Delivering Drugs to the Brain

One of the major roadblocks in treating diseases affecting the brain lies in delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier. From nanoparticles to neurotropic viruses and exosomes to shark antibodies, scientists and engineers develop new strategies to bring effective therapeutics into this immunologically privileged space. In this seminar, experts will discuss interventions that target the blood-brain barrier to facilitate drug delivery to the brain.

Topics to be covered

Overcoming the blood-brain barrier by light
Beating the barrier to improve drug delivery
Enabling brain therapy with physical technologies
Microbubble-enhanced focused ultrasound and controlled blood-brain barrier opening in clinical trials

Speakers

Zhenpeng Qin, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering
Center for Advanced Pain Studies (CAPS), University of Texas at Dallas
Adjunct Faculty of Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Olaf van Tellingen, PhD
Group Leader,
Division of Pharmacology,
Netherlands Cancer Institute,
Amsterdam

Costas Arvanitis, PhD
Assistant Professor, G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and W. H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University

Graeme F. Woodworth, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Director, Brain Tumor Program and Translational Therapeutics Research Group, Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Maryland

Seminar Sponsors