DendrimerWeb

The site contains information on the pharmaceutical and biomedical applications of dendrimers and describes the research activity in the D'Emanuele Dendrimer Group. If you would like further information please contact us at Info@DendrimerWeb.com.

D'Emanuele Dendrimer Group | Publications | Invited Talks | Biography | Research Group Intranet

Dendrimers are well-defined and effectively monodisperse highly branched macromolecules that can be subdivided into three architectural components: a central core branched cell, interior branch cells, and branch cells possessing surface groups. The dendrimer microenvironment possesses interesting properties. In the interior of the molecule, cavities in the core structure and folding of the branches create cages and channels, which, depending upon how the dendrimer was constructed, may be either hydrophilic or hydrophobic in nature. Specific binding sites may also be incorporated. The surface groups of dendrimers are amenable to modification and can be tailored for specific applications. The dendrimer architecture therefore permits control over properties such as shape, size, density, polarity, reactivity and solubility.

About the D'Emanuele Dendrimer Group

Prof. Tony D'Emanuele developed an interest in dendrimers in 1998. More specifically, he is developing dendritic nanocarriers for a number of pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. A multidisciplinary approach has involved 2 postdoctoral researchers, 15 graduate students and over 20 collaborators. Funding has been from the UK research councils and industry. Projects undertaken include:

Solubilisation of poorly soluble drugs using dendrimers
Transepithelial transport - design and synthesis of surface engineered dendritic nanocarriers
Consumer healthcare
Drug targeting to cancer cells using a dendrimer platform
Targeting of intracellular infection using a dendrimer carrier
DNA delivery
Synthesis and characterization of novel dendritic architectures

Research from the group was recognised by a Eurand Award for Novel Approaches in Oral Drug Delivery in 2004, the CRS Outstanding Oral Drug Delivery Award in 2006, and has been featured in the Pharmaceutical Journal (Vol 273, 793-794, 2004) and Chemistry World (Vol 1, March, 18, 2004 and Vol 4, May, 62-66, 2007) and Education in Chemistry (Vol 44, September, 2007).

Two recent papers (2005 and 2006, see below) were both listed as most read articles in two journals and both appeared as number one articles in ScienceDirect TOP25 Hottest Article Listings. The article in Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews was reported as the most read in all journals in the field of pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutical science. Other papers have appeared in the ScienceDirect TOP25 Hottest Article Listings.

Publications

Najlah, M., D’Emanuele, A.
Synthesis of dendrimers and drug-dendrimer conjugates for drug delivery.
Current Opinion in Drug Discovery & Development, 10. 756-767, 2007.

Najlah, M, Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Synthesis and assessment of first generation polyamidoamine dendrimer prodrugs to enhance the cellular permeability of P-gp substrates.
Bioconjugate Chem., 18, 937-946, 2007.

Najlah, M, Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
In vitro evaluation of dendrimer prodrugs for oral drug delivery.
Int. J. Pharm., 336, 183-190, 2007. - Number thirteen article in ScienceDirect TOP25 Hottest Article Listings

Najlah, M., Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Synthesis and assessment of dendrimer prodrugs to enhance the cellular permeability of P-gp substrates
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 59 (Supplement), 24, 2007.

Cowley, J., Penny, J., Day, N., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Gastrointestinal mucus and its effect on the transepithelial transport of PAMAM dendrimers
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 59 (Supplement), 157, 2007.

Brown, G.L., Gardiner, J.M., D’Emanuele, A. Attwood, D., Gibb, R.
Synthesis and characterization of shape persistent polyphenylene dendrimers
Proc. 5th International Dendrimer Symposium, 2007.

Brown, G.L., Gardiner, J.M., D’Emanuele, A. Attwood, D., Gibb, R.
Synthesis and characterization of shape persistent polyphenylene dendrimers.
Polymer Preprints, 47, 660-661, 2006.

Najlah, M., D’Emanuele, A.
Crossing cellular barriers using dendrimer nanotechnologies.
Current Opinions in Pharmacology, 6, 522-527, 2006. - Number eighteen article in ScienceDirect TOP25 Hottest Article Listings

Jevprasesphant, R., Cowley, J., Day, N., Penny, J., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Development of dendrimer carriers for oral drug delivery.
Pharmakeftiki, 19, 93-100, 2006.

Cowley, J., Penny, J., Day, N., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
The effect of mucus on the transepithelial transport of PAMAM dendrimers.
Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 33, 892, 2006.

Najlah, M., Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
The selection of linkers in the design of dendrimer nanocarriers
Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 33, 102, 2006.

Najlah, M, Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Synthesis, characterization and stability of dendrimer prodrugs.
Int. J. Pharm., 308, 175-182, 2006. - Number one article in ScienceDirect TOP25 Hottest Article Listings

D’Emanuele, A., Attwood, D.
Dendrimer drug interactions.
Adv. Drug. Del. Revs., 57, 2106-2129, 2005. - Number one article in ScienceDirect TOP25 Hottest Article Listings

D’Emanuele, A., Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D.
The use of dendrimers to enhance the oral bioavailability of drugs.
Proc. 4th International Dendrimer Symposium, 31, 2005.

