Themes

Drug Discovery Biology
Medicinal Chemistry
Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation
- CDCO Platform
- CDCO Academic Node
Drug Delivery Disposition and Dynamics
Centre for Medicine Use and Safety

You are here:

Home
Themes
Drug Delivery Disposition and Dynamics
Capabilities and research platforms

Capabilities and research platforms

View Close

Analytical laboratory methods View

A strong feature of the research performed by the Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics (D4) theme is our use of a wide range of in-house state-of-the-art analytical methods. Some of our analytical equipment is available to users through the official Monash University platforms and many other instruments may be available by way of collaborative research projects with our research leaders.

Biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics View

In order for a medicine or drug to be safe and effective, it must be absorbed into the body and reach its target site at the correct time and in adequate concentrations to achieve a desired effect, whilst minimising access to off-target sites of toxicity.

Biopharmaceutics studies the relationship between the physical and chemical properties of the drug, its formulation, and the route of administration on the rate and extent of absorption into the body. Once a drug is absorbed into the body it will distribute to tissues and be eliminated from the blood (e.g., via metabolism in the liver or excretion by the kidney).

Pharmacokinetics is a branch of science in which the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) of drugs is characterised and mathematically modelled.

We use a range of in silico, in vitro and in vivo techniques to characterise the biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics of drugs. We regularly characterise the physicochemical properties of drug candidates, such as solubility, partitioning, ionisation and stability. We routinely measure drug permeability in vitro and in situ, as well. This helps inform the delivery and formulation approaches to overcome issues that lead to low drug absorption, such as poor water solubility or intestinal permeability.

Protein engineering and expression View

We have expertise in the engineering, expressing and purifying proteins. We have expression and purification facilities that can produce both bacterial and mammalian proteins at scales ranging from sub-milligrams to hundreds of milligrams. We work closely with industry partners such as Starpharma Ltd in the production of novel proteins to target nanomedicines to specific cells.

We have a particular interest in engineering additional functions into proteins. We do this by using an expanded genetic code to incorporate synthetic amino acids into precise positions within the protein. Redundancy in the genetic code means that 64 codons code for only 20 amino acids. We exploit this redundancy to incorporate synthetic amino acids with unique functional groups (such as click-reactive groups) that allow us to control the activity and reactivity of the proteins.

Stem cell technology View

Pluripotent stem cell (PSC) technology is of considerable importance to improve the process of drug discovery and also in development of therapeutic interventions that involve direct implantation of healthy cells into the human body.

PSCs such as embryonic stem cells can be directed to form any cell type in the human body. PSCs can now be derived directly from the skin or blood of adults, using the process of cellular reprogramming (the 2012 Nobel prize-winning technology) to produced ‘induced PSCs’ (iPSCs). Thus, in principle, it is now possible to obtain mature differentiated human cells of any type from individual patients with diseases of interest. To add to the power of iPSC technology, it is now possible to edit the genome of human cells to introduce disease-related mutations, as a means of building models of disease, and using these models to discover drugs that can overcome deficiencies caused by disease-related mutations.

Research platforms

Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics hosts the Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Facility (MPMF) and Monash Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC).

Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Facility (MPMF)

The Parkville Node of the Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Facility provides metabolomics, lipidomics and proteomics capabilities based on Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Monash Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC)

The Monash Manufacturing Innovation Centre is a growth platform for Victoria’s manufacturing sector providing specialist analytical and formulation development services to create opportunities for innovation.

Platform access

Our researchers often access the following research platforms to conduct our research.

The Australian Synchrotron

We use the power of the Australian Synchrotron, specifically a technique known as small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), to probe the structures in drug delivery materials or to determine the crystalline form of the drug and whether that changes under certain conditions such as encountering gastrointestinal fluids, changes in temperature, or spontaneously overtime.
Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication

The largest open-access micro- and nanofabrication cleanroom facility in the Southern Hemisphere, Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication's purpose is to fill the gap in Australia for open access, multi-scale fabrication infrastructure, spanning a broad range of fabrication environments and materials with a strong focus on medical technologies.

Find out more

About us
Research groups
Research areas
PhD program

Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Capabilities and research platforms

Analytical laboratory methods View

Biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics View

Protein engineering and expression View

Stem cell technology View

Research platforms

Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Facility (MPMF)

Monash Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC)

Platform access

The Australian Synchrotron

Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication

Find out more

About us

Research groups

Research areas

PhD program