# Research Supplement to Promote Diversity: Mei-Li Laracuente (1R35GM143101 Parent Award)

> **NIH NIH R35** · RICE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $67,406

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Every day, an estimated 3.9 billion people take medication to treat acute or chronic conditions. However,
despite the enormous utility of current pharmaceuticals, they are limited by several factors that prevent their
more effective and expanded use. Ideally, drugs would reach the desired concentration at the site of action for
the duration that the therapy is required. In practice, this is difficult because the body is constantly metabolizing
and excreting drugs, which necessitates re-administration. Depending on a drug’s therapeutic window and
biological half-life, frequent administration may be required, which lowers patient adherence. This issue is
pervasive with non-adherence rates as high as 50% for chronic diseases, leading to increased morbidity and
mortality and as much as $290 billion in added healthcare costs each year in the U.S. alone. The field of
pharmaceutics has developed formulation methods that reduce administration frequency, including injectable
controlled-release systems composed of drug embedded in biodegradable materials. Unfortunately, current
clinically-approved systems are limited in both the types of molecules that they can deliver and the drug
release kinetics they can achieve. This proposal seeks to develop parenteral drug delivery strategies that
enhance safety and efficacy, improve patient adherence, and enable the sustained release of biological drugs.
We hypothesize that emerging nanofabrication methods (e.g., multi-photon 3D printing) can be used to control
the structure—and thus behavior—of surface-eroding particles containing drug. Because the degradation of
these hydrophobic materials is confined to the surface, drug distributed homogeneously throughout their
volume will be released at a rate proportional to their erosion rate and exposed surface area. Although this
concept could be applied to achieve a wide array of release kinetics, we are most interested in attaining zero-
order release kinetics, which are desirable for most diseases, and sequential release, which may be useful for
dynamic conditions. Further, because surface eroding materials exclude water, their interior microenvironment
will remain dry and neutral, thus promoting the stability of encapsulated biologics at 37°C. This approach has
the ability to fundamentally change how drugs are administered and improve patient outcomes across all of
medicine. This diversity supplement will expand upon the work previously proposed to support the work of Mei-
Li Laracuente, a Hispanic female student in the McHugh Lab. Mei-Li will engineer microparticle formulations for
three different drugs that achieve long-term, zero-order release kinetics after parenteral administration. In the
original scope of work, this project aimed to deliver intraocular methotrexate using this platform. In the
expanded scope under this supplemental award, Mei-Li will deliver fluoxetine, emtricitabine, and morphine with
microparticles for up to 60 days and...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10631614
- **Project number:** 3R35GM143101-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** RICE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kevin James McHugh
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $67,406
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-09-15 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10631614

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10631614, Research Supplement to Promote Diversity: Mei-Li Laracuente (1R35GM143101 Parent Award) (3R35GM143101-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10631614. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*