Najlah, M., Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Design and assessment of dendrimer-drug conjugates for enhanced drug bioavailability.
Proc. PharmSciFair, SC-90, 2005.

Najlah, M., Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Design and assessment of drug-dendrimer conjugates for enhanced drug bioavailability.
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 57 (Supplement), 6, 2005.

Lepp, E., Aojula, H., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Improving the intracellular delivery of aminoglycosides using anionic PAMAM dendrimers.
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 57 (Supplement), 10, 2005.

Najlah, M., Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Dendrimer nanocarriers for oral drug delivery.
PharmSci., 7, T2151, 2005.

D’Emanuele, A., Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D.
The use of a dendrimer-propranolol prodrug to bypass efflux transporters and enhance oral bioavailability.
J. Control. Release, 95, 447-453, 2004.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Transport of dendrimer nanocarriers through epithelial cells via the transcellular route.
J. Control. Release, 97, 259-267, 2004.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Use of dendrimer prodrugs to bypass efflux transporters.
Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 31, 128, 2004.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Use of dendrimers to enhance the bioavailability of drugs.
Proceed. 2nd Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress, 263, 2004.

Bai, L., Attwood, D. Stratford, I. J., D’Emanuele, A., Jaffar, M.
Development of stable quinone-dendrimer conjugates for selective and controlled release of potent agents to hypoxic tissue.
Proceed. 2nd Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress, 257, 2004.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Use of dendrimer drug carriers to bypass transepithelial efflux transporters.
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 56 (Supplement), 179, 2004.

Najlah, M., Freeman, S., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Design and assessment of drug-dendrimer conjugates for oral drug delivery.
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 56 (Supplement), 182, 2004.

Jalal, R., Berk, D., Stratford, I., D’Emanuele, A.
The use of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers in gene delivery.
PharmSci., 6, T3083, 2004.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Use of dendrimer carriers to enhance the uptake of drugs.
PharmSci., 6, W4297, 2004.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Jalal, R., Attwood, D., McKeown, N. B., D’Emanuele, A.
The influence of surface modification on the cytotoxicity of PAMAM dendrimers.
Int. J. Pharm., 252, 263-266, 2003.

D’Emanuele, A., Attwood, D. Abu-Rmaileh, R.
Dendrimers.
Encyclopaedia of Pharmaceutical Technology, 2nd Edition (3), 1-21, 2003.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., McKeown, N. B., D’Emanuele, A.
Engineering of dendrimer surface to enhance transepithelial transport and reduce cytotoxicity.
Pharm. Res., 20, 1543-1550, 2003.

Smith, N. L., McKeown, N. H., Day, N., D’Emanuele, A., Attwood, D.
Aqueous soluble dendrimers with shape-persistent hydrophobic cores for drug solubilisation.
Polymer Preprints, 44, 717-718, 2003.

Abu-Rmaileh, R., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Dendrimers in cancer therapy.
Drug Del. Sys. Sci., 3(3), 65-70, 2003.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., McKeown, N. B. D’Emanuele, A.
Cytotoxicity and transepithelial transport of PAMAM dendrimers and dendrimer conjugates.
Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 30, 146, 2003.

Abu-Rmaileh, R., Ashford, M., Day, N., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., Stratford, I., D’Emanuele, A.
Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers as antibody-conjugated delivery vehicles.
Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 30, 613, 2003.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., McKeown, N. B., D’Emanuele, A.
Transport of modified PAMAM dendrimers across Caco-2 monolayers.
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 55 (Supplement), 170, 2003.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Attwood, D., McKeown, N. B., D’Emanuele, A.
Mechanisms of dendrimer conjugate transport through Caco-2 cell monolayers.
PharmSci., 5 (S1), R6067, 2003.

Abu-Rmaileh, R., Ashford, M., Day, N., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., Stratford, I., D’Emanuele, A.
Surface modified polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers for targeting the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).
Proceed. 8th UKCRS Symposium on Controlled Drug Delivery, 14, 2002.

Abu-Rmaileh, R., Ashford, M., Day, N., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., Stratford, I., D’Emanuele, A.
Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers as a platform for delivery to tumour cells bearing the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).
Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 29, 879-880, 2002.

Abu-Rmaileh, R., Ashford, M., Day, N., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., Stratford, I., D’Emanuele, A.
Synthesis of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer conjugates for use in targeted drug delivery.
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 54 (Supplement), 127, 2002.

Smith, N. L., McKeown, N. B., Day, N., D’Emanuele, A., Attwood, D.
Aqueous soluble dendrimers with shape-persistent hydrophobic cores for drug solubilisation
J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 54 (Supplement), 55, 2002.

Jevprasesphant, R., Penny, J., Jalal, R., Attwood, D., McKeown, N. B. D’Emanuele, A.
Investigation of the cytotoxicity of PAMAM dendrimers using a Caco-2 cell model.
PharmSci., 4 (4), W5127, 2002.

Milhem, O. M., Day, N., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Development of dendrimer derivatives for drug delivery.
Proceed. 7th UKCRS Symposium on Controlled Drug Delivery, 16, 2001.

