MS4612: Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering

Academic Units3
Semester2
Pre-requisite(s)Nil
Co-requisite(s)MS4013

Course Instructors

Dr Luciana Lisa Lao

Course AIMS

This prescribe d elective course aims to deepen your understanding on two major biomedical applications of materials. The course will equip you with the basic principles of drug delivery and tissue engineering and the important roles played by biomaterials in these applications. It also presents engineering analyses of drug delivery along with biological and materials aspects of tissue engineering. All of this knowledge is essential for students who wish to specialize in medical materials  or pursue a career in the fields of drug delivery or tissue engineering.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you (as a student) would be able to:

  1. Define drug delivery, controlled release and targeted delivery.
  2. Compare and contrast the advantages and limitations of various drug  delivery routes.
  3. Illustrate the critical roles of polymers in drug delivery systems.
  4. Explain the mechanisms and roles of materials in diffusion-controlled systems, osmotic-controlled and degradation -controlled drug delivery  systems.
  5. Distinguish zero-order release from first-order release kinetics.
  6. Estimate the drug release rate from diffusion-controlled, osmotic-controlled and degradation-controlled drug delivery system.
  7. Explain the mechanism and roles of materials in stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems.
  8. Explain the principles of passive and active targeting in targeted delivery.
  9. Define tissue engineering and its contribution in regenerative medicine.
  10. Describe the three main pillars that contribute to a successful tissue engineered product.
  11. Compare and contrast  the advantages and limitation of various cell sources for tissue engineering applications.
  12. Analyze the major building blocks of extra -cellular matrix (ECM) and its functions as nature’s scaffold.
  13. Explain the basic considerations in design and materials selection for biomaterial scaffolds.
  14. Describe various common scaffold fabrication methods.
  15. Recognize different environmental factors (bioreactors and signalling) that affect tissue engineering.

Course Content

  • Fundamentals of drug delivery
  • Controlled and targeted delivery
  • Principles of tissue engineering
  • Biomaterial substrates for tissue engineering

Reading and References

  • Treatise on Controlled Drug Delivery, A.Kydonieus, Editor. Marcel Dekker, 1992.
  • Biomaterials Science, An Introduction to Materials in Medicine, B.D. Ratner, A.S.Hoffman, F.J. Schoen, J.E. Lemons, 3rd Edition, Academic Press, 2013
  • Handbook of Pharmaceutical Controlled Release Technology, D.L. Wise, 1st Edition,CRC Press, 2000.
  • Principles of Tissue Engineering, R.P.Lanza, R.Langer, J.Vacanti, Editors, 4th Edition,Academic Press, 2014.
  • Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering Applications,J.A. Budrick, R.L.Mauck, Editors.Springer-Verlag, 2011.
  • Bioreactor Systems for Tissue Engineering, T. Scheper, C. Kasper, M.Van-Griensven, R. Pörtner, Editors. Springer-Verlag, 2009.