Course

Unit 1

Nanomedicine: Basic concepts in the design of nanomedicine, Basics of cancer biology, treatment options, desired specifications and features of cancer-nanomedicine, Concept of SMART nanomedicine

Unit 2

Nanomedicines for chemotherapy, cytotoxic drugs for cancer therapy, their merits and de-merits, how nanomedicines improve efficacy and safety of cytotoxic drugs, case studies: Abraxane, Doxil, Daunosome,

Unit 3

Important considerations of nanomaterials used for cancer-nanomedicine: Nanomedicines using polymers, lipids, liposomes, proteins, inorganic material systems, nano-injectables, oral delivery systems, nano-implants, case study: nano-implant/gel for brain tumor

Unit 4

Nanomedicine using Molecularly targeted drugs, methods of targeting multiple cancer mechanisms using single nanomedicines, Case study: Core-shell systems for leukemia and liver cancer

Unit 5

Nanomedicine for radiation therapy: Basics of radiation therapy, mechanisms, image guided radiation therapy, IGMRT, methods of improving radiation therapy using nanoparticles

Unit 6

Nano-photodynamic therapy, nano-photothermal therapy and nano-RF hyperthermia therapy, nano-scintillation therapy,

Unit 7

Nanoparticles based cancer immunotherapy, basic immunology, nanoparticle-vaccines, mRNA and Peptide vaccines, emerging trends in nano-immunotherapy of cancer , CAR-T cell therapy, toxicity concerns in immunotherapy

Unit 8

Nano-bio-therapeutics in cancer, nanoparticle mediated cell therapy, CART cell DC vaccines, use of nanoparticles in gene-therapy: DNA, RNA delivery.

Unit 9

Safety aspects of nanomedicine: How to study safety of nanomedicines, in vitro, in vivo, toxicity assays, regulatory guidelines

Pre-requisites: Undergraduate level Physics, Chemistry, & Biology

Total number of classes: 45

Course objectives

• To understand distinguishing features of normal medicine versus nanomedicine
• To understand design aspects of nanomedicine, considering cancer as a model disease
• To understand various types of nanomedicines depending on the cancer types and their methods of preparation
• To understand methods of studying the safety aspects of nanomedicines
• Decipher information about how nanomedicine formulations are regulated by Govt agencies for its safe application in human after preclinical and clinical trials

Case studies on currently used nanomedicines for various cancer types

1. Nanomedicine for Cancer Therapy: From Chemotherapeutic to Hyperthermia-Based Therapy, Springer, Piyush Kumar, Rohit Srivastava, 2017
2. Nanotoxicology, Materials, Methodologies, and Assessments, Editors: Durn, Nelson, Guterres, Silvia S., Alves, Oswaldo Luiz