Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutics
Pharmacist, Drug Information Centre and Medication Therapy Services (MTS) Clinic

Dr. Saniya Alwani began her tenure as an Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutics in September 2025, after serving as a Teaching Assistant Professor with the School of Pharmacy since 2023. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) from the University of Karachi, followed by a Master of Science and a PhD in Pharmacy (Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine) from the University of Saskatchewan. She further honed her expertise in nanoparticle functionalization as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

Dr. Alwani is also an experienced clinician, practicing as a Clinical and Drug Information Pharmacist with the School's Medication Therapy Services (MTS) Clinic. Her career is uniquely structured to bridge cutting-edge pharmaceutical research with active clinical practice and education.

Research Areas of Interest

• Designing smart carbon-based nanoparticles as novel non-viral vectors for drug and gene delivery.
• Leveraging nanotechnology to deliver nucleic acid therapeutics, such as mRNA and siRNA, for innovative cancer treatments.
• Engineering multifunctional theranostic systems that combine therapeutic action with real-time diagnostic tracking.
• Investigating fundamental interactions between nanoparticles and biological systems to optimize their efficacy and safety.

Teaching Responsibilities

Pharmaceutics

Year 1 foundational sciences: principles of drug delivery, from traditional dosage forms to advanced therapeutic systems

Drug Information

Leading the drug information curriculum integrated in pharmacy practice across all years of the program: developing skills in evidence-based retrieval, critical appraisal, and application of drug literature.

Experiential Learning

Through her role as a clinical pharmacist and preceptor at MTS clinic: mentoring students in clinical settings for hands-on patient care experience.

Current Publications

Pharmaceutical Sciences

• Saniya Alwani, Ellen Wasan and Ildiko Badea, Solid Lipid Nanoparticles for Pulmonary Delivery of Biopharmaceuticals: A review of opportunities, challenges, and possible therapeutic applications, Molecular Pharmaceutics (June 2024) doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.4c00128.
  
  
• Raj Rai, Saniya Alwani, Behlol Khan, Raja Vishwas, Stephanie, Vuong, Ed Krol, Humphery Fonge, Ildiko Badea, Biodistribution of nanodiamonds is determined by surface functionalization, Diamonds and Related Materials (August 2023) Volume 137, pp 110071

• Saniya Alwani, Raj Rai, Isabella Zittlau, Jonathan Rekve, Deborah Michel and Ildiko Badea, Design of smart nanodiamonds: introducing pH sensitivity to improve nucleic acid carrier efficiency of diamoplexes, Pharmaceutics (August 2022) Volume 14, pp 1794
  
  
• Saniya Alwani, QingYun (Nancy) Hua, Safa Iftikhar, Narayan P. Appathurai, Deborah Michel, Chithra Karunakaran and Ildiko Badea, Lysine functionalized nanodiamonds as gene carriers - investigation of internalization pathways and intracellular trafficking, Diamond and Related Materials (October 2019) Volume 98, pp 107477

• Raj Rai*, Saniya Alwani* and Ildiko Badea, Polymeric Nanoparticles in Gene Therapy: New Avenues of Design and Optimization for Delivery Applications, Polymers (April 2019) Volume 11 Issue 4, pp 745 *Equal contribution
  
  
• Saniya Alwani and Ildiko Badea, Nanodiamonds in Biomedicine in Carbon Nanomaterials Sourcebook: Graphene, Fullerenes, Nanotubes, and Nanodiamonds, Volume I, Editor Klaus D. Sattler (April 2016) by CRC Press (Taylor and Francis Group), ISBN 9781482252682 - CAT# K23883

• Saniya Alwani, Randeep Kaur, Deborah Michel, Jackson M Chitanda, Ronald Verrall, Chithra Karunakaran and Ildiko Badea, Lysine-functionalized nanodiamonds as gene carriers: development of stable colloidal dispersion for in vitro cellular uptake studies and siRNA delivery application, International Journal of Nanomedicine (Feb 2016) pp 687-702

Patent

• ­Ildiko Badea, Ronald Verrall, Jackson M. Chitanda, Randeep Kaur, Saniya Alwani; Functionalized nanodiamonds as delivery platforms for nucleic acids (Grant date: 2016/06/07) Publication Number: US-9359282-B2­ (US9359282B2 - Functionalized nanodiamonds as delivery platforms for nucleic acids - Google Patents) 

Drug Information Reviews

• Saniya Alwani (2025). Muscle-Building Supplements, Steroids and Performance-Enhancing Substances: A pharmacist’s guide to efficacy, safety, diagnostic evaluation and harm reduction counselling. Canadian Healthcare Network.

Selected Awards and Recognitions

• PhD Thesis Award in Life Sciences (2023), University of Saskatchewan
• Gold Young Scholar Award (2022), International Conference on Diamond and Carbon Materials (Elsevier)
• Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (2020-2023), NSERC (Ranked 5th nationally)
• Master’s Thesis Award in Life Sciences (2016), University of Saskatchewan

Contact

Dr. Saniya Alwani
709-864-2328