Anna Shenderova Schwendeman, PhD

Professor,  Pharmacy
Department of Medicinal Chemistry
College of Pharmacy and Biointerfaces Institute

734-615-3749
annaschw@umich.edu

Dr. Schwendeman’s long-term research goal is to design highly potent and safe synthetic high-density lipoprotein (HDL) nanomedicines for treatment of atherosclerosis. Dr. Schwendeman spent 12 years in pharmaceutical industry at Cerenis Therapeutics, Pfizer, and Esperion Therapeutics. She was involved in discovery and translation of several HDL therapies to Phase II clinical trials. Her efforts led to development of a kilo-scale recombinant process for Apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I - main HDL protein) process and highly homogeneous HDL particles for the largest-to-date Phase II sHDL clinical trial (>500 patients). She successfully submitted FDA INDs for six different products including nanoparticles, liposome, proteins, peptides and small molecule. Her current research interests focus on understanding the mechanisms of how phospholipid composition of HDL affects its potency, and designing of ApoA-I mimic peptides. Her laboratory has several ongoing translational collaborative projects focused on assessing sHDL utility for treatment of Alzheimer's disease, sepsis, acute lung injury, lupus and diabetic nephropathy.  Dr. Schwendeman also explores the utility of these “nature-made” nanoparticles for targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics, siRNA, miRNA and peptide antigens. Finally, her laboratory is active in developing science-based regulations for testing of complex parenteral products such as nanoparticles, recombinant proteins and microspheres. Research is currently supported by grants from the American Heart Association and the US Food and Drug Administration.