Prof. Costas Kiparissides Dr Costas Kiparissides is a Professor in Chemical Engineering at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 1981. In 1971, he received his diploma Degree in Chemical Engineering from NTUA. In 1978, he received his Ph.D. Degree from McMaster University in Canada. From 1978-1983, he taught at University of Alberta in Canada. During the period 2005-2010 was director of the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH).
Dr Kiparissides current research interests are in the areas of functional materials, polymers, mathematical modelling, biochemical and biomedical systems engineering. He has supervised more than sixty Ph.D. theses and published over 250 scientific papers.
The present lecture provides an overview of nanotechnology-based strategies to overcome various mucus gel barriers including the intestinal, nasal, ocular, vaginal, and pulmonary mucus layers without destroying them. In particular, state-of-the-art mucus permeating nanocarrier-based delivery systems (e.g., self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS), polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs), anionic lipid emulsions (ALE), etc.) are presented and critically assessed. The drug loaded nanocarriers were characterized with respect to particle size distribution, zeta potential, protein loading and release kinetics, storage stability, cytotoxicity and ability to protect drugs from degradation by intestinal enzymes. Finally, the ability of the nanocarriers to diffuse through fresh porcine intestinal mucus was experimentally assessed.