Student profiles - 2021 cohort 

Mazna Almatroudi

Mazna Almatroudi

University College London (UCL)

Research:

For my university-based research training project, I am working under the supervision of Professor Gareth Williams and Dr Karolina Dziemidowicz on monoclonal antibody-loaded nanofibers for cancer immunotherapy.

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Experience:

I graduated from King’s College London in 2018 with a first-class honours Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree. During the third year of MPharm, I was one of the seven UK candidates successfully selected for the AstraZeneca Summer internship. For my MPharm master’s project, I formulated novel calcium phosphate nanoparticles designed for the remineralisation of enamel lesions. This project was successfully shortlisted as a top-five finalist for the nationwide Mylan Global Respiratory Award in recognition of scientific excellence in carrying out a short research project in the field of pharmaceutical science.

 
 
Rafeullah Amiri

Rafeullah Amiri

University of Nottingham (UoN)

Research:

My PhD project is entitled, “Enzyme responsive materials for personalised drug delivery” to target peritoneal carcinomatosis. I am working on developing Enzyme triggered release of paclitaxel from hydrogels in a controlled manner by optimising the linker chemistry and hydrogel structure.

My supervisory team includes, Dr Mischa Zelzer (University of Nottingham), Dr Maria Marlow (University of Nottingham), Prof Helen Hailey (UCL) and Dr Silvia Sonzini (Astra Zeneca).

Experience:

Before my PhD I graduated with an integrated masters in Chemistry (MChem) in 2020 from Kingston University London. My Masters project was on the synthesis of NQO1 substrates as potential anti-cancer agents. During my degree I also carried out a summer internship project which involved the use of a 3D-printed millifluidic flow reactor for heterocyclic chemistry.

 
 

 

Victoria Chris

Victoria Chris

University College London (UCL)

Research:

My current research involves using antibiotic-loaded liposomes, microbubbles (MBs) and ultrasound (US) in a new way to treat biofilm infections. Releasing and resensitising cells by dispersal of bacterial biofilm holds promise for restoring the activity of antimicrobials that bacteria have developed a resistance to. Because dispersing the biofilm alone using US and MBs requires subsequent antibiotic treatment to prevent spread of infection and re-establishment of the biofilm, the main aim of this project is to integrate multiple techniques that both disrupt biofilm and deliver antimicrobials. This would involve producing a range of functionalised nanoparticles that contain previously ineffective antibacterial agents, that can be activated via US in the context of urinary tract infections.

I am continuing my PhD at The Botnar Research Centre of the University of Oxford, project titled 'Disrupt and Deliver: A Novel Approach to Biofilm Infections', with Dr Dario Carugo (Oxford), Prof Alethea Tabor (UCL), Dr Sara Keller (Oxford) and Dr Ramon Maset (UCL).

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Experience:

Just before joining the CDT, I graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2021 with an integrated Master’s in Natural Sciences (MSci), having specialized in Biochemistry. During my degree, I worked on two projects: in my 3rd year, the project was about profiling the antimicrobial resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutants that were able to bypass a response to stress (such as starvation) called the stringent response. For my Master’s project, I performed a mutational analysis of the HR1a domain of the PRK1 protein, to understand more about the protein’s structure, function and implications in cancer.

In my free time, I love to practice calligraphy, play basketball, perform spoken word poetry and play the kalimba.

 
 
Consuelo Coser

Consuelo Coser

University of Nottingham (UoN)

Research:

For my PhD project, I am working on developing immunomodulatory alginate analogues for mitigating foreign body reaction (FBR) and fibrous encapsulation under the supervision of Dr. Jing Yang (UoN) and Prof. Dr. Amir Ghaemmaghami (UoN).

When the human body is exposed to a foreign material, the immune system perceives a potential danger and acts to protect the organism from it. Even though biomaterials are supposed to be nonimmunogenic, both innate and adaptive immune responses co-operate to eliminate everything that is recognized as “non-self”. Macrophages and foreign body giant cells are the main cell types involved in this process. Although they are often unable to phagocyte and degrade implants due to their size and chemical properties, the immune response finds a way to wall the foreign material off the body by forming a fibrous capsule around it. Although this is a natural response that aims to protect the body from harmful anything that can compromise the host’s wellbeing, FBR can jeopardize functionalities of implants and their therapeutic outcomes. Given that macrophages are highly involved in the foreign body reaction, developing a material that affects their phenotype can determine the modulation of the immune response.

