Moein Moghimi | |
---|---|
Nationality | British |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Biochemistry,nanotechnology |
Sub-discipline | Drug delivery Nanomedicine Nanosafety Innate immunity and complement system Pharmaceutical nanotechnology Pharmaceutical sciences |
Institutions | Newcastle University |
Moein Moghimi is a British professor and researcher in the fields of nanomedicine,drug delivery and biomaterials. He is currently the professor of Pharmaceutics and Nanomedicine at the School of Pharmacy and the Translational and Clinical Research Institute at Newcastle University. He is also an adjoint professor at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy,University of Colorado Denver.
He is known for his fundamental and translational research in nanomedicine and drug delivery,especially in polymeric and nanomaterials' cell and immune safety,and as an inventor of nanosystems for tissue-specific targeting.
Moghimi's publications in nanomedicine are widely cited. A study conducted by Stanford University listed Moghimi among the top 0.1% of world’s leading scientists across in all fields. [1] He founded the Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology (CPNN) at University of Copenhagen and was its director until 2016. He co-founded S. M. Discovery Group which develops products based on his inventions. [2] He is currently editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nanotheranostics .
Moghimi completed his secondary education at D'Overbroeck's College in Oxford,United Kingdom. He pursued a bachelor's degree in biochemistry at the University of Manchester and graduated with honors in 1985. He completed his PhD in liposome immunobiology/biochemistry in 1989 at the Biochemistry Department of the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School at Imperial College London (then University of London) under the mentorship of Harish M. Patel. [3]
He then joined Stanley Stewart Davis' laboratory at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences,University of Nottingham for postdoctoral training in advanced drug delivery system engineering. Later he became a University Research Fellow at University of Nottingham.
Moghimi was the senior lecturer of Biopharmacy and Molecular Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy,University of Brighton from 1998 until 2008. From 2008 until 2010,he was honorary professor of nanomedicine at the Multidisciplinary Research Center,Shantou University. [4]
He was also a full affiliate professor at the Methodist Research Institute,Houston Methodist Hospital systems in Texas between 2013 and 2017. [5] In 2015,he was a visiting professor at Universitàdegli Studi di Padova. [6]
From 2008 until 2016, [4] he was professor of nanomedicine in the department of pharmacy and professor of pharmaceutical nanotechnology at the Nanoscience Center, [7] [8] as well as the founder and director of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology and Nanotoxiocology at the University of Copenhagen. [9] [10]
Prior to 2017,Moghimi was professor and chair in pharmaceutics at the Durham University School of Medicine,Pharmacy and Health. Since 2017,he has been professor of Pharmaceutics and Nanomedicine at the School of Pharmacy and Translational and Clinical Research Institute,both part of Newcastle University. He is adjoint professor at the department of pharmaceutical sciences at Skaggs School of Pharmacy,University of Colorado Denver Medical Center. [4]
Moghimi is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nanotheranostics . [11] He is associate editor of Precision Nanomedicine, Molecular Therapy, [12] and Drug Delivery , [13] and serves on the editorial boards of journals such as Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews , [14] Journal of Controlled Release , [15] and Nanomedicine-UK . [5]
Moghimi is known for his work in nanoparticle engineering for biomedical applications,nanosafety,and mechanistic understanding of nanoparticle-mediated complement activation. His research focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to nanotherapies. [16] [17] Much of his research is related to the management and treatment of chronic conditions associated with population ageing including cancer, [18] neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease,cardiovascular disease,allergies and arthritis. [6] He specializes in the design and surface engineering of nanosystems and nanoparticles for tissue-specific drug delivery and imaging. [7] [19] [20]
His current work includes the development of a concomitant long-term computational network assessment of genomics and epigenomic factors in inter-individual variations to nanomedicine performance and cell re-programming. [4]
Resulting from his PhD research,Moghimi introduced the opsonin-dysopsonin hypothesis,suggesting a regulatory role for certain blood proteins in limiting nanoparticle uptake by macrophages. [21] This hypothesis was later applied to highlight multifaceted mechanisms regulating the pharmacokinetic performance of long-circulating drug carriers. [22] [23]
Moghimi has developed a range of injectable nanosystems,including an early prototype of splenotropic and lymphotropic nanoparticles based on the concept of steric stabilisation and surface engineering with block copolymers. These concepts are applied for splenic and lymphatic targeting with liposomes and polymeric nanospheres. [24] [25]
A research group led by Moghimi developed NanoLigand Carriers, [26] induced self-assemblies of phage-derived display peptides that on intravenous injection rapidly target two receptors on the blood brain-barrier. On crossing the blood–brain barrier,the carriers target neurons and microglia and deliver their therapeutic nucleic acid payloads to cells. These peptides have applications for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. [27] [28]
His laboratory was among the first to explain polycation-mediated cell death processes. [29] [30] Moghimi's laboratory has contributed to the molecular understanding of nanomaterial interactions with elements of the innate immune system and translating these to design immune safe nanoparticles. His laboratory demonstrated the first in vivo assembly of long-circulating and splenotropic nanoparticles without prior surface modification or manipulation of macrophage function, [31] as well as the first demonstration of the detection of stealth nanoparticles by primed and activated immune cells. [32]
This research has involved mapping nanoparticle properties that trigger complement activation and,notably,the role of polymer conformation and hydration in switching complement activation pathways. [33] He has resolved some challenging mechanisms modulating complement activation by stealth and polymer-coated nanoparticles. [34] His research also explained the molecular basis of complement activation by polyethylene glycol,a polymer that is used widely for prolonging the blood circulation time of proteins and particulate drug carriers. [35] [36]
His lab was the first to demonstrate tumour growth promotion by stealth nanoparticles through local nanoparticle-mediated complement activation, [37] and developed the first complement-evading hexosomes. [38]
He has challenged the validity of the CARPA (Complement Activation Related Pseudo-Allergy) hypothesis,and proposed a working mechanism explaining idiosyncratic nanomedicine-mediated anaphylaxis seen in patients. [39] [40] Moghimi also introduced the nanomaterial projected "Angstrom-Scale Spacing Arrangement" hypothesis,in modulating complement system responses to nanomedicines and medical implants. [41]
In 2020,Moghimi commented on the sudden closure of the Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence in the United States,and called for support in curiosity driven research in fundamental nanomedicine even in the absence of immediate obvious benefits to society. [42]
Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nanomaterials and biological devices, to nanoelectronic biosensors, and even possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology such as biological machines. Current problems for nanomedicine involve understanding the issues related to toxicity and environmental impact of nanoscale materials.
