapters are completely up-to-date and are written by some of the leading scientists in the field. Topics covered include chronobiology, chronopharmacology and chronotherapeutics, polymeric gene delivery vectors, biohybrid materials, biomimetic systems, hydrogel nanocomposites, star polymers and dendrimers, ionic nanoparticulate systems, nanospheres and nanoparticles. Entire chapters are devoted to specific applications of nanotechnology such as cancer therapy, bone disorders, and diabetes.

Three PhD Students are Graduating in June

Three PhD students of our program will be graduating in June 2006.  On June 14, 2006 Kristy Wood will be defending her PhD thesis in BME in the general area of mechanistic analysis of insulin transport in CaCo-2 cell and other cell lines. Kristy graduated from the BME Department of the University of Wisconsin in June 2002 and was a member of the inaugural class of UT graduate students that started when Professor Peppas moved to UT in January 2003. In fact, Kristy was the last Purdue University student to come to UT during the move of the laboratory in December 2002, as she had done one semester of her graduate BME coursework in the Fall 2002 at Purdue. Kristy has published several papers and reviews and has presented in a decade of conferences around the world. In 2004 she spent several months at Hoshi University in Japan working with Professor Mariko Morishita.  Kristy has accepted a position with a major pharmaceutical/medical company in Boston, MA and will start there in July 2006..

On June 22, 2006 Hunter Lauten will be defending her PhD thesis in BME in the general area of molecularly imprinted methods for proteins and peptides. While at UT, Hunter was a National Science Foundation/IGERT Fellow and was co-supervised by Prof Peppas and Prof. Lisa Brannon-Peppas of the BME Department. Hunter graduated in BME from Vanderbilt University in June 2002. She joined the group in June 2003, but had arrived at UT and had taken BME coursework since September 2002.  Hunter spent an international internship at the University of Parma in 2005. She is the recipient of several national and international best paper awards and has presented papers in numerous conferences including the IUPAC meeting in Prague, the Czech Republic, the International Microencapsulation Conference in Parma, Italy and the European Controlled Release meeting in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Hunter will be a postdoctoral fellow in Professor David Edwards's (NAE member) laboratory at Harvard University.

On June 30, 2006 J. Brock Thomas will be defending his PhD thesis in ChE in the general area of mucoadhesive polymers, their synthesis, characterization and molecular structure. Brock graduated from the University of Tennessee with the highest Engineering Award in June 2003. He joined our group in September 2003. While at UT he was the recipient of the prestigious Homeland Security Fellowship (only 50 of these fellowships are awarded nationally every year). Brock did his PhD in ChE under the co-supervision of Prof. Peppas and Professor Jim McGinity of the College of Pharmacy. Brock has received numerous recognitions and has presented papers in numerous meetings including the International Gels Symposium in Sapporo, Japan, in 2005. Upon graduation, Brock will join a major chemical company in eastern Tennessee.

Kristy, Hunter and Brock will be PhD graduates Nos 68, 69 and 70.

Congratulations!



Brandon Slaughter Featured in Special Graduation Issue of  the University

Our graduating senior and laboratory assistant Brandon Slaughter is featured in a wonderful article published by the University of Texas. Written by Pam Losefsky, the article is reprinted below

Using science at its smallest scale, May graduate seeks solutions to some of society's biggest challenges

For Brandon Slaughter, his undergraduate course of study wasn't so much about mechanical engineering as it was about problem solving.

An older student who first served in the U.S. Navy before getting serious about college, he came to The University of Texas at Austin with perhaps a stronger sense of purpose than the average 18-year-old and quickly settled on the direction he wanted his education to take.
"I wanted variety, I wanted to tie a lot of fields together," says Slaughter, who displays a potent combination of technical proficiency and creative energy. An engineering degree, he reasoned, offers a method for solving problems, and it can be applied to almost any other field to arrive at new solutions to puzzles that have stymied practitioners for years.

For instance, Slaughter's research with Professor Nicholas Peppas in the use of nanotechnology to deliver medication directly to patients is a combination of engineering and therapeutics, ideally applied in the treatment of cancer.

"This research team and I are designing and modeling a novel drug release system using nano-scale polymer chemistry," he says. "Problems like this have been addressed by biochemists and doctors for a long time, but breakthroughs often don't occur until you're able to look at the problem in a different way."

Variety also evolved from his final course in mechanical engineering, the senior design class. Working with his assigned design team, Slaughter further explored applications of mechanical engineering in space.

"I don't think I could have asked for a more interesting project or a better team," he says of the computer simulation work he conducted to design a heat pump for use in vehicles that operate in microgravity environments.

Awarded a prestigious $30,000 (per year) National Science Foundation Fellowship that will fund his continued education, Slaughter enters graduate school in the fall.

"I want to continue to conduct early stage research that will eventually provide the solutions to some of our most pressing concerns, like the environment and health care," he says.

