| Bozena Michniak-Kohn |
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Associate Professor Department of Pharmaceutics
B. S. (): |
| Research Interests The main focus of the research group headed by Dr. Bozena B. Michniak-Kohn is in the area of topical and transdermal drug delivery. Part of the work is devoted to the tissue engineering of skin, and a human skin co-culture of fibroblasts and keratinocytes using collagen as a dermal matrix, has been developed and been shown to possess similar drug permeability to human skin. The aim is to develop this bioengineered human skin as a screen for examining skin barrier properties, as well as a model for inflammatory and cytotoxicity testing. Projects include evaluation of correlations between the drug permeability, stratum corneum lipid composition/organization, growth media composition, immunohistochemistry, and morphology and gross structure of the bioengineered skin. Other major projects in the laboratory include optimization of formulations for topical and transdermal delivery, such as topically applied gels, drug targeting, nanosphere and unimolecular polymeric micellar formulations, as well as liposomal creams. In addition, projects include the design of transdermal and buccal patches for the U.S. Army, development of a novel microneedle transdermal delivery system, and iontophoretic delivery of drugs with and without additional chemical enhancement. Drug permeability pathways and effect of agents as well as iontophoresis on skin membranes are being investigated using confocal microscopy as well as SEM, TEM, Raman spectroscopy and FTIR. Additional studies involve the effects of protective barrier creams on the penetration of chemical warfare agent mimics using various skin models. Structure-activity relationships have been investigated for over 250 newly synthesized compounds with both dermal enhancing and retarding properties. The work includes chemical modeling of both the enhancer/retardant compounds as well as the modeling of lipid layers of the stratum corneum. The potential uses for retardant compounds include sunscreens and other cosmetic formulations, pesticides and chemical warfare agents. Chemical enhancers may be used in transdermal drug delivery systems to allow increased drug permeation into and across the skin thereby decreasing the amount of drug needed in the formulation as well as side-effects ex. topical steroids. The permeability of both small molecular weight compounds (steroids, antibacterials, etc.) and large molecular weight compounds (antisense oligonucleotides) are also being studied. |
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Department of
Pharmaceutics, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
160-Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8022, USA.
Tel: (732) 445-3589; Fax: (732) 445-5006
Email: michniak@biology.rutgers.edu
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Last Updated: 08/01/2007
