Emerging Technology and Best Practices Seminar Series

Nanotechnology in Medicine: From Diagnostics to Therapeutics

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Dr. Vladimir Torchilin

BIO

Dr. Vladimir Torchilin graduated from the Moscow University with MS in Chemistry, and also obtained there his Ph.D. (1971) and D.Sc. (1981) in Polymer Chemistry, Chemical Kinetics and Catalysis, and Chemistry of Physiologically Active Compounds. In years 1968-1973 Dr. Torchilin made his research at the Chemical Department of Moscow State University. In 1974-1990 he was with the Institute of Experimental Cardiology, Russian Cardiology Research Center, where he founded the Laboratory of Enzyme Engineering of which he was a Head in 1981-1991. In 1991 Dr. Torchilin joined Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School as the Head of Chemistry Program, Center for Imaging and Pharmaceutical Research, and Associate Professor of Radiology. Since 1998 Dr. Torchilin is with Northeastern University as a Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and since 2005 also as Director, Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine.

Throughout most of his career, his research interests have focused on the engineering of biomedical polymers and polymeric drugs, medicinal enzyme stabilization and immobilization, drug delivery and targeting, drug carriers including liposomes and micelles, long-circulating drug carriers, novel imaging agents, antibody modification, and, more recently, experimental cancer immunology. His outstanding contributions to all these areas are widely recognized by the international scientific community. Related research has been communicated in more than 250 original publications. He also wrote more than 100 reviews and book chapters, wrote and edited 10 books including "Immobilized Enzymes in Medicine", "Handbook of Targeted Delivery of Imaging Agents", “Liposomes: A Practical Approach”, “Biomedical Aspects of Drug Targeting”, “Delivery of Protein and Peptide Drugs in Cancer”, and “Nanoparticulates as Drug Carriers”, made over 250 invited lectures and seminars and holds more that 50 patents. He is also an Editor of a novel book series on Biomedical Nanotechnology with Pan Stanford Publishing (World Scientific). His commitment to the engineering of drug delivery and targeting systems is also reflected in the numerous grants and contracts awarded to him by the NIH and various industries.

He is a Review Editor for the Journal of Controlled Release, and on the Editorial Boards of Bioconjugate Chemistry, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, Journal of Drug Targeting, Journal of Microencapsulation, Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymers, Journal of Liposome Research, Molecular Pharmaceutics, Current Drug Delivery, Drug Discovery Today, Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology, and Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery. He also was in many Organizing and Steering Committees for various Conferences, including chairmanship for the Controlled Release Society Meeting in 1999, Gordon Conference on Drug Carriers in Biology and Medicine in 2002, and 5th International Symposium on Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery in 2007.

Professor Torchilin was the recipient of the 1982 Lenin Prize in Science and Technology (the highest scientific award in the former USSR which was awarded every other year and could be received only once during the lifetime). He was elected as a Full Member of Russian Academy of Biotechnology and Member, European Academy of Sciences. He is also a Fellow of AAPS and AIMBE. In 1994 he received the 1993 Outstanding Pharmaceutical Paper Award from the Controlled Release Society, and 1993 Journal of Controlled Release, Outstanding Paper Award. In 2005 he received the Research Achievements Award in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery from the AAPS; in 2006 – the 2006 CRS-Baxter Healthcare Outstanding Parenteral Drug Delivery Award; and in 2007 – the Research Achievements Award from the World Pharmaceutical Congress. He also keeps a Creativity Award and Innovation Award from Northeastern University. He served as a President of the Controlled Release Society in 2005/2006 and is on the Board of Directors of the International Liposome Society.