In the Nokhodchi lab research interests include:

Particle engineering for drug delivery (oral and pulmonary delivery)

Tablets are still by far the most widely used, simple and convenient dosage forms. Unfortunately, most drug powders are poorly water-soluble or poorly compactible. Particle engineering techniques can be used in order to improve the physico-chemical and physico-mechanical properties of drugs and excipients. This is one of the main research interests of this laboratory. We use crystal modification techniques in order to produce micro- and nano-particles with improved dissolution, solubility, compressibility, compactibility and deep lung penetration.

Controlled release formulation

Achieving zero order release formulations is one of the main challenges in dosage form design. The current research in this field involves design of new devices (e.g. osmotic devices, liquisolid compacts), exploring naturally occurring polymers for preparation of tablet matrices and new approaches to achieve sustained and zero order release pattern, development of an in-vitro testing method to investigate the effect of fed and fasted conditions on drug release.

Transdermal delivery

Transdermal drug delivery through the skin has a number of advantages over oral delivery. Transdermal delivery leads to better absorption, greater flexibility in how the drugs are administered, and more choices for patients in how they receive these important drugs. However, the skin, in particular the stratum corneum, poses a formidable barrier to drug penetration thereby limiting topical and transdermal bioavailability. A special focus of this laboratory is to explore the chemical or physical means of enhancing the skin delivery of drugs.