Interview with Prof. Dr. Ali Nokhodchi—Editorial Board Member of Biomedicines

We had the pleasure of speaking with Prof. Dr. Ali Nokhodchi, Editorial Board Member of Biomedicines (ISSN: 2227-9059), to discuss his experience with Biomedicines and the recent research trends in the field.

Prof. Dr. Ali Nokhodchi is a pharmacist by training (since 1989) and he obtained his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical technology at John Moores University, Liverpool, UK in 1996. He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Sussex, UK and a Fellow at Lupin Research Center, Florida, USA. His main research interest is formulation science spanning particle engineering of excipients and actives for pulmonary and oral delivery, dissolution enhancement, 3D printing in drug delivery, nanomedicine, controlled release formulation and transdermal delivery. Prof. Dr. Nokhodchi has published over 350 research articles including 10 book chapters and a book on pulmonary drug delivery. His h-index is 65 with 13783 citations (dated 7 March 2023). Prof. Dr. Nokhodchi is listed among the top 1% of scientists worldwide by the ESI-WoS. He is on the editorial board of over 10 international pharmacy journals published by Elsevier, Springer Nature and Taylor & Francis.

We hope you enjoy the interview.

1. How would you recommend picking the right journal to submit your research to?
For me, two factors are important; quick review and the impact factor of the journal.

2. What is the priority for a good scientific article: great research with high scientific value or a well-thought-out composition and good writing?
I think both of the mentioned parameters are equally important. If great research with a scientific value fails to be translated into good writing, it will lose its value.

3. What excites you the most about the fields of drug delivery and nanotechnology?
When you see how drug delivery systems can help patients to treat various diseases and reduce pain and stress, it is really rewarding and makes researchers happy. It is really exciting to see how changing the size of drug particles (nanomedicines) can change the behavior of medicines. The application of drug delivery in health care is very exciting.

4. Could you describe the difficulties and breakthrough innovations encountered in this research?
In my opinion, one of the big challenges is the safety of nanoparticles to normal cells in the long term. It seems it is extremely challenging to make all nanoparticles without any toxicity in their long-term use. There is no doubt more research in the field could address the challenges facing nanoparticle delivery and toxicity. Innovations in drug delivery are needed to meet the challenges that are imposed by regulatory bodies. For innovations, the collaboration of different disciplines such as pharmaceutics, biology, biochemistry, physiology, chemistry and engineering are needed. Designing new drug delivery systems, exploring new applications of nanoparticles and implementing 3D printing in drug delivery are innovations in the field. A close collaboration between academics and industry is also needed for scale-up purposes.

5. What are some current challenges in this field?
Although extensive progress has been made by researchers on the drug delivery side of pharmaceutics, there are still many challenges. The first challenge is the delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs to the target site. Medicinal chemists discover many potential drugs but most of them cannot find their way to the market due to poor solubility, hence poor bioavailability. The second biggest challenge is the biocompatibility and acceptability of the new synthetic materials for drug delivery purposes, as most of them interact with human body cells which can cause serious side effects. Designing a cost-effective drug delivery system is another challenge.

We are thankful for Prof. Dr. Nokhodchi’s time and his support for Biomedicines.

Prof. Dr. Ali Nokhodchi’s contact information:
E-mail: A.Nokhodchi@sussex.ac.uk