Pharmacokinetics Guided Natural Products Exploration for Drug Discovery, Development, Delivery and Therapy

About the Project

Natural products have emerged as a key standard in novel and safe delivery of anticancer bioactive compounds. Apart from their ease of administration and delivery, natural/phytochemicals still face several hurdles, due to their physiochemical and pharmacokinetic properties. Nowadays, nanotechnology has been widely proposed to deliver herbal drugs, due to its drug delivery system which might potentiate the pharmacological profile of phytochemicals. In the last decade, several studies have been focused on targeting synthetic drugs using polymers.

Several research groups reported the semi-synthetic derivative of natural products with polymers, however, there is a need for research to be done with isolated natural compounds. Polymeric conjugation/encapsulation with poor-bioavailable phytopharmaceuticals might increase their bioavailability and thereby may decrease the dose frequency leading to improved patient compliance. As classical prodrugs, they can accelerate the process of endocytosis to cross the cell membrane and reach their intracellular targets. This is because of their enhanced EPR effect, which can enhance the accumulation of tumour mass. The terminal groups are amenable to specific functionalities and allow molecules to be attached to a phytochemical moiety, resulting in targeted specific, and controlled drug delivery.

With this immense potential and possibilities, the present research work is proposed to overcome the hurdle of natural product delivery using nano formulations. The properties of the nano formulation would be combined with the advantages of nano formulation for targeted delivery of the natural anticancer bioactive compounds.

Objectives

1. To perform pre-formulation studies of the selected natural bioactive compounds.
2. To optimise nano-formulation for effective delivery.
3. To perform the characterization of developed formulation using various analytical techniques and stability studies.
4. To carry out in vivo and/or in vitro anticancer studies using suitable models for the evaluation of developed nano formulation (s).

How to apply

Formal applications can be submitted via the University of Bradford web site; applicants will need to register an account, select 'Postgraduate Research' as the course and then use the keywords 'cancer therapeutics'. Applicants should then specify the project title in the 'Research Proposal' section.

About the University of Bradford

Bradford is a research-active University supporting the highest-quality research. We excel in applying our research to benefit our stakeholders by working with employers and organisations world-wide across the private, public, voluntary and community sectors and actively encourage and support our postgraduate researchers to engage in research and business development activities.

Positive Action Statement

At the University of Bradford our vision is a world of inclusion and equality of opportunity, where people want to, and can, make a difference. We place equality and diversity, inclusion, and a commitment to social mobility at the centre of our mission and ethos. In working to make a difference we are committed to addressing systemic inequality and disadvantages experienced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff and students.

Under sections 158-159 of the Equality Act 2010, positive action can be taken where protected group members are under-represented. At Bradford, our data show that people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic groups who are UK nationals are significantly under-represented at the postgraduate researcher level.

These are lawful measures designed to address systemic and structural issues which result in the under-representation of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic students in PGR studies.

Funding Notes

This is a self-funded PhD project; applicants will be expected to pay their own fees or have a suitable source of third-party funding. Bench fees may apply to this project, in addition to tuition fees. UK students may be able to apply for a Doctoral Loan from Student Finance for financial support.