Suraj  Fanse, from the Diane Burgess Lab at UConn, (expected Ph.D. ’23) was awarded best research poster award among more than 550 poster presenters at the Controlled Release Society’s (CRS) annual meeting in Montreal, Canada this month.  Fanse’s 2022 Merck Grad Award comes in recognition of his significant contributions to the field of controlled release.

Fanse’s research involves enabling the development of long-acting levonorgestrel intrauterine systems (LNG-IUSs) for contraception. IUSs are complex drug-device combination products providing controlled drug release for up to several years. Currently, the lack of complete product understanding is a challenge for the pharmaceutical industry to develop generic IUSs which limits the availability of these highly efficacious contraceptives.

“My Ph.D. project focuses on obtaining an improved understanding of these complex drug products by investigating their critical material attributes, excipient properties, critical processing variables, and drug release mechanisms,”says Fanse. “This will guide drug product development by the pharmaceutical industry and facilitate the regulatory approval of these products. Eventually, this will serve the current unmet needs of contraceptives, contributing to significantly improving women’s health as well as saving millions of dollars with generic options. I am honored to represent Dr. Burgess’ lab and the UConn School of Pharmacy at this prestigious conference.”

Of significant note, Fanse is also the recipient of the:

2022  AAPS student chapter award

2022 Karl A. Herzog Fellowship Award

2022 Best Poster Award at American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists – Northeast Regional Discussion Group