Position

Professor of Chemical Pharmaceutics

Areas of Expertise

Chemical, materials and formulation sciences.

Biography

Steve Brocchini studied synthetic chemistry at Reed College (BA, 1984), the University of Michigan (PhD, 1989) and Emory University (postdoctoral 1990-1991). Industrial experience includes Raychem Corp. (metallurgy, 1985) and Xenova Limited (medicinal chemistry, 1991-1994). From 1995-1997 he was an adjunct faculty member in polymer chemistry at Rutgers University.  He co-founded the School of Pharmacy spinout company called PolyTherics.

Research Interests

The primary research objective is to elucidate and to exploit the scientific basis of the pharmaceutical sciences to develop medically needed therapies. Research covers final dosage forms for oral, pulmonary, parenteral and implantable administration. Several challenges in pharmaceutical science are being examined that include:

• Strategies to increase the efficacy of biopharmaceuticals and poorly soluble active agents.
• Determining the properties of a final dosage form that are caused by processing and those caused by its composition.
• Translation of laboratory research into the clinic.
• Methods to develop more affordable medicines.

Research efforts are designed around multi-disciplined projects that are collaborative with both clinicians and other basic scientists. Medical indications are being examined in the areas of infection, inflammation, cancer, immune modulation and wound management. Platform approaches are being developed that can be used to address more than one application endpoint. The majority of projects are jointly supervised to increase the opportunity for students to gain a broader perspective, intellectual independence and key transferable skills.

Selected Publications

Al-Obaidi H, Brocchini S, Buckton G: "Anomalous Properties of Spray Dried Solid Dispersions".  Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com), 2009, DOI 10.1002/jps.21782.

Won Choi, J, Godwin A, Balan S, Bryant P, Cong Y, Pawlisz E, Porssa M, Rumpf N, Singh R, Powell K, Brocchini S.  "Rebridging disulphides: site-specific PEGylation on natural amino acids by sequential bis-alkylation".  PEGylated Protein Drugs: Basic Science and Clinical Applications.  Edited by F.M. Veronese, 2009.

Georgoulas S, Dahlmann-Noor A, Brocchini S, Khaw PT. "Modulation of "Wound Healing during and after Glaucoma Surgery". Prog Brain Res (173) 237-54, 2008.

Lewis A, Tang UQ, Brocchini S, Choi JW, Godwin A. "Poly (2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) for Protein Conjugation".  Bioconjugate Chemistry, 19 (11): 2144-2155, 2008.

Barbosa H, Hine AV, Brocchini S, Slater, NKH, Marcos JC. "Affinity partitioning of plasmid DNA with a zinc finger protein". Journal of Chromatography A, 1206 (2): 105-112, 2008.

Fadda HM,  Hernandez MC, Margetson DN, McAllister SM, Basit AW, Brocchini S, Suarez N. "The molecular interactions that influence the pasticizer dependent dissolution of acrylic polymer films". Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 97 (9): 3957-3971, 2008.

Zloh M, Shaunak S, Balan S, Brocchini S: “Identification and insertion of 3-carbon bridges in protein disulfide bonds: a computational approach.” Nature Protocols, 2, 2007, 1070-1083.

S Balan, J Choi, A Godwin, I Teo, CM Laborde, S Heidelberger, M Zloh, S Shaunak, S Brocchini: “Site-specific PEGylation of protein disulfide bonds using a three carbon bridge.” Bioconjugate Chem. 18(1), 2007, 61-76.

A Godwin, JW Choi, E Pedone, S Balan, R Jumnah, S Shaunak, S Brocchini, M Zloh: “Molecular dynamics simulations of proteins with chemically modified disulfide bonds.” Theoretica Chimica Acta, 117(2), 2007, 259-265.

S Brocchini, S Balan, A Godwin, J Choi, M Zloh, S Shaunak: “PEGylation of native disulfide bonds in proteins.” Nature Protocols, 1(5), 2006, 2241-2252.

