Biotechnology delivery

The commercialization of developments in biotechnology will require a new breed of chemical engineer, one with a solid foundation in the life sciences as well as in process engineering principles. This engineer will be able to bring iimovative and economic solutions to problems in health care delivery and in the large-scale implementation of advances in molecular biology. 

A notable property of liposomes, which has not been appreciated enough, is the presence of water inside liposomes. This makes them an excellent delivery system for biotechnologically engineered proteins with tertiary and quanternary structures which are sensitive to irreversible damage induced by dehydration, as often occurs with alternative, particulate carrier systems. 

Poste, G., and Kirsh, R. (1983). Site-specific (targeted) drug delivery in cancer chemotherapy. Biotechnology, 1, 869-878. 

Such hydrogels have been suggested to be suitable for biotechnological applications (DNA delivery vehicles, cell encapsulation) [28]. Recently, amphiphilic dibock copolypeptide hydrogels of KigoL2o were used in an in vivo study where the hydrogels were injected into the mouse forebrain. Evaluation of samples displayed substantial tissue integration with little or no detectable toxicity in the central nervous system [148]. 

However, it has to be realized that biological templates remain inserted in the final nanoparticles and this is not acceptable for many applications. Nevertheless, some recent examples indicate that such biomimetic materials may be suitable for the design of biotechnological and medical devices [32]. For instance, it was shown that silica gels formed in the presence of p-R5 were excellent host matrices for enzyme encapsulation [33]. In parallel, biopolymer/silica hybrid macro-, micro- and nanocapsules were recently obtained via biomimetic routes and these exhibit promising properties for the design of drug delivery materials (see Section 3.1.1) [34,35],... 

Additional future innovations likely to impact upon pharmaceutical biotechnology include the development of alternative product production systems, alternative methods of delivery and the development of engineered cell-based therapies, particularly stem cell therapy. As mentioned previously, protein-based biotechnology products produced to date are produced in either microbial... 

Orive, G., Hernandez, R.M., Gascon, A.R., Dominguez-Gil, A., and Pedraz, J.L. 2003. Drug delivery in biotechnology present and future. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 14(6), 659-664. 

Saunders LM, Hendren RW. Protein Delivery Physical Systems, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Vol. 10, Plenum Press, New York, 1997. 

Bioteehnology produets differ in their method of preparation and potential problems they present in their formulation. Pharmacists involved in compounding with biologically active proteins are interested in their stabilization, formulation, and delivery. Most of the current biotechnology products are proteins, but soon some may be smaller peptide-like molecules. 

In working with biotechnology-derived drugs, the compoimding pharmacist must be cognizant of both the active drug constituent and the total drug delivery system or... 

In addition, artificial materials have been employed in diverse diagnostic and therapeutic applications and biotechnologies, e.g., tracers for advanced imaging technologies, carriers for controlled drug and gene delivery, biosensors and growth supports for cells in a culture. 

The polyamide is a substituted nylon 2, that is, it is derived from an a-amino acid—the same type used in living organisms to produce polypeptides. NCA polymerizations have been used to synthesize polypeptides, both homopolymers and copolymers, that may be useful in biotechnology applications such as artificial tissues, drug delivery, and biosensors. 

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