The need for the discovery and development of innovative technologies to improve the delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents in the body is widely recognized. The “next generation” therapies must be able to deliver drugs, therapeutic proteins and recombinant DNA to focal areas of disease or to tumors to maximize clinical benefit while limiting untoward side effects. The use of nanoscale technologies to design novel drug delivery systems and devices is a rapidly developing area of biomedical research that promises breakthrough advances in therapeutics and diagnostics. Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine (CDDN) serves to unify existing diverse technical and scientific expertise in biomedical and material science research at the University of Nebraska thereby creating a world class interdisciplinary drug delivery and nanomedicine program. This is realized by integrating established expertise in drug delivery, gene therapy, neuroscience, pathology, immunology, pharmacology, vaccine therapy, cancer biology, polymer science and nanotechnology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL) and Creighton University.
CDDN develops innovative approaches to deliver drugs, genes and imaging agents through nanotechnology to maximize clinical benefit while limiting untoward side effects. Our research is focused on diseases that currently have no cure and only limited palliative therapy including cancer and degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. CDDN currently has 38 world class researchers from clinical and basic sciences departments representing two major campuses of the University of Nebraska, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), and the Creighton University. CDDN is administered through the UNMC College of Pharmacy.