The overall goal of this application is to strengthen and expand the research infrastructure in pharmaceutics with special emphasis on drug delivery. The behavior of drugs in vivo can often be changed in dramatic fashion by coupling a drug to a carrier moiety. The plasma clearance kinetics, tissue distribution, metabolism and cellular interactions of the drug will be dictated, or at least strongly influenced, by the behavior of the carrier. In many cases, judicious exploitation of these changes in pharmacodynamic behavior can lead to an enhanced therapeutic index of the drug. However, constructive approach to therapeutics using drug-carrier technology requires a detailed understanding of the interaction of the carrier with critical cellular and organ systems. Therefore, the overall goal of this application is to develop and establish a "state-of-the-art" infrastructure in the area of pharmaceutics with special emphasis on novel drug delivery system. This infrastructure will provide the following: 1) an opportunity for the pharmaceutics faculty to establish a research nucleus in the area of drug delivery, 2) collaboration with other faculty members in the College of Pharmacy and others in basic sciences at the University, 3) a research environment to attract distinguished faculty to the pharmaceutics program, 4) an incentive for the pharmaceutics faculty to be more competitive in attracting extramural funding such as R01 Grants, and 5) an opportunity for minorities to pursue careers in research in the area of pharmaceutics for which there is an urgent and rising demand.