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Nanochemistry is an emerging sub-discipline of the chemical and material sciences that deals with the development of new methods for creating nanoscale materials. The term "nanochemistry" was first used by Ozin in 1992 as 'the uses of chemical synthesis to reproducibly afford nanomaterials from the atom "up", contrary to the nanoengineering and nanophysics approach that operates from the bulk "down"'. Nanochemistry focuses on solid-state chemistry that emphasizes synthesis of building blocks that are dependent on size, surface, shape, and defect properties, rather than the actual production of matter. Atomic and molecular properties mainly deal with the degrees of freedom of atoms in the periodic table. However, nanochemistry introduced other degrees of freedom that controls material's behaviors by transformation into solutions. Nanoscale objects exhibit novel material properties, largely as a consequence of their finite small size. Several chemical modifications on nanometer-scaled structures approve size dependent effects.
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Targeted drug delivery, sometimes called smart drug delivery, is a method of delivering medication to a patient in a manner that increases the concentration of the medication in some parts of the body relative to others. This means of delivery is largely founded on nanomedicine, which plans to employ nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery in order to combat the downfalls of conventional drug delivery. These nanoparticles would be loaded with drugs and targeted to specific parts of the body where there is solely diseased tissue, thereby avoiding interaction with healthy tissue. The goal of a targeted drug delivery system is to prolong, localize, target and have a protected drug interaction with the diseased tissue. The conventional drug delivery system is the absorption of the drug across a biological membrane, whereas the targeted release system releases the drug in a dosage form. The advantages to the targeted release system is the reduction in the frequency of the dosages taken by the patient, having a more uniform effect of the drug, reduction of drug side-effects, and reduced fluctuation in circulating drug levels. The disadvantage of the system is high cost, which makes productivity more difficult, and the reduced ability to adjust the dosages.
Magnetofection is a transfection method that uses magnetic fields to concentrate particles containing vectors to target cells in the body. Magnetofection has been adapted to a variety of vectors, including nucleic acids, non-viral transfection systems, and viruses. This method offers advantages such as high transfection efficiency and biocompatibility which are balanced with limitations.
Photothermal therapy (PTT) refers to efforts to use electromagnetic radiation for the treatment of various medical conditions, including cancer. This approach is an extension of photodynamic therapy, in which a photosensitizer is excited with specific band light. This activation brings the sensitizer to an excited state where it then releases vibrational energy (heat), which is what kills the targeted cells.
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Christine Allen is a Canadian professor and the first associate vice-president and vice-provost for strategic initiatives at the University of Toronto. She served formerly as interim dean of the university's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. She is co-founder of Nanovista, a company focused on imaging of tumors. She also works as the associate editor of Molecular Pharmaceutics.
Ijeoma Uchegbu is a Nigerian-British Professor of Pharmacy at University College London, where she held the position of Pro-Vice Provost for Africa and the Middle East. She is the Chief Scientific Officer of Nanomerics, a pharmaceutical nanotechnology company specialising in drug delivery solutions for poorly water-soluble drugs, nucleic acids and peptides. She is also a Governor of the Wellcome, a large biomedical research charity. Apart from her highly cited scientific research in Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, Uchegbu is also known for her work in science public engagement and equality and diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In December 2023, it was announced that she will become President of Wolfson College, Cambridge, in October 2024.
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Helen M. Burt is a British-Canadian pharmaceutical scientist who is the Angiotech Professor of Drug Delivery at the University of British Columbia. She serves as Associate Vice President of Research and Innovation at UBC. Her research considers novel therapeutics based on nanotechnology, including drug delivery systems for the treatment of bladder cancer and coronary artery disease.
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