Graduate Research Assistant, Long-Acting Dosage Form Development
• Performed early product development of oil-in-water nanoemulsions for delivery of small molecule drugs, diagnostic tracers, and oxygen. Optimized process parameter of product prototypes where formulations exhibiting critical quality attributes within pre-defined specifications (e.g., particle size < 200 nm) were advanced through further product development.• Executed forced degradation experiments to evaluate chemical stability of API using HPLC. Applied chemical reaction kinetics fundamentals to calculate reaction rate constant of API degradation process and impact of temperature. Observed 9-fold stability improvements of encapsulated form.• Performed particle size analysis of polymeric micelles, emulsions, and lipid nanoparticles using dynamic light scattering and microscopy. Utilized centrifugation, filtration, and extreme temperature to elicit particle coarsening and utilized colloid science fundamentals to investigate stability mechanisms.• Developed and troubleshot flow cytometry & ELISA methods and analysis of macrophages in response to hypoxic cultivation and subsequent administration of bespoke oxygen nano-carriers. Achieved an increase in intracellular pO2 from 1.0 to 7.7% in response to one dose.• Assessed reactive oxygen species upregulation in pro-inflammatory (M2) macrophages in response to LPS-mediated immune activation and quantified dose-response & potency of a small molecule scavenger using a cell-based colorimetric bioassay. Achieved 66% improvement in scavenging potency with encapsulation.