Milhem, O. M., Mobedi, H., Day, N., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Grafting poly(ethylene glycol) onto polyamidoamine dendrimers by activation with tresyl chloride.
Polym. Mater. Sci. Eng., 84, 721, 2001.

D’Emanuele, A.
Pharmaceutical applications of dendrimers.
Eur. J. Pharm. Sci., 13 (Supp. 1), S6.2, 2001.

Milhem, O. M., Mobedi, H., Day, N., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Development and characterization of dendrimer conjugates derivatives for drug delivery.
Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 28, 329-330, 2001.

Milhem, O. M., Myles, C., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Polyamidoamine dendrimers as drug solubility enhancers.
Proceed. 6th UKCRS Symposium on Controlled Drug Delivery, 12, 2000

Milhem, O. M., Myles, C., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Polyamidoamine Starburst® dendrimers as solubility enhancers.
Int. J. Pharm., 197, 239-241, 2000.

Milhem, O. M., Myles, C., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Solubility enhancement of a hydrophobic drug using polyamidoamine Starburst® dendrimers.
Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater., 26, 931-932, 1999.

Milhem, O. M., Myles, C., McKeown, N. B., Attwood, D., D’Emanuele, A.
Starburst® polyamidoamine dendrimers as drug solubility enhancers.
PharmSci., 1 (4), 2897, 1999.

Invited Talks

Over 70 invited talks including the following:

Use of dendrimer nanocarriers to overcome cellular barriers.
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, Glasgow, UK, April 2008.

The use of dendrimers as drug carriers to overcome biological barriers.
Biomedical Use of Dendrimers, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, March 2008.

Crossing cellular barriers using dendrimer nanotechnologies.
3rd Iranian Conference on Novel Drug Delivery Systems, Tehran, Iran, June 2007.

The use of dendrimer carriers to enhance the oral bioavailability of drugs.
Drug Delivery Research Network, University College Dublin, Ireland, May 2007.

The use of surface engineered dendrimers to overcome cellular barriers.
Research Institute in Healthcare Science, School of Applied Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, UK, February 2007.

Crossing cellular barriers using dendrimer nanotechnologies.
Royal Society of Chemistry & Society of Chemical Industry, London, UK, February 2007

The use of dendrimer carriers to enhance the oral bioavailability of drugs.
4th International Dendrimer Symposium, Mount Pleasant, USA, May 2005.

The use of nanocarriers to bypass efflux transporters and enhance oral bioavailability.
Controlled Release Society Indian Chapter - 6th International Symposium on Advances in Technology and Business Potential of New Drug Delivery Systems Mumbai, India, February 2005.

Dendrimers in drug delivery.
Royal Society of Chemistry Materials Chemistry Forum, London, February 2005.

Pro-drugs and nanocarriers: use of dendritic carriers to enhance oral bioavailability and reduce unwanted elimination by bypassing efflux transporters.
Advanced Drug Delivery to Enable Drug Development, London, UK, December 2004.

The use of dendrimer nanocarriers to enhance the oral bioavailability of drugs.
King's College London, UK, October 2004.

Use of dendrimer prodrugs to bypass efflux transporters.
31st International Symposium on Controlled Release of Bioactive Materials, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA., June 2004.

Use of dendrimer prodrugs to bypass efflux transporters.
Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, UK., June 2004.

Dendrimers - flexible vehicles for drug delivery.
Launch of Manchester Centre for Mesoscience & Nanotechnology, Manchester, UK, April 2003.

Dendrimers - flexible vehicles for drug delivery.
139th British Pharmaceutical Conference, Manchester, UK, September 2002.

Pharmaceutical applications of dendrimers.
CIFARP 2001 - 3rd Congress of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Águas de Lindóia, São Paulo, Brazil, April 2001.

Biography

Antony D'Emanuele is Professor of Pharmaceutics and Head of the new School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). Tony obtained a First Class honours degree in Pharmacy from the School of Pharmacy, University of London in 1985 and his PhD in drug delivery from the University of Bath in 1989. He then took up a postdoctoral fellowship in Professor Robert Langer's group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he investigated the use of ultrasound to modulate drug release from biodegradable implants. Tony joined UCLan from the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Manchester.

Tony's research interests focus on the delivery of bioactive molecules using polymeric systems, particularly those based on dendrimer nanocarriers. He also has an interest in the development of delivery systems where release is responsive to a patient's varying requirements and the delivery of genes into cells by means of sonication. In addition to his scientific interests, Tony was responsible for the creation of PharmWeb, the first structured pharmaceutical portal on the Internet.

Tony has been a visiting scientist at the Department of Pharmacy, University of São Paulo and also the Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been invited to give over 70 lectures and has received six awards, including a Eurand Award for Novel Approaches in Oral Drug Delivery in 2004 and the Controlled Release Society Outstanding Oral Drug Delivery Award in 2006. Tony is the author of over 120 publications, including over 60 scientific and professional papers. He is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Tony was Chairman of the UK-Ireland Controlled Release Society from 1999 to 2001 and was up until recently European representative Member of Executive Committee of the Pharmacy Information Section, International Pharmaceutical Federation.