Eva Harth

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.

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]

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]

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.