Innovative Nanotechnological Strategy for Drug Delivery: Metal-Organic Frameworks Nanoparticle Employed in Resistant Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Treatment.

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is a disfiguring neglected disease. Every year, more than a million new skin infection cases are reported mainly in poor countries causing permanent disfiguring scars and huge social/psychological/economic negative impacts on patients and the society. Many of these cases go untreated because of the limitations of the current available treatments including their low efficiency, drug resistance, high toxicity, long duration of treatment, relapse, inconvenient and painful injections, and the cost.  

To overcome these limitations, in this project we will employ metal organic framework nanoparticles (MOF-NPs) as vectors in a topical delivery system to enhance ability the encapsulated drugs (used to treat CL) to penetrate the skin barriers and the parasite membrane, help localise the drug at the site of action, and protect the drug from degradation, thus, enhancing the treatment efficiency and reducing drug toxicity. MOF-NPs will be used in injections-alternative approaches leading to further improvement of the treatment efficiency.

Based at the School of Science at the University of Greenwich (Medway campus), the successful candidate will join a diverse community of researchers. The research training for the student will be divided into two main areas:

1. Technical training 

a. Practical training on experimental design, MOF-NP synthesis, characterisation (XRD, BET, TGA, SEM), MTT toxicity, drug encapsulation, drug release, penetration studies in vitro, in vitro efficiency on the parasite and other required skills.

2. Research communication and impact

Training and mentoring focusing on communicating research outputs (such as peer-reviewed publications and conferences) and potential impact will be provided to complement additional training provided as part of the University of Greenwich doctoral training organised by the university’s Research & Enterprise Training Institute (RETI).

The supervisory team: Dr Tamim Chalati, Dr Giulia Getti and Dr Ana Maria Totea.

For any enquiries, please contact Dr Tamim Chalati: t.chalati@greenwich.ac.uk