Contact

Mike Wells
Laboratory for General Biochemistry and Physical Pharmacy
Ghent University
Ottergemsesteenweg 110
9000 Gent
Belgium
Tel: 0032 9 264 8047 (secretary)
E-mail: Mike.wels@ugent.be

Biography

Education:
Mike has obtained a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences by completing the program Drug Innovation at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. During his Master’s he finished an internship at Utrecht University with a thesis titled: “Preparation and characterization of a lysolipid-based thermosensitive liposomal formulation for methotrexate” and an internship at Ghent University with a thesis called “Intravitreal delivery of mRNA targeted towards Müller cells using lipid-based nanoparticles”.

Research Interests :

Ocular delivery, nanomedicines, siRNA

Summary of Research Project(s)

The cornea, as the outer layer of the eye, has many mechanisms to protect itself such as the production of tears. Even when compounds are taken up in the corneal cells, a large portion end up degraded by lysosomes. The primary objective is to investigate a way to deliver the siRNA into the corneal epithelial cells and escape the lysosomes. Different methods are screened with the use of primary bovine corneal epithelial cells as a first and relevant in vitro model.