Drug Delivery and Translational Research Update

DDTR Author Satisfaction Survey

In addition to providing a forum for publishing high-quality translational drug delivery science and technology, we also aim for authors’ complete satisfaction with their publishing experience in DDTR. Springer, the publisher of DDTR, carried out a survey from January to December 2016. We are pleased to see that 75% of the responders indicated that they would “definitely” consider submitting articles to DDTR again; the remaining 25% indicated that they would “probably” submit again, and none of the responders indicated they would not consider DDTR or expressed dissatisfaction with their publication experience. We are also pleased to see that DDTR is now accessed globally (see adjacent image). The current impact factor (2016) is 3.094.

DDTR Special Issue: Volume 7, Issue 4, 465-607, 2017

This special themed edition of DDTR, “Canadian Chapter of the Controlled Release Society: Current Drug Delivery Research from Coast to Coast,” introduces the reader to drug delivery research being undertaken by members of the CRS Canadian Local Chapter (http://cc-crs.com/CRS/) all across Canada, from Pacific coast to Atlantic coast! This special issue is structured in three sections, beginning with drug delivery research (to bone surfaces, across the blood brain barrier, peptide siRNA delivery), followed by mechanisms of drug release (from starch carriers, pluronic drug delivery systems, liposomal drug release methodology), and anchored by drug carrier and safety/efficacy research (veterinary vaccine nasal/pulmonary delivery, micelle nanocarriers, ovomucin nanoparticles, and novel doxorubicin derivatives).

About the Guest Editors

Michael Doschak is an associate professor with the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. His academic research program involves advanced drug delivery strategies, to effect the targeting and controlled release of drugs and peptide biologics with bone tissues, for orthopedic, orthodontic (dental), and biomaterials applications. Dr. Doschak’s translational efforts in bone drug delivery have helped establish a novel platform of bone-targeting drugs, notably for the peptide hormones calcitonin and parathyroid hormone—and recently for MRI-based SPION contrast agents capable of detecting dynamic bone turnover without the use of radionuclides. He was the recipient of a 2008 Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD) and the 2013 Teaching Excellence Award from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta. He has served with CRS as the Canadian Chapter President (2011–2013), as a member of the Nominating Committee (2014) and the International Committee (2014–2015), and he was recently elected to the CRS Board of Scientific Advisors for a three-year term (2015–2018).

Christine Allen is a professor and the GlaxoSmithKline Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, Canada. She previously served as the Associate Dean Graduate Education and as the Associate Dean Academic. Her research is focused on the rational design and development of new materials and technologies for the delivery of drugs and contrast agents. Allen completed her doctoral research in the Department of Chemistry at McGill University and postdoctoral research in the Department of Advanced Therapeutics at the B.C. Cancer Agency. She joined University of Toronto in 2002, from Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Vancouver, B.C.), where she had worked as a scientist and assistant director of materials research. She has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, numerous patent applications, and nine book chapters on both lipid and polymer-based delivery systems. She has served on several peer-review panels for granting agencies including Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), NCIC, and NIH. She was awarded a CIHR-Rx&D Career Award (2004–2009) for her research on the design and development of technologies for cancer treatment in addition to many other awards.

Emmanuel Ho is currently the Leslie F. Buggey Associate Professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba. He is cross-appointed to the College of Medicine, Department of Immunology and the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Ho earned his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Toronto and was awarded an industrial postgraduate scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). As a postdoctoral fellow at the British Columbia Cancer Research Center, he was awarded the CIHR postdoctoral fellowship along with the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR) postdoctoral fellowship. His current research interests include the development of nanomedicines and medical devices for imaging, treatment, and prevention of diseases including HIV/AIDS, wound healing, and cancer. He was recently presented the 2013 Rh Award for Excellence in Research, was the recipient of the 2014 GlaxoSmithKline/Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences Early Career Award, and was awarded the 2015 Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC) New Investigator Research Award. Dr. Ho’s research program is supported by grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CIHR, NSERC, Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Research Manitoba, Manitoba Medical Service Foundation (MMSF), and Diagnostic Services Manitoba. He was recently recruited by the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy and will begin his new position in September 2017. DDTR has published 16 special issues covering different aspects of drug delivery systems and their translational applications. If you have an idea for a special issue, please contact the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Vinod Labhasetwar, at labhasv@ccf.org.