| Abstract Scope |
Chemical processing of functional ceramics has played a key role in converging disciplines, which is especially true for biomedical applications. For example, the development of biocompatible drug-carriers that can hold back the payloads and release the drugs or antibiotics at the specific diseased area is a materials processsing challenge. The selective transport and retention of drugs in sufficiently high concentrations at the target site is inhibited by various physiological barriers, which reduces or even blocks the therapeutic efficiency of molecular drugs. Therefore, advanced drug-delivery systems designed to overcome biological barriers are needed to meet the specific traits of physiological and disease-related barriers. In this context, chemically functionalized nanoparticles act as efficient drug-carriers to transport higher amounts of therapeutic payloads to diseased sites that also reduces the undesired off-site effects. Moreover, hollow nanocarriers can incorporate more than one drug enabling theranostic and theraregenerative approaches. Finally, ceramic nanoparticles can be modified with surface-bound target ligands to exploit the overexpression of receptors and promote cell specific attachment of the carriers for a localized high concentration of drug around disease sites. This talk will discuss the potential benefits of inorganic nanoparticles towards precision drug delivery. |