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Vice Dean, and
John A. McNeill Distinguished Professor
Director, Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery
Professor, UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB 7355, 100G Beard Hall
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7355
E-mail: mumper@email.unc.edu
Work: (919) 966-1271
Biography:
Dr. Mumper is vice dean, and the John A. McNeill Distinguished Professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and the first director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
From 1999 to 2007, Dr. Mumper was a faculty member in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Kentucky. He served as vice chair of the department from 2004 to 2007. Also, from 1999 to 2006, Dr. Mumper was the associate director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Science & Technology (CPST). Prior to becoming a for-profit company in 2007, the CPST was a unique university-based fully-integrated FDA-registered GMP pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. Dr. Mumper led the CPST’s efforts to complete full product development resulting in the successful submission of seven different INDs and commencement of human clinical trials with both industrial and university partners.
After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Bioengineering at the University of Washington in 1992, Dr. Mumper held various product development positions in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry working for Burroughs-Wellcome Co. in North Carolina and GeneMedicine, Inc. and Virotex Corporation, both in The Woodlands, Texas. Since returning to academia in 1999, Dr. Mumper has received over $10.1 million in research grants/contracts as principal investigator (and over $24.1 million total). Dr. Mumper has more than 235 scientific publications/abstracts and 36 patents or patents pending.
In 2006, he received the AAPS Lipid-based Drug Delivery Award sponsored by Gattefossé Corporation and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS).
In 2007, Dr. Mumper was recognized by the University of Kentucky (UK) Alumni Association as one of six “Great Teachers” at UK. This award is the oldest, continuously given award for teaching on UK’s campus.
In 2009, Dr. Mumper was elected Fellow of the AAPS.
Dr. Mumper serves on the editorial board of three pharmaceutical journals and is an ad-hoc member of several different scientific review panels for the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Mumper continues to serve as a consultant to the industry and as an expert patent witness. Dr. Mumper is currently Chair of the Bio-Targeting Working Group of the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, and a Steering Committee Member of the AAPS Nanotechnology Focus Group.
Dr. Mumper has co-founded five companies including NanoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., Four Tigers LLC and Berryceuticals LLC (both based in Paris and Lexington, Kentucky), Capture Pharmaceuticals LLC (based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina), and IonX Capital Holdings Inc. (based in Lexington, Kentucky).
Dr. Mumper received a B.A. in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics/Drug Delivery from the University of Kentucky in 1988 and 1991, respectively.
Research Interests:
Dr. Mumper’s research program is focused primarily in five areas:
- Nanotemplate engineering of nano-based detection devices and cell-specific nanoparticles for tumor and dendritic cell targeting and vaccines. Current projects relate to using nanotechnology to target and overcome multi-drug resistant cancer, and as vaccine delivery systems for HIV proteins and adjuvants
- Biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and toxicology of nanoparticles and nanomaterials
- Drug-polymer conjugates
- Mucoadhesive gels, thin-films, and intravaginal rings for (trans)mucosal delivery of drugs, vaccines, and microbicides
- Anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties of berries and berry extracts
CV April, 2011
NIH Biosketch, April 2011
From Nanoparticles to Blackberries
Mumper’s research interest lies in finding better ways to deliver potent drugs by various routes of administration, and nanotechnology is the crux of his work. He has worked on using nanoparticles to deliver drugs and vaccines, as well as developing topical formulations and microbicides. He also cofounded a company, NanoMed Pharmaceuticals Inc, which is currently developing nanoparticle-based delivery systems for anticancer drugs.
One of the projects he worked on while at the University of Kentucky’s Center for Pharmaceutical Science and Technology took him in what appeared to be a completely different direction. Researchers at Ohio State University had been conducting research to see if freeze-dried black raspberries could be developed into a topical gel that would prevent pre-cancerous lesions from becoming oral cancer, since the anthocyanin in the berries have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They contracted the CPST to develop a formulation and to conduct a Phase I clinical study.
The clinical trial produced promising results as well more than half of the patients in the study showed stabilization of disease and/or improvement. Media reports about the study caught the attention of Paige Shumate Short, owner of Windstone Farms, the largest blackberry grower in Kentucky. She approached Mumper about starting a company, Four Tigers LLC, to develop potential health and medical products based on the extracts of blackberries, which are related to black raspberries.
With the capacity to grow one hundred and fifty acres of blackberries, Windstone Farms was looking to expand its business opportunities to beyond jams and preserves. Therefore, Four Tigers is developing products—such as blackberry extract chewing gum and blackberry extract lotion—that would have near-term product opportunities while also having the potential for medicinal use. Because these near-term products are not classified as drugs, such products are not as heavily regulated by the FDA and can reach market much more quickly.
“But at the same time, every one of those products can be pursued as an FDA-registered ‘botanical drug product’ if you can find and prove that it is efficacious and safe in treating a disease, and that’s along the lines of where my interests are,” Mumper says.
“For instance, on one hand, the blackberry extract gum could be a food that could be marketed very quickly on the shelf. But we are in the process of facilitating a Phase I clinical study to see if that blackberry extract gum can prevent gingivitis and periodontal disease because of its potent anti-inflammatory properties. The blackberry extract lotion could be marketed as a cosmetic to beautify the skin, but we are also investigating whether or not a blackberry lotion would prevent UV-induced damage to skin and therefore prevent skin cancer. The blackberry extract capsule could be a dietary supplement—no medical claims, just general health benefits—but we are also investigating through a UNC collaborator whether or not the extract would be helpful in preventing various GI-inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.”
Blackberries and nanoparticles might seem worlds apart, but Mumper sees a similarity between them: They are both tools for drug discovery and drug development.
“You might say, ‘Fruits and nanotechnology?’ But there is a loose common theme, and that is using drug formulations to increase the potency of compounds or drugs,” he says. “These compounds could be anticancer drugs. They could be subunit protein vaccines, like HIV proteins. They could be components of these fruit extracts, like these anthocyanins that have incredible oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-proliferative properties. But they are not stable, and you need to find better ways to formulate and deliver them.”
UNC Faculty Spotlight Russ Mumper
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