WEBINAR: Combined Use of Multiple Particle Characterization Technologies to Evaluate Targeted Liposomal Formulations: Implications for General Nanoparticle Development

January 12, 2016, 8:00am PT, 11:00am ET, 3:00pm GMT

Targeted nanoparticle applications have become a major focus of translational development of both diagnostics and therapeutics for clinical use.  One of the oldest and best established nanoparticle formulations is liposomes, which can be readily targeted to tissue markers by chemical conjugation to ligands such as antibodies.  The cardiovascular research group at UTHealth has been exploring molecular targeting strategies for our intrinsically echogenic liposomes (ELIP) for nearly 25 years.  As part of this effort, we have developed evaluation methods for both conjugation and targeting efficiencies that rely on particle characterization techniques, especially the Beckman Coulter Multisizer.  This webinar will present the immunoblot assay (IBA) that measures IgG concentrations in the presence of liposomes.  We use the Multisizer to enumerate population based on size. We will present several sophisticated methods developed by us for determining targeting efficiency (TE), based on the CE and ELISA-measured antibody (Ab) binding affinity and binding efficiency.  The most informative measure of TE, however, is the specific TE, which is the product of the number of Ab molecules that actually bind to immobilized target molecules (determined by comparing the ELISA CE to the IBA CE) and the affinity.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about the immunoblot assay (IBA) that measures immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations in the presence of liposomes.
• Learn about sophisticated methods developed for determining targeting efficiency (TE), based on the CE and ELISA-measured antibody (Ab) binding affinity and binding efficiency