Monica Agnoletti won pharmaceutical sciences research excellence award
Congratulations to Monica Agnoletti as the 2020-2021 recipient of the Mitchell-Dwivedi Graduate Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Monica Agnoletti is a graduate of the Joint PhD Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia and the University of Copenhagen (supervisors: Professor Urs Häfeli, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia and Professor Hanne Mørck Nielsen, Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen). This award is to recognize her publication “Monosized Polymeric Microspheres Designed for Passive Lung Targeting: Biodistribution and Pharmacokinetics After Intravenous Administration“, ACS Nano 2020, 14: 6693-6706.
In this study, Monica investigated the use of biodegradable polymeric microspheres as carriers to deliver antibiotics selectively to the lungs after intravenous administration. She combined a wide range of methods and techniques to develop, optimize, characterize and gain a comprehensive understanding of the biological properties of the drug delivery system. Her findings support the safe use of uniformly sized microspheres to target the lungs from the vascular side to improve the treatments of bacterial pulmonary infections, and potentially other lung diseases, especially in the case of compromised lung function.
About the Award: The award ($12,950) was established in 2015 by Dr. Sarvajna Dwivedi (UBC Pharm Sci MSc'88, PhD'92), Co-Founder and Board Member, AngioSafe, Inc., together with his wife, Dr. Seema Dwivedi, PhD, to “recognize graduate students in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences who demonstrate research excellence and impact through peer-reviewed journal publication. Preference will be given to students who take an interdisciplinary approach to their research and/or show exceptional inventiveness or initiative."