Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal organized a seminar on Nanomedicines: Risk and Benefit Ratio.

A panel of experts from the academia and industry deliberated on the nuances on the science of nanomedicine.

Dr Bharath Raja Guru, Dept. of Biotechnology, MIT, Manipal in his address on ‘Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery’ discussed the applications of various biomaterials like s implants, scleral plugs, dendrimers and PLGA nanoparticles on cancer therapy with case study reports.

Dr K B Koteshwara and Dr Srinivas Mutalik, shared their research experience on Smart Crystals and Transdermal/ Targeted Drug Delivery- Nanotechnology respectively. Dr Guruprasad Kalthur, associate professor- Clinical Embryology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, spoke on  liposome based cryopreservation medium for human spermatozoa.

Dr Raghavendra V Kulkarni, professor and head, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Technology, BLDE College of Pharmacy, Bijapur, spoke on the ‘Intelligent Hydrogels as Carriers for Nanopharmaceuticals’ and explained the role of intelligent hydrogels in the development of nano-based drug products.

Dr Praveer Gupta, managing director, Nanobiotherapeutics Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad spoke on the ‘Targeted delivery of the Therapeutics through Engineered Stable Bubble Nanoliposomes’ and highlighted that it was a new area of research. Dr Vandana Patravale, professor (Pharmaceutics), Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra shared details on the  ‘Lymphatic Targeting Using Long Chain Lipidic Nanoparticles’.

The day’s scientific sessions were ended with poster presentation and viewing by participants. About 16 delegates presented their research work related to nanotechnology.

On the second day of the seminar had GK Rajanikant, associate professor and head, School of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Calicut spoke on the ‘Model Systems for Nanotoxicity Testing’, which detailed aspects of risks associated with the nanoparticles and various evaluation tests for analysing the same.

Dr Vijay Kulkarni, head, Steer Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru spoke on the ‘Nano-pharmaceuticals and Hot-melt Extrusion Technology’. Dr Gopal V Shavi, senior scientist - Pharma Research, SPI Pharma Inc. Bengaluru spoke on the: opportunities and challenges in nanotechnology where he discussed various issues in the development of nano pharmaceuticals including  regulatory aspects related to marketing the nano based products.

Dr Anup Naha, Department of Pharmaceutics, MCOP, Manipal, shared his experience on Self-Nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery Systems. Dr Prasanna Sagar, deputy general manager, Gland Pharma, Hyderabad spoke on ‘QBD in Novel Drug Delivery Systems’ where he  compared the conventional and recent QBD approach with suitable case study reports.

Dr Usha Y Nayak, Department of Pharmaceutics, MCOP spoke on ‘Nanocrystal Technology – Current Strategies and Trends’. Dr C Mallikarjuna Ra, principal, MCOP was the chief guest At the end participation certificates were distributed to the delegates.