SweDeliver Dissertation • Vahid Forooqi Motlaq
- Date
- 19 December 2025, 09:00–12:30
- Location
- Uppsala Biomedical Centre, Hörsal A1:111a
- Type
- Thesis defence
- Lecturer
- Vahid Forooqi Motlaq, doktorand vid Institutionen för läkemedelskemi & SweDeliver
- Thesis author
- undefined
- Publication
- https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-570910
- Organiser
- Institutionen för läkemedelskemi, SweDeliver
- Contact person
- Vahid Forooqi Motlaq
Vahid Forooqi Motlaq, PhD Student at SweDeliver and Uppsala University's Department of Medicinal Chemistry, defends his thesis Self-assembly in aqueous mixtures of amphiphilic drugs and phospholipids.
Uppsala University's research environment in Parenteral drug delivery has within the framework of international competence center SweDeliver consolidated its position at the forefront of their field. In a doctoral project Vahid Forooqi Motlaq has worked with focus on the amphiphilic properties of drug molecules and their self-aggregation in the presence of phospholipid.
In his research, Vahid Forooqi Motlaq has studied how certain drug molecules that are composed of a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic part behave in solution and how they self-assemble together with phospholipids. The aim of the work has been to increase the understanding of how these amphiphilic drugs – such as amitriptyline and doxepin – interact with lipids and organize into different types of aggregates.
Vahid's results show that these drugs are able to solubilize phospholipids more effectively than conventional surfactants (substances that can blend water and fat) by forming mixed micelles. As the lipid content increases, the micelles transfer spontaneously unilamellar vesicles (small, closed lipid spheres that resemble miniature membranes).
Another important finding is the discovery of exceptionally small spontaneously formed unilamellar vesicles (<10 nanometres in radius) that remain stable over very long periods of time. These may become of future interest, for example as carrier structures for drugs in nanotechnology applications.
Friday 19 December Vahid Forooqi Motlaq defends his thesis at Uppsala University's Biomedical Center, Lecture Hall A1:111a.
Supervisor is Magnus Bergström, Associate Professor at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry. Opponent is Lise Arleth, Professor at the University of Copenhagen (DK).
Researcher Bio
Vahid Forooqi Motlaq completed his Bachelor’s program at Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education in applied chemistry. His Master’s degree was in polymer and colloid science at the University of Oslo's department of chemistry.
In 2018, Vahid started his PhD studies at Uppsala University’s pharmaceutical physical chemistry group, a position he has since 2023 combined with the role of researcher at Polypure AS