The Department of Molecular Pharmaceutics hosts successful 19th RADDS Symposium
The U of U Department of Molecular Pharmaceutics hosted the 19th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Drug Delivery Systems in February 2025. The Symposium featured 28 speakers from 10 countries, all experts in their field.
The RADDS Symposium, as it is known by attendees, was inaugurated in 1983 by the late Dr. Sung Wan Kim, Distinguished Professor of the Department and a pioneer in drug and gene delivery field. For 40+ years, this event has been the world's first and premier drug delivery symposia, featuring the most up-to-date developments in the fields of controlled release, drug and gene delivery and molecular therapeutics.
Consistent with its rich history, the 2025 symposium brought together multi-disciplinary researchers in the areas of pharmaceutics, biomedical and chemical engineering, polymer and materials science, imaging, cell and molecular biology, and medicine.
The speakers were recommended by a committee of 37 distinguished international advisory board members from 18 countries, and final list selected by the University of Utah organizing committee. Topics ranged from immunotherapy, artificial intelligence and automated labs, tumor targeting, polymeric and lipid-based drug and gene delivery, antibody-drug conjugates, microbiota, and other areas of research and development in the field.
More than 160 registrants from 14 countries attended this year’s symposium, many sharing how much they enjoyed the event and the presentations. One attendee said, “the connections and friendships we form in this field are imperative to our success; it was wonderful to greet old friends and make new ones.”
Many PhD students from around the globe were also able to attend the event and meet and mingle with some of the world’s leading drug delivery experts. A student from the U of U shared, “Being able to meet and share work and experiences with such a wide range of drug delivery scientists, from fellow students to post-docs to renowned scientists in the field, was extremely rewarding. It felt like a community that not only is pioneering new technologies in drug delivery, but one that is open and accepting to new scientists entering the field.”
Two poster sessions highlighted 77 exciting scientific topics, many of which were presented by PhD students. Three poster presenters received best poster awards and gave 10-minute oral presentations at the conclusion of the conference.
The symposium chair Dr. Hamid Ghandehari, shared, “Providing a forum for everyone from graduate students to distinguished luminaries to share science is an important value of this event, and we were thrilled to showcase so many new researchers! We are beyond excited with how the symposium turned out and very grateful for our sponsors who made it possible.”
Gratitude for our Generous Sponsors
Hee Kyung Kim
Alex & Catherine Kim
Samyang Biopharm USA
WuXi Biologics
Technology Licensing Office, University of Utah
Personal Support from Dr. Tian Yu
Dr. Glen S. Kwon and Grace Kwon, in honor of Dr. Sung Wan Kim
Associate Vice President for Research Health Sciences, University of Utah
Personal Support from Dr. Dinesh and Kalpana Patel
Office of the Vice President for Research, University of Utah
College of Pharmacy, University of Utah
Journal of Nanobiotechnology
Elsevier
Arcturus Therapeutics
ShiftBio
Recursion
Biolexis
Personal Support from Dr. David Putnam
Personal Support from Dr. Ronald Siegel
Personal Support from Dr. Nitish Khurana - In memory of the late Tarun Nagpal
University of Utah Center for Medical Innovation
DiscGenics
Iveena
MEPSGEN
EXODUS
PreciGenome
Becton and Dickenson
To get involved with the College of Pharmacy Department of Molecular Pharmaceutics please visit us online or contact hamid.ghandehari@pharm.utah.edu.
Stay tuned for the 20th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Drug Delivery Systems to be held February 23-26, 2027!