Our scientific advisory board
The BUCCAL-PEP Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) consists of independent international scientific expert members from academia and industry who are experienced with different aspects of the project’s technology. They advise the executive project steering committee on scientific progress and also on opportunities to develop the concept further and to ensure scientific rigor and quality.
Dr. Andrew Muddle – MedPharm
Dr. Andrew Muddle, founder and former CEO of MedPharm, brings over 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in drug delivery. He played a pivotal role in PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc’s early development and IPO, and his career includes positions at Elan Corporation, Ethical Pharmaceuticals Ltd (U.K.), Controlled Therapeutics (Scotland), and Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis). Dr. Muddle excels in managing projects to commercialization, specializing in transdermal and topical products. He joined BUCCAL-PEP due to the challenge of oral peptide delivery.
Javier O. Morales, Ph.D. – Biosketch
Dr. Javier O. Morales is an Associate Professor at the University of Chile, specializing in pharmaceutical science and technology. He heads the Center of New Drugs for Hypertension (CENDHY) and is an Associate Researcher in the Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (ACCDiS). With a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, he focuses on innovative drug delivery systems, particularly for peptides, proteins, and poorly water-soluble drugs. His research explores nanoencapsulation and alternative routes of administration. Dr. Morales has a keen interest in buccal absorption and 2D/3D printing for drug delivery. He joined BUCCAL-PEP’s SAB to advance less invasive diabetes treatments and explore synergies with his own research.
Dr. Eva Roblegg – The University of Graz
Dr. Eva Roblegg is a full professor at the University of Graz, specializing in pharmaceutical technology and biopharmacy. She leads the Drug Delivery and Advanced Manufacturing group and focuses on the development of nano drug delivery systems (nanoDDS) for the treatment of oral diseases, such as oral mucositis. To better understand the relationship between nanoDDS and buccal/sublingual tissues, her group has developed in vitro cell and tissue models that mimic healthy and inflamed human oral mucosa. Eva Roblegg works closely with the Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering, a center of excellence in Graz, Austria, where she is involved in advanced technologies for the continuous manufacturing and conversion of (nano-)drug delivery systems into final dosage forms. Given her research interest in this area and the opportunity to create further synergies with her own research, she has joined BUCCAL-PEP’s SAB.
