Under the supervision of the Dean of the College of Pharmacy, Professor Dr. Sarmed H. Kathem Alkhateeb, the Scientific Affairs Unit at the College of Pharmacy, University of Baghdad, held an in-person workshop entitled “Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery.” The workshop was delivered by Ihab Dahham Hammoodi, a PhD student from the Pharmaceutics Department. The workshop aimed to introduce nanotechnology in drug delivery and provide a simplified overview of its history, development, benefits, and applications. It also explored one of its applications. The workshop included several topics, including an initial introduction to nanoparticles and their delivery methods within the body, a historical overview of the development of delivery methods, their benefits, the differences between them and traditional methods, and the challenges they present. It also included a detailed explanation of one of the methods. The discussion session defined the biodegradable, biocompatible nature, targeted and sustain release drug profile, nanomaterials are always preferred as an ideal drug delivery vehicles. But such nanomaterials are not completely safe thus possess toxic effect on healthy cells and It appears that nano drug delivery systems hold great potential to overcome some of the barriers to efficient targeting of cells and molecules in inflammation and cancer. There also is an exciting possibility to overcome problems of drug resistance in target cells and to facilitating movement of drugs across barriers such as those in the brain. The challenge, however, remains the precise characterization of molecular targets and to ensure that these molecules are expressed only in the targeted organs to prevent effects on healthy tissues. Secondly, it is important to understand the fate of the drugs once delivered to the nucleus and other sensitive cells organelles. Furthermore, because nanosystems increase efficiency of drug delivery, the doses may need recalibration. Nevertheless, the future remains exciting and wide open.
