Characterisation of drug delivery systems on skin and investigations of involved mechanisms

Knowledge of drug transport mechanisms from colloidal chemical systems is important for many biomedical applications including drug delivery systems. This platform aims to increase understanding of these mechanisms and reduce the limitations of drug delivery via the topical route.

Our objectives are

• to design new drug delivery systems such as microemulsions, nanoemulsions, multiple emulsions and liposomes
• to characterise these systems in terms of NMR, FTIR, DSC, cryoTEM, PCS, etc.
• to investigate the interactions between formulation-microstructure and model drugs
• to use in-vitro techniques to understand  the influences controlling skin permeation of model drugs from the developed systems
• in-vitro/in-vivo correlation of the skin penetration profiles

By employing these insights of the correlation between physico-chemical structure and physiological diffusion processes it will be possible to develop new strategies for dermal application systems. Moreover, the obtained information may also be of great interest for modern anti-age cosmetics.

Latest News

• Congratulations to Magdalena Hoppel for winning the first prize of the 'Hans Christian Korting Nachwuchspreis' at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Dermopharmacy in March 2017 in Munich for her poster: A novel strategy to assess drug delivery kinetics to epidermal targets in vivo (see page 14).
• Anton Luger prize for Denise Beltzung (formerly Mahrhauser) for her dissertation: Simultaneous determination of the skin penetration of drug and vehicle compounds by ¹⁹F NMR and assessment of their interaction with the skin by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.
• Congretulations to Victoria Klang for her Back to Research Grant from the University of Vienna.
• Congratulations to Magdalena Hoppel for the Gertrude Pleskot Award of the Faculty of Life Sciences.
• Congratulations to Magdalena Hoppel for the Maria Schaumayer prize for her dissertation and congratulations to her Schrödinger scholarship in the lab of Prof. Richard Guy (Bath, UK).
• Congratulations to Magdalena Hoppel for her successful defensio of her Ph.D.: Development of dispersed drug delivery systems and investigation of their skin penetration by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy.
• A new article concerning the FWF project (P24846 ) "Simultaneous determination of the skin penetration of drug and vehicle compounds" connected to the platform has been published in the Forschungsnewsletter University of Vienna, March, 2014: "Forschung hautnah"
• Mag. Dr. Julia Schwarz received the Bank Austria Innovation Prize for her Ph.D. thesis "Formulation design of dermal Drug Delivery Systems, Characterisation by NMR and Investigation of Skin Interaction by ATR-FTIR" handed over by Vice Rector Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik.
• Mag. Dr. Julia Schwarz was awarded with the Dr. Maria Schaumayer-Stiftung prize for her Ph.D. thesis.