Eva Harth
Born1968 Edit this on Wikidata
Other names
  • Eva Marie Harth
  • Eva M Harth
Alma mater
Occupation
Academic career
FieldsChemistry
Institutions

Eva M. Harth FRSC is a German-American polymer scientist and researcher, and a fellow of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Chemical Society. She is a full professor at the University of Houston and director of the Welch Center for Excellence in Polymer Chemistry.

Education

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Bonn (BS) and her graduate degrees at the University of Zurich (MS) and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (PhD). Under the guidance of Klaus Müllen, Harth completed her PhD on fullerene-based polymers with her thesis, Synthesis and properties of new fullerene adducts and fullerene-containing polymers, in 1998.[1]

Career and research

Early career

Eva Harth moved to the United States as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow to the IBM Almaden Research Center. She worked with chemist Craig Hawker on polymeric nanoparticles and nitroxide polymerization for two years and then moved to a start-up company, XenoPort, Inc.

Vanderbilt University

In 2004, she started at Vanderbilt University as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 2011, and served three years as director and DGS of the Interdisciplinary Materials Science Graduate Program (IMS).

During her time at Vanderbilt, she developed a nanosponge delivery system that is licensed by a start-up company. The biodegradable nanoparticle, composed of crosslinked polyester, contains tiny cavities that can store drug molecules. The nanoparticle breaks down in the body, releasing the drug in a predictable fashion, and can be further functionalized with a targeting peptide to favor drug delivery to cancerous cells.[2][3]

Revalida, LLC

Harth co-founded Revalida, a limited liability company, in 2009 with two other Vanderbilt colleagues; David Calkins, a director of research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute; and Alice van der Ende, a PhD graduate student at the time.[4] The three co-founders are also the named inventors for several nanoparticle drug-delivery patents developed by Harth's research group. The patents are currently assigned to Vanderbilt University.[lower-alpha 1]

Revalida's initial mission was described as first focusing on treating glaucoma and retinal degeneration. The focus on eye disease therapies is also embedded as part of the company's name, formed using a combination of the word retina and portions of the founders' names: Eva, Alice and David. [4][5]

University of Houston

Harth moved to the University of Houston as a full professor in 2017, where her research expanded into the area of metal-organic chemistry. In 2018, the group developed the metal-insertion light-initiated radical (MILRad) polymerization.

Her current research group focuses on incorporating functional groups into polyolefins, combining polymerization methodologies to design novel polymer structures containing polyolefins. The group has a long-standing interest in biomedical materials and technologies to increase the therapeutic function of synthetic and biological substances.

In 2022, the group developed Polyolefin Active Ester Exchange (PACE) process to give access to polyolefin block copolymers containing vinylic, acrylic and polyester and polyamide segments.

Editorial and advisory work

In 2017, Harth received a Gutenberg Chair Award from the University of Strasbourg[6] and was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. From 2009–2018, she served as an associate editor for Polymer Chemistry, a journal of the RSC.[7]

She is a member of the advisory board of Polymer Chemistry[8] and is an associate editor of the European Polymer Journal.[9]

Awards and honors

References

  1. ↑ "Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek". portal.dnb.de. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  2. ↑ Passarella, Ralph J.; Spratt, Daniel E.; van der Ende, Alice E.; Phillips, John G.; Wu, Hongmei; Sathiyakumar, Vasanth; Zhou, Li; Hallahan, Dennis E.; Harth, Eva; Diaz, Roberto (2010-06-01). "Targeted Nanoparticles That Deliver a Sustained, Specific Release of Paclitaxel to Irradiated Tumors". Cancer Research. 70 (11): 4550–4559. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.can-10-0339. ISSN 0008-5472. PMC 2880200. PMID 20484031.
  3. ↑ "Nanosponge drug delivery system more effective than direct injection". news.vanderbilt.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-07-29. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  4. 1 2 "Life-sciences startup aims to leverage Vanderbilt technology". 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  5. ↑ "VU Scientists Startup Revalida Seeks Capital C-Level Team". 2009-12-16. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  6. ↑ "Harth receives Gutenberg Award". www.uh.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-07-29. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  7. ↑ "Meet the Editorial Board". Polymer Chemistry. 1 (1): 14–16. 2010-02-09. doi:10.1039/C001033M. ISSN 1759-9962.
  8. ↑ "Advisory Board Members". Polymer Chemistry. Archived from the original on 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  9. ↑ "Eva Harth – Executive Board – European Polymer Journal". European Polymer Journal. Archived from the original on 2019-07-29. Retrieved 2019-07-29.

Notes

  1. ↑ Patents include US patent US8492510B2, US patent US7935782B2, and US patent US20190375891A1
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