Marianna Foldvari

Dr. Foldvari's research focuses on the development of intelligent delivery systems and biomolecular devices with the goal of developing new, non-invasive technologies to deliver and target therapeutic agents into the body and to diseased tissues, as well as investigating the fundamental properties of these delivery technologies and the cells they target.

• Molecular Therapeutics and Theranostics
• Nanomaterials
• Pharmacokinetics

Dr. Marianna Foldvari is an internationally recognized expert in nanomedicine. Dr Foldvari’s interest includes pharmaceutical nanotechnology, non-invasive drug, protein and gene delivery system design (dermal, transdermal, transmucosal, ocular and intrapulmonary) for regenerative medicine in dermatology, ophthalmology and immunology,

• PhD Pharmaceutical Sciences (Dalhousie University)
• DPharmSci (Semmelweis Medical University)
• BSc Pharmacy (Semmelweis Medical University)

• WIN Research Leaders Award
• Honorary Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievements in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Ontario
• AAPS Fellow
• The AFPC Pfizer Research Career Award
• YWCA Women of Distinction Award,
• Saskatchewan Top 25 Science Achievement Award
• Sabex Award of Innovation

• Dr Foldvari currently serves as Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Controlled Release (IF:8.4), Associate Editor for Precision Nanomedicine and the Frontiers in Neuroscience, OA Drug Design and Delivery and for the past ten years (2006-2016) served as Associate Editor for Nanomedicine: NBM (IF: 6.9).
• Dr Foldvari serves as a grant reviewer on CIHR, NSERC, CFI, NIH and AAAS panels and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Initiatives review board.
• Dr Foldvari is one of the Founding Directors of the American Society for Nanomedicine (ASNM) and the International Society of Nanomedicine (ISNM).
• She served as Board Member for Genome Prairie and was a Member of the Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister on Science and Technology and a Founder of the Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS).
• Dr. Foldvari continues to conduct collaborative research with her colleagues in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan in the areas of gene therapy and vaccine development.
• In other areas of non-invasive technologies to deliver therapeutic DNA and proteins into the body and to specifically target these therapeutics to diseased tissues she has collaborations at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Semmelweis University, University of Colorado, University College London and University of Queensland. She also collaborates with colleagues and research scientists at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the Canadian Light Source.,

• Dr. Foldvari is also a Member of Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) and the Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology (CBB).

• Chen, D.W. and Foldvari, M. (2018). Retinal multipotent stem cell derived “MiEye” spheroid 3D culture model for preclinical screening of non-viral gene delivery systems. Precision Nanomedicine. July;1(2):106-123 DOI:10.29016/180711.1
• Chen D.W., Pauloff K. and Foldvari M. (2018) Three-dimensional co-culture bioassay for screening of retinal gene delivery systems. Methods Mol. Biol. 1715:79-88. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-7522-8_6.
• Calderon-Nieva D, Bandara-Goonewardene K, Gomis S, Foldvari M. (2017) Veterinary vaccine nanotechnology: pulmonary and nasal delivery in livestock animals. Drug Deliv. Transl. Res. DOI 10.1007/s13346-017-0400-9
• Bandara Goonewardene K, Popowich S, Gunawardana, T, Gupta A, Kurukulasuriya S, Karunarathna R, Chow-Lockerbie B, Ahmed KA, Tikoo S, Foldvari, M, Willson P and Gomis S.. (2017) Intrapulmonary Delivery of CpG-ODN Microdroplets Provides Protection Against Escherichia coli Septicemia in Neonatal Broiler Chickens Avian Dis. 61 (4), 503-511.
• Chen DW and Foldvari M. (2016) In vitro bioassay model for screening non-viral neurotrophic factor gene delivery systems for glaucoma treatment. Drug Deliv. Transl. Res. 6:676-685. doi:10.1007/s13346-016-0324-9
• Foldvari M. and Kumar P. (2017) Perspectives on dermal delivery of macromolecular drugs. In: Percutaneous penetration enhancers. Drug penetration into/through the skin. Dragicevic-Curic, N. and Maibach, H. (eds.), Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-53270-6_21