Functional Hydrogels in Drug Delivery

Spizzirri received his degree in Chemistry cum laude in 2001 and his PhD in 2005 from the University of Calabria. He is currently a member of the Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutrition Science of the same University. His teaching experience comes from tutorial activity for Pharmaceutical Technology and Commodity Economics Science and as a professor of Systems for Pharmaceutical Industry and Food Chemistry. In 2004, he was visiting researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. His research activities are mainly related to polymer chemistry and technology for the preparation of stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems, functional polymer for food industry, and new analytical methodologies for food quality and safely assessment. He is author and coauthor of more than 90 publications, including research and review articles as well as invited book chapters.Cirillo received his degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology cum laude in 2005 and his PhD in Methodologies for the Development of Molecules of Pharmaceutical Interest in 2008 from University of Calabria. He is currently in a post-doctoral position at the same University. He was tutor for Pharmaceutical Technology and Commodity Economics Science and a Contract professor of Chemistry and Biotechnology of Fermentations at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Nutritional and Health Sciences of University of Calabria. His research interests are the development of functional polymers with tailored biological activity, the design of smart hydrogels for drug delivery, the study of the activity of innovative functional foods and nutraceuticals, and the synthesis and functionalization of carbon nanotubes-based devices for biomedical applications. During 2008 and from 2012 to 2014, he was visiting researcher at Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Germany). He is author and co-author of more than 80 publications, including research and review article as well as invited book chapters.

• Introduction: Hydrogel as useful carrier for drug delivery systems: an overview. Synthesis of protein-based hydrogels as drug delivery devices. Synthesis of polysaccharide-based hydrogels as drug delivery devices. Synthetic hydrogels as drug delivery devices. Nanocomposite hydrogels: Synthesis and characterization. pH-sensitive drug-delivery hydrogels: synthesis and applications. Thermo-sensitive drug-delivery hydrogels: synthesis and applications. Enzyme-responsive hydrogels: synthesis and applications. Nanocomposites hydrogels as electro and magneto-responsive devices. Multi-responsive drug delivery hydrogels. Mucoadhesive Hydrogels: a valuable strategy for the prolonged-delivery of drugs. Hydrogel as carrier for large-molecule delivery. DNA delivery vectors for gene-therapy. Synthesis and application of molecularly imprinted hydrogels for specific release of the therapeutics.