Although he operated and maintained nuclear reactor plants in the Navy and worked as a technician in the semiconductor industry before entering college, it was his experience at the university that really gave him confidence in his ability to analyze and solve problems.

"I remember absolutely dreading calculus, which I had to pass before I could be admitted into the engineering college." Slaughter says. "UT's been a great challenge, but I discovered that nothing here has been beyond my ability to grasp, and that's been empowering. I feel like I can change the world."



David Beavers and Sheena Black win Presidential Endowed Fellowships

David Beavers and  Sheena Black received the 2006 Presidential Endowed Scholarship.  Both BME juniors working in our laboratory are just two of three students in the College of Engineering who were recognized with this prestigious fellowship.  The University of Texas Development Board established the prestigious Endowed Presidential Scholarship program in 1973 to provide merit-based scholarship support to its most talented and deserving students.



Don Owens wins prestigious SFB Award

Last week Don Owens a senior PhD student in Chemical Engineering received one of the STAR awards of the Society for Biomaterials. These awards are bestowed upon the students whose papers received the highest score during the blind evaluation of all papers. Don's work was the only one selected by two Special Interest Groups (SIGs), the Drug Delivery and the Ophthalmic Biomaterials SIGs.



Peter Jian Receives University-wide University Coop/George H. Mitchell Award for Academic Excellence

Our laboratory assistant and BME junior Peter (Yicun) Jian has been selected as one of the finalists of the University-wide University Coop/George H. Mitchell  Awards for Academic Excellence. The nine recipients of this award, widely considered as the award for the best undergraduate(s) of the University, will receive $2,000 (five students), $5,000 (three students) or $20,000 (one student).  These winners will be announced at a dinner on April 28. Peter has been working in our laboratory for a year under the supervision of ChE PhD student Don Owens on the development of externally triggered nanodevices for release and targeted treatment of diseases. He has published two proceedings papers and has received several regional awards for his research. This summer he will be an intern in the prestigious MD Anderson clinical internship program. He is a premed student and will be applying to various medical schools next Fall.



Participation and Best Paper Award at Ninth European Symposium on Controlled Drug Delivery

On April 5-7, 2006, Hunter Lauten and Kristy Wood, both BME PhD students in their last year of studies, attended the Ninth European Symposium on Controlled Release in Noordwijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. Both presented posters of their most recent research. Kristy Wood's paper on "Lectin Functionalized Complexation Hydrogels for Oral Protein Delivery", co-authored with Greg Stone, was awarded the Best Paper Award of the meeting.



Laura Serra Receives PhD Degree

On May 31, 2006, Laura Serra defended her PhD thesis in the School of Pharmacy of the University of Barcelona. Professors Peppas (UT) and Josep Domenech of the University of Barcelona were her two advisors. Laura conducted most of her PhD thesis in our laboratories. She was with our group from 2002 to 2005. While at UT, she was appointed as a Visiting Scientist in the Division of Pharmaceutics.

Her PhD thesis involved the dynamic analysis of tethered structures used in molecular mucoadhesion. In addition, Laura developed novel mucoadhesive systems for oral protein delivery and studied their cellular response. Her publications include  L. Serra, J. Doménech and N. A. Peppas, "Design of Poly(ethylene glycol)-tethered Copolymers as Novel Mucoadhesive Drug Delivery Systems", Europ. J. Pharm. Bioph., 63, 11-18 (2006);    L. Serra, J. Doménech and N. A. Peppas, "Drug Transport Mechanisms in and Release Kinetics from Molecularly Designed Poly(Acrylic Acid-g-Ethylene Glycol) Hydrogels", Biomaterials, (in press); and a review article in the Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery.  In addition she presented papers at AIChE, HSEMB, and AAPS meetings and the World Congress of Drug Absorption.   Laura Serra is the 67th PhD to graduate from this laboratory.

Laura has accepted a position a a research scientist with Kimberly-Clark in Neenah, Wisconsin.



Tom Dziubla Accepts a Faculty Position

We are glad to inform you that Tom Dziubla  (BS 1998) has accepted an offer and will join the ChE Department of the University of Kentucky as an Assistant Professor in August 2006. Tom did his BS thesis in our laboratory in 1997-98 and followed Tony Lowman (PhD 1997) to Drexel University where he did his PhD thesis (PhD 2003) under his direction. Upon graduation, he spent three years as a postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

