LAP

LABORATORY OF ADVANCED PHARMACEUTICS

Mission

The Laboratory of Advanced Pharmaceutics (LAP) in the Department of Pharmaceutics at The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy was created to assist in the transformation of lead compounds, as well as generic drugs, into marketed products.  LAP is capable of performing a wide range of formulation development activities to facilitate commercialization of pre-approved active pharmaceutical ingredients, new molecular entities, drug products and inactive ingredients.   Specific capabilities include: preformulation characterization, solid-state characterization, dissolution testing, early assessment of commercialization potential, analytical methods development and validation, long term stability studies, solid, liquid and lipid based dosage form design, mucosal, transmucosal, transscleral and transdermal drug delivery, pharmacokinetic studies and development of new technologies to commercialize drugs, including those from natural products.
The Laboratory conducts state of the art pharmaceutical development activities in support of lead candidates emerging from drug discovery programs both within and external to The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.  A special emphasis has been placed on assessing the pharmaceutical properties of complex lead compounds including multi-component botanical products and preformulation studies for all lead compounds.  In addition, expertise is available for enhancing solubility, permeability and thus bioavailability of drugs via hot-melt extrusion technology (See Center for Thermal Pharmaceutical Processing, CTP2).   Research capabilities include solid form identification, characterization, and optimization; physical and chemical stability assessment, water sorption analysis, solubility, dissolution, prodrug design, early formulation development and in vitro absorption and metabolism studies utilizing isolated tissues and various cell culture models.  In addition, pharmacokinetic studies are a strength of LAP.

Laboratory Facilities and Personnel

LAP is housed in 6000 square feet of modern laboratory space within the Department of Pharmaceutics in The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.  LAP is fully equipped to conduct pharmaceutical characterization studies.  LAP scientists have joint appointments in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and have access to equipment, scientific expertise and facilities within the National Center for Natural Products Research, a modern, 115,000 square foot pharmaceutical research building adjacent to LAP.

The Laboratory is staffed by 5 full-time faculty members, 3 post-doctoral scholars and 20 graduate student researchers.  Laboratory faculty include:  Dr. Michael Repka, Chair & Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics, Dr. Bonnie Avery, Associate Professor, Dr. Soumyajit Majumdar, Assistant Professor, Dr. S. N. Murthy, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Sean Jo, Assistant Professor.  The faculty has extensive pharmaceutical industry experience in preformulation, stability, formulation development, analytical development, process optimization and validation, and technology transfer of a wide variety of drug substances and dosage forms.

For additional information please contact:

Michael A. Repka, D.D.S., Ph.D.                                                    
Chair, Pharmaceutics
(662) 915-1155
marepka@olemiss.edu