 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
UIC's 2003 Inventor of the Year: Dr. Hayat Onyuksel
Dr. Onyuksel is the Assistant Head and Director of Graduate Programs in the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences. She received her PhD in Pharmaceutics from the University of London and began her research career at the University of Ankara, Turkey in 1978. In 1985, she joined the UIC research community as a Visiting Research Associate and has since worked tirelessly in the areas of pharmaceutics and bioengineering.
A leader in her field, Dr. Onyuksel is a highly active researcher and has collaborated with a variety of top institutions including Johns Hopkins University, Pfizer Central Research, and Abbott Laboratories.
Her inventiveness has led to eight issued patents, an option on her technology by Baxter Health Corporation, and two start-up companies (VipoGen and MedLipids).
Dr. Onyuksel’s research is at the forefront of the complex and important field of drug delivery. One of the major challenges facing pharmaceutical scientists today is designing safe and effective delivery systems. For example, many anti-cancer drugs are water-insoluble and must be delivered intravenously. Other drugs become degraded once they enter the system and must also be delivered using more invasive methods.
A leader in her field, Dr. Onyuksel has developed a technique for coating these drug particles with phospholipid molecules or encapsulating them in micelles and liposomes. The result is a protective spherical structure that acts as a carrier particle for the drugs, thus allowing them to safely and stably be delivered into the system. In addition, the carrier particle can directly deliver the drug to targets such as tumors or inflamed tissues.
Recently, Dr. Onyuksel and fellow investigator Dr. Israel Rubinstein were awarded almost $1 million by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to explore two of the most promising applications of these drug delivery systems: targeted drug delivery and advanced imaging techniques for breast cancer treatment and detection.
One of the major problems in drug treatment of cancer is toxicity. Using her technology, cancer-fighting drugs are expected to seek and interact only with cancer cells, leaving normal, healthy cells undamaged. This ability to target drug delivery will boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments, minimize harmful side effects, and improve the quality of life of cancer patients. She is also working to combine her technology with imaging agents that could potentially result in a less invasive alternative to mammography for detecting breast cancer at an early stage.
Overall, Dr. Onyuksel's vast experience and dedication to providing ingenious solutions to important scientific questions is an inspiration to colleagues in her field and the entire UIC community.
 |
|