Tom's research interests are in biomaterials, biopolymers, poly(ethylene glycol). With this group he co-authored several papers including A.M. Lowman, T.D. Dziubla and N.A. Peppas, "Novel Networks and Gels Containing Increased Amounts of Grafted and Crosslinked Poly(ethylene glycol)," Polym. Prepr., 38 (1), 622-623 (1997);  T.D. Dziubla, N.A. Peppas and A.M. Lowman, "Tailor-made Networks of Poly(ethylene glycol) for Controlled Drug Delivery,"  Proceed. Int. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 26, 539-540 (1999);  T.D. Dziubla, A.M. Lowman and N.A. Peppas, "Evaluation of Poly(ethylene glycol)-Based Copolymers for Contact Lenses," Trans. Soc. Biomater., 27, 232 (2001); and A.M. Lowman, T.D. Dziubla, P. Bures and N.A. Peppas, "Structural and Dynamic Response of Neutral and intelligent Networks in Biomedical Environments", in N.A. Peppas and M.V. Sefton, eds., "Molecular and Cellular Foundations of Biomaterials", 75-130, Academic Press, New York, 2004



Ruben Morones wins prestigious Fellowship

Ruben Morones, a third year ChE PhD student working under the direction of Professor Wolfgang Frey (BME) and Nicholas Peppas  has  been awarded  the  E.D. Farmer Fellowship for 2006-2007.  This is a prestigious fellowship that recognizes his important contributions to the field of nanotechnology. Ruben has published several papers on nanomaterials.



Peter Jian Receives University-wide University Coop/George H. Mitchell  Award for Academic Excellence

Our laboratory assistant and BME junior Peter (Yicun) Jian has been selected as one of the finalists of the University-wide University Coop/George H. Mitchell  Awards for Academic Excellence. The nine recipients of this award, widely considered as the award for the best undergraduate(s) of the University, will receive $2,000 (five students), $5,000 (three students) or $20,000 (one student).  These winners will be announced at a dinner on April 28. Peter has been working in our laboratory for a year under the supervision of ChE PhD student Don Owens on the development of externally triggered nanodevices for release and targeted treatment of diseases. He has published two proceedings papers and has received several regional awards for his research. This summer he will be an intern in the prestigious MD Anderson clinical internship program. He is a premed student and will be applying to various medical schools next Fall.



Brandon Slaughter Receives NSF Fellowship

Our laboratory assistant and Mechanical Engineering senior Brandon Slaughter has been selected as a recipient of a prestigious National Science Foundation Fellowship.



Elena Losi defends PhD Thesis
On March 13, 2006, Elena Losi successfully defended her PhD thesis in the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Parma, Italy. Elena worked in our laboratory from June 2003 to May 2005. Her PhD thesis addressed the development and mechanistic analysis of novel drug delivery systems with concave and convex surfaces, called Dome Matrix systems. These are modified tablets with improved release characteristics, ease of administration, high patient compliance/comfort, low cost and flexibility in dosing schedule. They have been developed at the University of Parma by her other major professor, Prof. Paolo Colombo, and have been discussed in several early publications including E. Losi, R. Bettini, P. Santi, F. Sonvico, G. Colombo, K. Lofthus, P. Colombo and N.A. Peppas, "Assemblage of Novel Release Modules for the Development of Adaptable Drug Delivery Systems", J. Controlled Release, 111, 212-218 (2006).

At UT, Elena developed an advanced experimental technique that can be applied on dry and slowly swelling tablets in situ (without moving them out of the dissolution vessel during swelling and release) and can be used to identify the swelling and dissolution process. High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography is a technique for digitally tomographing a swelling sample in real time using X-rays. This way, one can achieve acquisitions of multiple data on "slices" of a sample over a range of angular orientations. The technique provides rapid acquisition, is a  nondestructive technique, provides cross-sectional images in different planes through a sample, allows visualization of features in the interior of opaque and solid sample, allows continuous collection of digital information on 3-D geometries and properties of a wide range of materials and was applied to the pharmaceutical field for the first time.

Elena is also a co-author of two other publications from her work at UT:  N. J. Kavimandan, E. Losi, J. J. Wilson, J. S. Brodbelt and N. A. Peppas, "Synthesis and Characterization of Insulin-Transferrin Conjugates", Bioconjugate Chem., (submitted)  and   N. J. Kavimandan, E. Losi, and N. A. Peppas, "Novel Delivery System Based on Complexation Hydrogels as Delivery Vehicles for Insulin-Transferrin Conjugates", Biomaterials, (in press).

Elena Losi has accepted a position as a research scientist with a major pharmaceutical company in Italy.

Eight BME and ChE undergraduate students receive URF fellowships in 2005-2006

Eight undergraduate students from Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering have received prestigious URF Fellowships to work in our laboratories this year. They are Greg Stone (ChE), Gail Su (ChE), Peter Jian (BME), Brandon Slaughter (ME), Jack Eby (ChE), Adrienne Rosales (ChE), David Beavers (BME) and Joseph Tsingsanchali (ChE).

The  University Cooperative Society provided generous funding for the Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) Program. The Co-op gift, with additional funds from the Student Government and University colleges and schools, provides university-wide funding for undergraduate student research.  The Undergraduate Research Fellowship program provides support for specific scholarly research projects conducted by full-time UT undergraduate students.