Anna Trusek-Holownia of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology will give a talk on "Polymeric Drug Carriers – Mass Release Control" at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 29, in Room 123 of the Cato Springs Research Center south of campus on Cato Springs Road.

A short presentation is based on research conducted at the Division of Bioprocess and Biomedical Engineering of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland. The presentation will focus on polymeric drug carriers, specifically a mass release description and carriers parameters optimization.

Polymeric drug delivery systems, allowing the controlled long-term drug release, are a good alternative to the standard (oral or intravenous) administration of pharmaceuticals. Particularly, the local therapy is an advantageous approach in the treatment of cancer diseases, where the drugs are particularly toxic.

One of the most promising approaches for controlled anticancer drug release is the strategy of coupling a therapeutic agent to a polymeric carrier using a linker that is degraded by a specific enzyme. The usage of enzyme as a trigger for drug release allows a sustained release only by of an active molecule. This approach is a good alternative to drugs that release controlled diffusion. The study of controlling by diffusion will also be presented.

About the presenter: Since 1995, Trusek-Holownia has carried out scientific work, receiving an M.A. degree in biotechnology, and a Ph.D. and D.Sc. in chemical engineering. She is a professor in the Department of Chemistry, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology. She is currently head of the Division of Bioprocess and Biomedical Engineering at Wroclaw University. She is also a member of the Federation of Biotechnology, the European Membrane Society and the Polish Membrane Society.

For almost 20 years, she has carried out researches on the applications of native and immobilized enzymes and microorganisms in production processes and wastewater treatment technologies. She carries out the studies with the use of classical bioreactors and bioreactors integrated with membrane processes, both in laboratory and pilot-plant scale. During the last six years she has worked in the field of biomedical engineering, concerning the drugs release control using polymeric carriers.