µ-Props

µ-Props - Graduate Program (Niedersächsisches Promotionsprogramm) - "Processing of Poorly Soluble Drugs at Small Scale"

The PhD program “Processing of Poorly Soluble Drugs at Small Scale - µ-PROPS” which started in fall  2014 creates an inspiring setting for young researchers in the area of  pharmaceutical engineering and provides intensive education in this highly interdisciplinary field. The PhD projects are centered around the question how poorly soluble drugs can be adequately produced, formulated and processed into applicable and effective medicines. As newly identified drug candidates are usually available only in very small amounts the projects also addresses the issue of solving these questions in a material-saving way.

The program is organized in four thematic clusters:

Within the clusters, the following subjects are addressed:

Cluster 1 – Chemical Synthesis and Downstream Processing

• Developing metal-NHC complexes for pharmaceutical applications (1A)
• Synthesis, crystallization and optimization of poorly soluble protein kinase inhibitors (1B)
• Predicting the solubility of drug candidates (1C)
• Model-based analysis of stability and robustness of continuous production of pharmaceutical ingredients (1D)
• Reactor design, reaction monitoring and scale-up for the continuous synthesis of poorly soluble API (1E)
• Continuous synthesis, isolation and purification of poorly soluble protein kinase inhibitors (1F)

Cluster 2 – Biotechnological Production and Downstream Processing

• Tailored production of anti-infectives by Streptomyces sp. (2A)
• Microbial production of plant prenylated compounds (2B)
• Sustainable production of the antiinfective benzylisothiocyanate from biosynthetic benzylglucosinolate (2C)
• Production and processing of anti-infectives from microbial sources (2D)

Cluster 3 – Micro-precipitation for the preparation of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems

• Processing of nanoparticles out of poorly water-soluble drugs by precipitation and drying using microsystems (3A)
• Formulation and preparation of colloidal carrier systems for poorly soluble drugs by precipitation (3B)
• Precipitation in micro systems (3C)
• Microdevices for nanoparticle separation and analysis (3D)

Cluster 4 – Crossing biological barriers by means of nanoscale formulations

• Development and evaluation of nanoscale drug delivery systems to the brain – a microfluidic approach of a co-culture model of the blood brain barrier (4A)
• Microfluidic system as model of the blood brain barrier (4B)
• Plasma-induced modification of the dermal drug absorption from nanoscale formulations (4C)

The PhD programme essentially comprised 15 Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg fellowships, which were funded by the Ministry for Science and Culture as part of the Lower Saxony doctoral programme from 2014 - 2018. In addition, the programme was supported by additional research institutions and industrial partners (see below).
The doctoral students were supervised in tandem by a representative of the life sciences and a representative of the engineering sciences to strengthen interdisciplinary cooperation.

Funded by the Ministry for Science & Culture of the German State of Lower Saxony.