Geraldine Sandana Mala John

Research Coordinator, TAKENEN, India

Title: Polymeric Nanostructured Nordihydroguaiaretic acid analog-A promising Drug-carrier system

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Biography

Dr. Geraldine Sandana Mala John holds a PhD in Biochemistry-Biotechnology (Inter-disciplinary) from the University of Madras in 2000 with a reputed National-level Doctoral Fellowship. She then pursued as Research Associate and then as a Senior Research Associate (Scientist Pool Scheme). She was also a Technology Consultant for about 3 years and was in collaboration with TAKENEN, Japan. She was awarded the prestigious 2013-2014 Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship to work as Visiting Scientist at the Kreiger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. Subsequently she worked as Project Scientist in the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras. Presently, she is a Research Coordinator for TAKENEN, in collaboration with IIT Madras and Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research. She has authored 3 books, 6 Chapters and has several peer-reviewed International publications. Her recent interests are in Nanomedicine, Cancer biology and Microbial Nanotechnology.

Abstract

The 20th century has witnessed the early beginnings and rapid development of a new and emerging field of science known as Nanotechnology, which has revolutionized the technology advancement in various facets of scientific research in materials science, physical and chemical sciences, medical and pharmaceutical sciences and disease biology. Nanoscale materials are of the order of 1-100 nm and offer extremely advantageous optical, electronic and structural properties that are characteristic due to size-controlled features than their bulk materials. In Nanomedicine, the role of Nanoparticles has been widely applicable in diagnosis of disease biomarkers, improved medical imaging, targeted delivery and in regenerative medicine. Nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) is a plant lignan obtained from creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), known to possess anti-oxidant, anti-cancer and anti-viral activities and is being used in traditional medicine in most parts of North America and Mexico. However, toxicity studies indicated liver toxicity and renal failure despite its immense medicinal properties. There has been recent interests in the chemical synthesis of NDGA derivatives for therapeutic applications. NDGA derivatives have been developed as better alternatives to NDGA without rendering toxicity effects. In this regard, an analog of NDGA, Acetyl NDGA (AcNDGA), has been synthesized by a facile acetylation process based on a previous procedure by Plaza et al (2008) and formulated as a nanostructured complex with Polycaprolactone/Polyethylene glycol polymer matrices, by o/w emulsification-solvent evaporation method. The drug-incorporated polymeric nanospheres were evaluated for drug load, encapsulation efficiency and in vitro drug release profile. Further, the drug-loaded nanospheres have been characterized extensively by spectroscopic, microscopic and physico-chemical techniques to evaluate their suitability for therapeutic delivery. The present studies indicate a new and efficient formulation of the nanostructured AcNDGA with good therapeutic potential in liver cancer by cytotoxicity assay in HepG2 cells.