Welcome to the Foldvari Research Group
Drug Delivery and Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology Laboratory
Dr. Marianna Foldvari is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Canada Research Chair in Bionanotechnology and Nanomedicine (2007-2014) at the University of Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy. Dr. Foldvari’s expertise is in pharmaceutics, dosage forms, drug delivery system design (dermal, transdermal, transmucosal, ocular, and intranasal), nanotechnology, non-viral delivery methods and vaccine development.
Currently, the Foldvari Group is investigating novel materials, methods, mechanisms and pathways to enable the discovery and invention of needle-free administration of medicines. We are working on developing non-invasive drug delivery technologies and pharmaceutical products based on these technologies.
Our objectives are to:
- Develop novel delivery systems and formulations for drugs, proteins, nucleic acids and vaccines
- Create hybrid systems, e.g., DNA-nanoparticles, carbon nanotube composites and other unique structures
- Create nanoprobe systems for diagnostics and repair of biological functions
- Investigate natural and synthetic materials for fabrication of delivery and diagnostic systems
- Create interfacing methods between physical and biological systems
- Investigate molecular functions at the bio/nano interface using computer modelling and visualization of the delivery systems
News
Successful PhD Defense by Roger Chen
Roger' Thesis Title: Development of in vitro 3D model systems for screening non-viral neurotrophic factor gene therapies for the retina.
He received the Pearson Gold Medal for this work.
2014 Young Scholar Award
Congratulations! - Roger Chen was recently awarded the “2014-Young Scholar Award” sponsored by Dove Medical Press. The Award was presented at the 12th Annual Current Issues in Medicine, Biotech and Pharma Conference held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York on September 17-18, 2014.
2014 AAPS Conference, San Diego, CA
Posters at AAPS 2014:
Samih Alqawlaq, Jeremy M. Sivak, Torin Huzil, Marina V. Ivanova, John Flanagan, Michael A. Beazely,and Marianna Foldvari
Gemini-phospholipid nanoparticles as gene carriers for glaucoma gene therapy
Ding Wen (Roger) Chen and Marianna Foldvari
Development and characterization of a co-culture of healthy and oxidatively stressed retinal cells as a model for evaluating gene delivery systems for the treatment of glaucoma