Theodora Tzakri
The pace of population ageing is increasing dramatically worldwide, however, elderly people are underrepresented in clinical studies of new drug formulations. It is our responsibility as young scientists to evaluate the special conditions of this age group and improve their treatment, making positive changes in their everyday lives.
ESR 2: Gastric emptying in older people assessed by salivary caffeine concentrations
Host institution: University of Greifswald, Germany
Supervisors: W.Weitschies (UG), A. Seidlitz (UG), C. Stillhart (Roche; secondment)
Research project in AGePOP
Since gastric motility is a major determinant of oral drug absorption, the goal of the project is to evaluate gastric emptying kinetics in older people by assessing salivary caffeine concentrations. It will be investigated whether changes in gastric emptying of liquids and solids as well as in transit times of oral formulations can be identified and can be correlated with age and disease. The results of the studies will enlarge the data basis for further use in in vitro and in silico tools.
Scientific background
Theodora Tzakri studied pharmacy at Aristotle´s University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Greece, from 2014 to 2019 and in November 2019 became a Licensed Pharmacist. On her Diploma Thesis, she worked on Medicinal Chemistry on QSARs of Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitors. She then continued her research work and obtained a Master Degree in Industrial Pharmacy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in April 2021. During her Master studies, she mainly focused on solubility enhancement of poorly water-soluble drugs by Amorphous Solid Dispersions (ASDs). In July 2021, Theodora Tzakri started her PhD at Greifswald Universität, Germany, in collaboration with F. Hoffmann – La Roche Ltd in Basel, Switzerland.
About Theodora Tzakri
Theodora Tzakri was born and raised in Northern Greece. Drug development and research were her greatest interests from a young age, while her ambition to help people and patients fight disease was her driving force to get involved in the pharmaceutical field. Through her research in AGePOP, Theodora aspires to make an impact on the improvement of drug safety and effectiveness for older people.
Publications
- Kapourani, A., Tzakri, T., Valkanioti, V., Kontogiannopoulos, K. N., & Barmpalexis, P. (2021). Drug crystal growth in ternary amorphous solid dispersions: Effect of surfactants and polymeric matrix-carriers. International journal of pharmaceutics, X, 3, 100086. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpx.2021.100086