Tessy Lopez Goerne
Adjunct Professor
Info
Department of Nanomedicine
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Xochimilco
Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía "MVS" SSA
Laboratory of Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine
Education & Affiliations
Biography
My research interests include Medical implants, Controlled Drug release, Chemotherapy, Nanomedicine. Sol-gel Synthesis, Nanostructured materials
My current area of research is focused on the use of ceramic implants, which can be used to encapsulate drugs. These drugs are then released to specific injured tissue. Of particular interest in our laboratory has been to perform extensive studies on the treatment of epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.
In the case of epilepsy, implantation of these ceramic devices is performed in the temporal lobe of the brain. In the case of Parkinson’s disease, the ceramics implants are inserted in the substantia nigra.
Implantation of these devices is performed using stereotaxic surgery. This mode of drug release is more effective than systemic administration, as passage across the blood brain barrier (BBB) is avoided and therefore, lower drug doses are required. This approach leads to a marked decrease in toxicity.
The use of animal models is extensively used in this research. In the case of the administration of dopamine, a major problem is the stabilization of dopamine through the use of silica. We have found that silica is more effective than titania in the stabilization of dopamine whereas titania appears to be the ceramic of choice in the delivery of valproic acid or phenitoin in the abatement of epilepsy.
Our group has recently been involved in drug release used in the abatement of cancer. In these studies, controlled drug release is applied as a chemotherapic agent as a follow up to tumor removal by surgical means. Nanoparticles, in which the drug is encapsulated, is filtered in to the tumor damaged area following surgical removal. Cis-platinum and platinum 2 analogues are being used in these studies with great success.
