TITLE:

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE IN THE DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT OF SKIN BARRIER MODIFICATION MATERIALS (No. 68)

DATE:

Friday, March 18th, 2005

TIME:

3:30 PM

LOCATION:

GMCS 214

SPEAKER:

John Newsam, President & Managing Director, fqubed, Inc., San Diego, CA

ABSTRACT:

fqubed, the skin barrier modification company, is applied to the development of materials that are capable of modulating, by molecular means, the barrier properties of skin. Such materials have potential in transdermal and topical drug delivery, in skin-applied medical sensors, and in various skin and personal care products.

As the structure of the prime barrier component of skin, the stratum corneum, is poorly understood at the molecular level, and as the impact of a given molecular species on its barrier properties cannot be predicted, new high throughput experimentation (HTE) techniques are playing an important role.

HTE, though, leverages a number of computational dimensions, used from experimentation campaign planning, through data and operational management, analysis and visualization of data from quite variable natural materials, to referencing experimentation results to molecular characteristics. We then describe the HTE techniques we are using for the production of soft materials and for assaying how they impact skin barrier function, and outline one application program that led to the discovery of compositions capable of enabling transdermal delivery of hydrophilic peptides >1000Da in molecular weight. We highlight opportunities for the bringing-to-bear of certain computational disciplines in this HTE/skin barrier modifier development context.

HOST:

Jose Castillo

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