Pharmaceutical and cosmetic formulations

Principal Investigators

SEGALE Lorena, GIOVANNELLI Lorella

Activity and skills

Planning, development and production of dosage forms for the administration of active ingredients and cosmetic products through pre-formulation and formulation activity.

The research activity is mainly concerned with:

• modification of the physical state of the drug/functional ingredients through technologies such as grinding, freeze-drying and spray drying
• characterisation of the solid state of bioactive molecules and cosmetic ingredients through studies of solubility and intrinsic dissolution, X-ray powder diffraction analysis (XRPD), thermal analysis (DSC and TGA), ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy (ATR), granulometric analysis (PSD), rheological analysis of liquids and powders, optical microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM)
• evaluation of interaction of the drug or cosmetic substance with technological excipients/adjuvants, and of the formation of supra-molecular inclusion complexes with cyclodextrins
• creation of solid systems designed for oral administration to convey molecules of pharmaceutical interest in order improve/modify some characteristics such as stability, solubility, absorption, organoleptic properties, and speed of release
• preparation and characterisation of microparticle and nanoparticle systems for the development of pharmaceutical and cosmetic formulations.

Technological equipment

Planetary mixer and vibratory mill; homogenizers; laboratory tablet press; manual capsule fillers; equipment for spatulated tablets; freeze dryer; spray dryer/freezing; equipment for ionotropic gelation, equipment for technological testing of powders and solid pharmaceutical forms (dissolver, disruptor, hardness tester, friability tester, flowability tester); stereomicroscope, equipment for nano tracking analysis, DSC and TGA, rotational and capillary viscometer, tensiometer, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and FTIR-ATR.

ERC Sectors of the team

LS7, PE4, PE5

Research Group members

Elia Bari (fixed-term researcher), Alice Picco (PdD student), Alessandro Candiani (PhD student), Andrea Milanesi (PhD student), Andrea Foglio Bonda (research fellow), Giada Diana (research fellow)