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CRS Jorge Heller Journal of Controlled Release Outstanding Paper Award |
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Co-sponsored by ELSEVIER CRITERIA SELECTION PROCESS AWARD
Jorge Heller Journal of Controlled Release Outstanding Paper Award 2009 Author Biographies
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CRS Jorge Heller Journal of Controlled Release Outstanding Paper Award |
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Co-sponsored by ELSEVIER CRITERIA SELECTION PROCESS AWARD
Jorge Heller Journal of Controlled Release Outstanding Paper Award 2009 Author Biographies
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MS Powerpoint File
Prof. Dr. Jörg Kreuter studied pharmacy from 1968 to 1971 at the Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany. He worked on his Ph.D. degree from 1972 to 1974 at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) under the supervision of Prof. P. Speiser. His doctoral thesis was honored with the ETH-Medal. He received his habilitation (D.S. degree) in 1982 at ETH. In 1977 he worked as a post-doc with Prof. T. Higuchi in Lawrence, KS, U.S.A., and in 1979 with Prof. W. I. Higuchi in Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A. In 1983 he was a guest professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S.A. In 1984 he became an associate professor in pharmaceutical technology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt. In 1990 he became a full professor in Frankfurt. Twice he has been dean: 1988–1989 and 1997–1998. In addition, from 1987 to 1990 he was a governor of the Controlled Release Society. He has more than 280 publications and is the recipient of a number of awards and prizes, including the APV Prize. His research areas are nanoparticles, drug-targeting, drug transport across the blood-brain barrier using nanoparticles, microspheres, trans-dermal transport, polymeric drug delivery systems, adjuvants for vaccines, solid solutions, stability testing by microcalorymetry, and container materials.
Anja Zensi was born and raised in Namibia. She studied pharmacy at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and is now a Ph.D. candidate at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany. Her research focuses on the electron microscopic investigation of the transport mechanisms of nanoparticulate drug carrier systems across the blood-brain barrier and has been conducted at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology under the direction of Prof. Dr. Jörg Kreuter, as well as at King’s College London in Dr. David Begley’s research group. 
David J. Begley, Ph.D. is a senior lecturer in physiology at Kings College London. He heads a laboratory in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division at Kings College, investigating the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and drug delivery to the CNS, with a special emphasis on lysosomal storage diseases. He is the author of more than 60 key peer-reviewed papers on BBB function and drug delivery to the CNS and has contributed more than 16 chapters on BBB and CNS drug delivery to edited volumes. Dr. Begley was the Friedrich Mertz Stiftungsgastprofessor, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, for the 1997–1998 academic year (shortly after his collaboration with Jörg Kreuter began) and was a visiting academic in residence at GlaxoSmithKline (2005–2007). He was the organizer and chair of the Gordon Conference on “Barriers of the CNS” held in New Hampshire in 2002. He lectures frequently worldwide on the BBB and receives research support from national research councils, the pharmaceutical industry, and charitable foundations. He has recently created, with Prof. Maurizio Scarpa of the University of Padua, Italy, The Brains for Brain Research Foundation, a European task force dedicated to the study and treatment of neurodegenerative lysosomal storage diseases (
Charles C. Pontikis is a post-doctoral research fellow with a broad knowledge of the neurosciences and strong background and particular focus on lysosomal storage disorders. Pontikis recently concluded a four-year research project that looked at the comparison and quantification of BBB permeability to solutes of defined molecular weight and physio-chemical characteristics in two mouse models of Sanfilippo syndrome (MPS III A and MPS III B) and in normal mice. In this study a new variant of the in situ brain perfusion technique was used to assess how extensively the BBB may be compromised in human MPS III A and MPS III B and how the transport function may alter. Another recent study investigated BBB permeability to a complex carbohydrate molecule, 2-Hydroxypropyl-[14C]-propyl-β-cyclodextrin (Cyclo), in Nieman Pick disease C type 1 mice. This study incorporated the in situ method and a series of longer term i.p. infusions, which were useful in determining that Cyclo does not cross the BBB. Instead, the therapeutic benefits of Cyclo are the result of an unknown mechanism. Pontikis is about to commence a study looking at Arylsulfatase A transport at the BBB in polychromatic leukodystrophy and assess whether it can be delivered to the CNS.