E. Pedone and S Brocchini: “Synthesis of two photolabile poly(ethylene glycol) derivatives for protein conjugation.”  React Funct Polym., 66(1), 2006, 167-176.

S Shaunak, A Godwin, J Choi, S Balan, E Pedone, D Vijayarangam, S Heidelberger, I Teo, M Zloh, and S Brocchini: “Site-specific PEGylation of native disulfide bonds in therapeutic proteins.” Nature Chem. Bio. 2, 2006, 312-313.

J Fletcher, A Godwin, E Pedone, B Jahangeer. G Buckton, S Brocchini: “The use of procursor polymers to prepare new excipients”. J. Drug Del Sci. Tech. 15(4), 2005, 295-299.

MJ Pollitt, G Buckton, S Brocchini, O Alpar: Calorimetric study of bovine serum albumin dilution and adsorption onto polystyrene particles.” Internat. J. Pharm. 298(2), 2005, 333-338.

J Rickerby, R. Prabhakar, A Patel, J Knowles, S Brocchini: “A Biomedical Library of Serinol Derived Polyesters” J. Cont. Rel. 101, 2005, 21-34

R.L. Prabhakar, S. Brocchini and J.C. Knowles: “Effect of glass composition on the degradation properties and ion release characteristics of phosphate glass—polycaprolactone composites.” Biomaterials 26, 2005, 2209-2216.

M.J. Vicent, R. Tomlinson, R. Duncan, S Brocchini: “Polyacetal-diethylstilboestrol; a new anticancer polymer therapeutic.” J. Drug Targeting 12(8) 2004, 491-501.

S Shaunak, S Thomas, E Gianasi, A Godwin, E Jones, I Teo, K Mireskandari, P Luthert, R Duncan, S Patterson, P Khaw and S Brocchini: “Polyvalent dendrimer glucosamine conjugates prevent scar formation after surgery.” Nature Biotechnology 22(8), 2004, 977-984.

D Al-Hadithi, S Brocchini, G Buckton: Quantification of amorphous content in mixed systems: Amorphous trehalose with lactose. Thermochimica Acta, 417(2), 2004, 193-199.

E Pedone, XW Li, N Koseva, O Alpar, S Brocchini: “An information rich biomedical polymer library.” J. Mat. Chem. 13(11), 2003, 2825-2837.

R Tomlinson, J Heller, S Brocchini, R Duncan: “Polyacetal-doxorubicin conjugates designed for pH-dependent degradation.” Bioconjugate Chem., 14(6), 2003, 1096-1106.

M Zloh, E Dinand, S Brocchini: “Aconityl-derived polymers for biomedical applications. Modeling study of cis-trans isomerisation.” Theor. Chem. Acc., 109(4), 2003, 206-212.

R Tomlinson, M Klee, S Garrett, J Heller, R Duncan, S Brocchini: “Pendent chain functionalized polyacetals that display pH-dependent degradation: A platform for the development of novel polymer therapeutics.” Macromolecules 35(2), 2002, 473-480.

E. Dinand, M. Zloh, S. Brocchini: “Competitive reactions during amine addition to cis-aconityl Anhydride.” Aust. J. Chem., 55 (6/7), 2002, 467-474.

A. Godwin, M. Hartenstein, A. Müller and S. Brocchini: “Narrow molecular weight distribution precursors.” Angew Chem. Int. Ed. Engl, 40, 2001 594-597.

Selected Reviews

S Brocchini, A Godwin, S Balan, JW Choi, M Zloh and S Shaunak: “Disulfide bridge based PEGylation of proteins.” Adv. Drug Del. Rev., 2007, Doi:10.1016/¬j.addr.2007.06.014.

M Ali and S Brocchini: “Synthetic approaches to uniform polymers.” Adv. Drug Del. Rev., 58 (15), 2006, 1671-1687.

S Shaunak and S Brocchini: “Dendrimer-based drugs as macromolecular medicines.” Biotechnology & Genetic Eng. Rev., 23, 2006, 309-315.

S Brocchini: “Combinatorial chemistry and biomedical polymer development.” Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 53, 2001, 123-130.