2024 Molecular Pharmaceutics Lectureship Awards

The Molecular Pharmaceutics Early Career Best Paper Award recognizes three early-career authors from three major geographical regions (the Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific), highlighting their exceptional research published in the journal and the profound impact it has had on the field of molecular pharmaceutics.

In this webinar, the winners of the inaugural Molecular Pharmaceutics Early Career Best Paper Award— Dr. Atabak Ghanizadeh Tabriz, Dr. Huyen Tran, and Dr. Piyushkumar Gondaliya— present their research and answer questions submitted by live attendees, moderated by Editor-in-Chief Prof. Lynne Taylor.

Speakers

Dr. Atabak Ghanizadeh Tabriz- Dr. Atabak Ghanizadeh Tabriz, the winner of the award for the EMEA region, is a research fellow at the University of Greenwich and University of Nottingham in the U.K. and is currently working in the area of 3D-printing for point of care applications. His research article, 3D Printed Flavor-Rich Chewable Pediatric Tablets Fabricated Using Microextrusion for Point of Care Applications, was selected by the committee for its potential high impact toward the quest of developing patient-centric medicines, in particular those that are both dose appropriate and palatable for children. Through an academic–industry collaboration, Ghanizadeh Tabriz and co-workers demonstrated that chewable ibuprofen oral solid dosage forms could be 3D-printed in various desired shapes, including hearts, bananas, and rings, using a microextrusion 3D printing process.

Dr. Huyen Tran- Dr. Huyen Tran is a Director in Formulation and Delivery at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, IN, USA, working on oral peptide delivery. Her paper, In Vivo Mechanism of Action of Sodium Caprate for Improving the Intestinal Absorption of a GLP1/GIP Coagonist Peptide, was selected as the best paper for the Americas region. This paper describes a comprehensive investigation of how permeation enhancers such as sodium caprate can improve the oral absorption of poorly permeable peptides. This paper also highlights the importance of peptide physicochemical properties such as proteolytic stability and in vitro permeability for achieving high oral bioavailability. The study specifically focused on a glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GIP-GLP1) dual agonist peptide intended for use in diabetes management as well as for weight loss. Due to factors such as poor permeability, self-association, and low proteolytic stability, oral peptide bioavailability is extremely low.

Dr. Piyushkumar Gondaliya- Dr. Piyushkumar Gondaliya is currently a research fellow at the Mayo Clinic. He was a Ph.D. student at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Technology in Gujarat, India, when he worked on the research that was the subject of his Molecular Pharmaceutics article chosen for the early career best paper award from the Asia Pacific region. This article, Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes Loaded with miR-155 Inhibitor Ameliorate Diabetic Wound Healing, addresses an important complication of diabetes, namely, the low tendency of wounds to heal in diabetic patients, leading to a high frequency of limb amputation.