Liposomes in Drug Delivery

Professor Antimisiaris’ lab has extensive experience (more than 25 years) in design and production of liposomal and lipid/polymer/cyclodextrin hybrid nanoparticulates for drug and/or imaging agent delivery and targeting to specific target cells. Several administration routes have been investigated or are under investigation in regards to the specific requirements of liposomes for each specific route (such as: iv, ip, oral, lung/intrapleural, ocular/intravitreal, vaginal, etc.). Her laboratory also has long term collaborations with industries and is involved in development of new products. She has experience as coordinator and/or WP-leader in several large scale European Collaborative Projects, as Shiva (FP6), for development of liposomal microbicides for vaginal delivery, NAD (FP7, Nanoparticles for diagnosis and Therapy of AD), for design and development of liposomes s with affinity for Abeta peptides, SBR (Smart Bone Regeneration, H2020), for development of liposomal growth factors integrated in biomaterials. Her team have also been working for many years on the application of arsonolipid-containing liposomes for therapy of cancer with promising in vitro and in vivo results. They also investigate the development of novel platforms for sustained release of drugs following ocular/intravitreous, vaginal, intrapleural or subcutaneous administration.

Part I – Basic concepts of Liposome-Assisted Drug Delivery
1. Introduction to Liposome Assisted Drug Delivery
2. Basic concepts of Liposome: components, structures, properties and classification
3. Liposome Characterization Methodologies(Physical and Chemical Methods)
4. Liposome Characterization Methodologies - Morphological Assessments by Microscopy
5. Liposome Stability and Integrity
6. In vivo fate of Liposomes: Biodistribution and cell membrane interactions

Part II – Mechanisms of Liposome Drug Delivery
7. Liposomes in controlled drug delivery: Controlling drug release kinetics and biodistribution/pharmacokinetics
8. Liposome surface modifications-Engineering techniques
9. Activatable liposomes: Ultrasound-activated liposomes and lipid vesicles

Part III – Liposome Applications in drug delivery
10. Liposomes for drug delivery to the brain
11. Liposomes for drug delivery to cancer cells
12. Liposomes as vaccine delivery systems
13. Liposomes as DNA, mRNA and oligonucleotide delivery vectors
14. Liposomes for drug delivery by localized routes of administration
15. Liposome for drug delivery against infectious diseases
16. Liposomes for drug delivery via biomaterials
17. Liposomes for delivery of substances for other (non-therapeutic) applications

Part IV –Liposome fabrication
18. Conventional methods for preparing liposomes of various types (MLVs, LUVs, SUVs )
19. Size reduction, purification, sterilization and storage/packaging of Liposomes
20. Methods for preparation of Giant liposomes: Conventional methods; Modified electro-techniques
21. Microfluidic methods for liposome formation
22. Supercritical fluids and other novel methods for liposome formation
23. Design of experiment approaches for liposome property optimization
24. Development of generic liposome products for drug delivery

Part V – Conclusions and Perspectives
25. Success stories, Final remarks and directions of the field