The following are the learning objectives of the course. After the course, students:
a) are able to distinguish between active and passive targeting and explain their applicability for different diseases;
b) can explain the concept of active targeting, biological barriers for nanoparticles and cell-specific targeting and gene delivery;
c) are able to apply the knowledge of targeting technologies for in vivo diagnosis/imaging, image-guided drug delivery;
d) understand the concepts of microfluidics in nanomedicine such as point-of-care devices, molecular and single cell analysis and drug screening, in vitro diagnostics;
e) are able to explain design of a study, methods and interpret results of the given paper as well as critically analyze research papers on the topic a), b), c) and d);
f) are able to write and present a research proposal and can fulfil the following criteria thereof –
- identify and define a research problem, and take a scientific approach to solve the problem.
- are able to design experimental plan
- describe the application of the expected results.
- are able to work in a team
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Nanomedicine is one of the most dynamic fields, which holds a high potential to make a huge impact on the medical science. Nanomedicine is in general defined as medical applications of nanotechnology. In recent years, nanotechnologies have been applied for drug delivery, imaging/diagnostics, biosensing, in vitro diagnostics, and tissue engineering. One of the largest areas for nanomedicine is the drug delivery/targeting. Conventional medicine, which are either administered orally or with injections, are not always successful for achieving the desired therapeutic effects but rather show high side effects. Therefore, novel drug delivery systems are highly crucial to develop, using which the drugs can be specially delivered at the targeted site or even to the specific cell types. Using these novel approaches, high therapeutic effects and low/no side effects can be achieved. A large part of the course will be devoted to the drug delivery. Besides drug delivery, nanomedicine includes applications of nanomaterials for imaging and diagnostics as well as theranostics (therapeutics + diagnostics), which will be covered up during this course. Applications to drug delivery and imaging are mostly related to applications of nanotechnologies in vivo. In addition, nanomedicine also covers up in vitro applications such as diagnostics using biosensing techniques and microfluidics. Students will also write a research proposal during this course on an assigned topic of nanomedicine, which allows them to further develop their knowledge on this subject. Altogether this course provides a broader and in depth understanding of the emerging field of nanomedicine.
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