Production and characterisation of liposomes
20 July 2022
About speaker

Prof. Dr. Alfred Fahr
Prof. Dr. Alfred Fahr is Professor Emeritus in Pharmaceutical Technology at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany. Prof. Fahr is also the founder of a consulting bureau for Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy. His research interests include biophysics of modern formulations, mechanisms of skin penetration and non-viral gene therapy, nanotechnological formulations in pharmacy and formulations of poorly soluble active substances.
An internationally-renowned Pharmaceutics expert, Prof. Fahr has published over 200 papers in leading journals and holds twelve patent applications. He is a Series Editor of “Advances in Pharmaceutical Technology”, Wiley and author of different textbooks on Pharmaceutical Technology. Since 2015 he is retired and concentrates since then on advising pharmaceutical companies in Europe and China.
Abstract
Liposomes and lipid nanoparticles are enjoying renewed attention lately, just think of the lipid-based vaccines against covid-19.Liposomes consist of phospholipids. Phospholipids are self-associating lyophilic amphiphiles. Already in the early history of humans, liposomes were produced, albeit unconsciously, by scrambling eggs as if by themselves. So why the hell have an extra seminar about it?
Well, early liposomes were anything but well-defined in terms of lipid membrane number and size. And uniformity from approach to approach in experimental series is of course also important here to enable reproducibility of scientific investigations as well as medical applications. Meanwhile, for liposomal-based drugs, regulatory authorities expect a huge amount of biophysical testing, which can sometimes be demotivating. So in this seminar we will talk about methods of manufacturing liposomes, ways of incorporating model substances and drugs into liposomes and the characterisation of liposomes. If there is time, we can also talk about the interaction of liposomes with biological systems.