Michael Repka
Director of the PII Center for Pharmaceutical Technology Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery and Research Professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Repka's general research interests include solubility enhancement via hot-melt extrusion, and 3D printing for development of novel patient centered dosage forms.
Research Interests
- Dr. Repka's research interests include novel drug delivery systems via hot-melt extrusion (HME) and 3D printing.
- Many of these systems are directed toward the delivery of poorly soluble drugs.
- New chemical entities, isolated natural compounds, and currently marketed drugs that demonstrate a low bioavailability due to solubility issues are prime candidates for HME.
- Other delivery systems include transmucosal, trans-nail and transdermal dosage forms.
- Polymeric drug delivery design and stabilization of conventional as well as new drug delivery systems for natural product compounds such as THC, is a continued focus of research.
Biography
Dr. Michael Repka received his B.S. in Pharmacy and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences with an emphasis in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he earned his D.D.S. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. From a research perspective, Dr. Repka has over 30 years of experience utilizing hot-melt extrusion (HME) for pharmaceutical dosage forms and devices. He pioneered drug delivery via HME, including techniques to deliver poorly soluble drugs to patients and has trained hundreds of students and Ph.D.s in this advanced technology. In addition, he has used HME for patient centric delivery to pediatric, geriatric and special needs patients. This focus led him to couple HME with 3D printing to further advance development and delivery of patient focused complex dosages, with novel dosage forms as a common denominator.
Dr. Repka is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery (PDD) and Director of the Pii Center for Pharmaceutical Technology. He also served as Chair of PDD for 17 years. Dr. Repka has been awarded >$8.9 million from grants and contracts, as PI or Co-PI, from NIH, Industry, other Federal Agencies, and private support. The Department of Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery has over 60 graduate students and thus Dr. Repka has had the opportunity to mentor, train and assist both M.S. and Ph.D. graduate students in an enriched learning environment. He has published more than 220 peer-reviewed publications in prestigious pharmaceutical journals and has been an invited speaker at national and international symposia/workshops >80 times over the last 10 years. Dr. Repka received the Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award in 2020, which is the University’s highest research honor, and was named a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists in 2012. He serves as an Editor for AAPS PharmSciTech and Associate Editor for the Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology, as well as serving on the Editorial Advisory Boards of nine respected pharmaceutical journals.
Education
B.S. Pharmacy, University of Texas at Austin (1976)
Other Dental Surgery, University of Texas San Antonio (1981)
Ph.D. Pharmaceutical Science, University of Texas at Austin (2000)