Celine Legros is a neurophysiologist with a strong background in pharmacology. She did her Ph.D. research in France (INRA, Tours), studying the diffusion of melatonin from the CSF into the brain and working on the characterization of a new melatonin binding site expressed in the cerebral tissue, with the aim of understanding how melatonin acts in the brain. Afterward, she occupied a post-doctoral position in the Blood Brain Barrier Group at King’s College London, working on blood brain barrier permeability and integrity in mutant mouse models of Sanfilippo syndrome (lysosomal storage diseases). She is currently a post-doctoral research fellow in the Institut de Recherches Servier (Croissy sur Seine, France) and is interested in the characterization of new melatoninergic molecules for the identification and characterization of new melatonin receptors.
Dr. Larisa Mihoreanu is a post-doctoral researcher working with Dr. David Begley in the Blood-Brain Barrier Group at King’s College London. Since her Ph.D. research years in France, her research has focused on blood-brain barrier neuropharmacology in health and disease. She studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms linked to neuro pathology and ways to improve the efficiency of treatment in order to prevent progressive mental deterioration. The team’s strategy is to exploit blood-brain barrier transport mechanisms that would not normally allow these drugs to cross. A global approach based on diverse investigation techniques, ranging from organ to protein and gene, is important in both understanding a pathological state and designing a therapy.
Sylvia Wagner studied chemistry from 1997 to 2003 at the University Karlsruhe and did her diploma thesis in the group of Prof. Dr. A. Hartwig at the Institute for Food Chemistry and Toxicology at the University Karlsruhe. As an external Ph.D. student from Prof. Dr. J. Kreuter’s group (University Frankfurt), she has done her Ph.D. thesis (“Preclinical Testing of Nanoparticulate Formulations Based on Human Serum Albumin for Specific Drug Targeting) since 2004 in the group of Prof. Dr. H. von Briesen at the Fraunhofer IBMT. Since October 2008 she has been group manager of preclinical nanobiotechnology at the Department of Cell Biology & Applied Virology at the Fraunhofer IBMT. Wagner’s main research topics are focused on nanobiotechnology. Nanoparticulate formulations were preclinically tested in different in vitro cell culture models by the preclinical nanobiotechnology group. Formulations for specific drug targeting (e.g., tumor targeting), as well as for crossing of biological barriers (e.g., blood-brain barrier), are the main focus. Wagner was and still is involved in several joint research projects in the field of drug delivery systems based on nanotechnologies (“NanoDrug”; “NanoCancer”; “NanoBrain”) that were and are funded by EU and BMBF, as well as projects (“Development of Nanoparticles as Carrier Systems Across the Blood-Brain Barrier for Antidotes Against Organoposphate Poisoning”) supported by the German Federal Armed Forces.
Prof. Dr. Claudia Büchel studied biology at the University of Mainz, specializing in the biochemistry and physiology of plants and algae. In 1990 she obtained her Ph.D. degree at the same university under the supervision of Prof. Dr. A. Wild. After staying on as a research assistant, she spent a six-month stay at the Hungarian Academy of Science, working with spectroscopic techniques in the group of Dr. Garab in Szeged. In 1996 Dr. Büchel started working at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London. In the group of Prof. Dr. J. Barber she focused on electron microscopy techniques for the elucidation of the structure of photosynthetic membrane proteins, mainly photosystem II. In 2001 she was honored with a Heisenberg Fellowship to join Prof. W. Kühlbrandt at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt to continue this work. Since 2004 she has been a full professor at the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, where she has been dean of studies for the last two years. Dr. Büchel’s main research activities focus on the elucidation of the structure and function of photosynthetic membrane protein complexes by biochemical, spectroscopical, and electron microscopy techniques.
Prof. Dr. Hagen von Briesen studied biochemistry at the University of Frankfurt (obtaining a Ph.D. degree in 1990), and he was associate professor for experimental hematology at the University of Regensburg. Today, he is head of the Department for Cell Biology and Applied Virology at the FhG-IBMT and professor for experimental hematology at the University of Saarland (since 2010). The main research topics of his team are focused on cell biology, nanobiotechnology, and virology. He is involved in several joint research projects in the field of cell programming by nanoscaled devices, as well as drug delivery systems based on nanotechnologies (“CellProm”; “NanoDrug”; “NanoCancer”; “Functional Systems on the Basis of Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Brain Tumors: Transport Mechanisms and Toxicity Studies in Cell Culture”) that were and are funded by EU and BMBF, as well as projects (“Development of Nanoparticles as Carrier Systems Across the Blood-Brain-Barrier for Antidotes Against Organoposphate Poisoning”) supported by the German Federal Armed Forces. Beyond that, Dr. von Briesen has many years of experience in research in HIV and experimental hematology, as well as in developing diagnostics and is presently coordinating the Global HIV Vaccine Research Cryoprepository GHRC, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.