Resumo da apresentação:

Micro and nanoscale drug delivery strategies have been used to increase drug biodistribution and halflives, control the release rates of drugs, and enable the precise targeting of drugs to biological sites of interest. Drug carriers can range in size from nanoparticles to wearable or implantable macroscale drug reservoirs. However, drug carriers with micro or nanoscale features are particularly attractive, as these carriers can interact with biological systems on the same length scale as cells and cellular processes. While such drug carriers show promise in improving pharmacokinetics and therapeutic outcomes, achieving effective delivery to target sites remains a challenge. To achieve efficient drug release, different types of engineered drug carriers can be formulated with different types of polymer. In this project, different approaches about formulation of controlled release systems will be discussed, since traditional methods of production, microfluidics technique to 3D-printing. 3D-printing of microparticles will provide a pre-programmed delayed and pulsatile drug release profile of an encapsulated therapeutic. The advantage of this technique lies in its ability to access a range of membrane degradation rates from a single polymer matrix material.

Biography:
Flávia Sousa is a Researcher Associate at Imperial College London at Stevens Group in the Department of Materials and Bioengineering. She received her master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2013 at IUCS and in 2019 completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences, developed at i3S (Porto, Portugal), INL
(International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, Portugal), Aalborg University (Aalborg, Denmark) and Northeastern University (Boston, USA).
Flávia Sousa is mainly interested in the nanomedicine field, where she built a solid foundation in nanobiomaterials-based nanocarriers for cancer treatment, especially glioblastoma. In the past years, she has accumulated various scientific awards and prestigious recognitions. Also, she is a member of
the Young Committee of Spanish Portuguese Chapter of the Controlled Release Society, member of Young Scientist Committee of Controlled Release Society, first vowel of the Fiscal Council of Portuguese American Postgraduate Society and belongs to a board of CRS Focus Group in Nanomedicine and Nanoscale Delivery as Trainee Representative.