Name: Jan Heimink
Diploma / M.Sc degree: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
(February 2007)

PhD Project: Drug release from hybrid silica gels

Abstract of Research Project

The bioavailability of pharmaceutical drugs is often limited by their intrinsic solubility. Sol-gel processed hybrid silica xerogels were discovered as promising carriers for pharmaceutical molecules in the past years.

The purpose of my project is to control drug release by encapsulating drugs in such matrices. A homogenous molecular distribution of the drug in the xerogel and organic side groups, covalently bound to the silica matrix, can influence the kinetics of drug release. One important aspect influencing the encapsulation of the drug molecule is the charge of the embedded drug and the charge of the matrix surface. Due to charge effects diffusion processes, which affect the release of the drug from the gel network, can directly be influenced by the interplay among hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity.

Studying the release kinetics and porosity of the matrix is a main goal of the project. In addition, the mobility of the incorporated drug will be investigated. Regarding to possible motion of drug molecules within the pore system of the matrix, the investigation of non-covalent host-guest interaction is of great interest.



Publications

J. Heimink, P. Sieger, H. Koller
Two-Dimensional pH Mapping of Release Kinetics of Silica-Encapsulated Drugs
J. Pharm. Sci. 100 (2011), 4401-4412.

Jan Heimink
eMail: Jan Heimink