Experience:

In my academic training project, I focused on the development and application of fluorescent nanosensors for real-time measurements of pH in complex model systems, such as D. Radiodurans. For my industry training project, I worked on the formulation of sugar-based placebo pellets for MicroPatch™ at Nemaura Pharma. In 2020, I graduated in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Milan. As part of my degree, I carried out an internship in a community pharmacy and a research project in medicinal chemistry, that consisted in the design and synthesis of covalent GAPDH inhibitors, with a 3-Bromo-isoxazolinic nucleus, as potential antimalarial drugs.

Before joining the CDT, I qualified as a pharmacist in Italy, and I worked as a Patent Attorney Trainee in the pharmaceutical field.In my spare time I love reading and travelling.

 
 
Andrew Fagan

Andrew Fagan

University College Cork

Research

My research will essentially take a holistic approach to pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing as part of the overall Quality by Design paradigm currently in place in the pharmaceutical industry, attempting to use statistical and mathematical models to predict the in-vivo performance of tablets from their manufacturing data. Although quite model oriented, my work will also involve pharmaceuticals manufacturing & characterization, along with dissolution studies in both compendial and biorelevant media.

Experience:

I am a recent Dublin City University graduate, where I studied a BSc in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (2021). During my time there I had the opportunity to carry out an industrial placement in Sublimity Therapeutics Dublin, where I worked as a Production Assistant. Additionally, as part of my final year project I carried out research on the applications of nanomaterials in drug delivery, having the privilege to publish a literature review in the area titled “Spiropyran-based Drug Delivery Systems”. Subsequent to finishing my degree, I began my PhD in University College Cork as part of the EPSRC-SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Transformative Pharmaceutical Technologies.

 
 
Merryn Hughes

Merryn Hughes

University of Nottingham (UoN)

Research

I am looking at the role of excipients in nucleic acid delivery into cells. My current aim is to use CRISPR/Cas9 to add a tag onto the C-terminus of specifically chosen endocytic proteins, which will allow them to be rapidly and reversibly degraded, for the monitoring of how nucleic acids are processed in cells. I will be formulating chosen RNAs with different excipients for this. I am under the supervision of Catherine Jopling (Nottingham), Snow Stolnik (Nottingham), and Helen Hailes (UCL). 

Experience:

I graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2021, completing my BA and MSci in Biological Natural Sciences. I specialised in biochemistry in third and fourth years, but also took modules in pharmacology and pathology in year two. For my third year, I worked on determining the function of the prolines present in the glycine receptor, a membrane protein. In my fourth year, I looked at the role of TCF7L2 in the Wnt pathway.

During my time at university, I was co-captain of my college football team, and LGBT+ officer on my college committee. In my spare time I enjoy running (with a love of my local parkrun), reading and cooking!

 
 
Anna Jorgensen

Anna Jorgensen

University College London (UCL)

Research:

My PhD project investigates the use of non-destructive analytical techniques to evaluate certain quality attributes of 3D printed pharmaceuticals. Whilst some 3D printing technologies have been used for commercialisation of mass manufactured medicines, another substantial branch of 3D printing pharmaceuticals focuses on its application for personalised and small-scale manufacture at the point of care. Non-destructive means to characterise and assure the quality of 3D printed medicines at the point of care have been reported as one of the key factors for the slow integration into clinical settings.

Being able to predict quality attributes of 3D printed medicines from non-destructive methods might not just expedite the cycle of manufacture to patient but it could also contribute positively to more environmental friendly manufacturing approaches. My PhD project is supervised by Dr Maryam Parhizkar (UCL) and Professor Abdul Basit (UCL).

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Experience:

In 2019, I graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a bachelor’s degree (BSc) in Pharmacy. As part of my degree, I spent the final semester as an exchange student at ETH Zurich, undertaking both taught courses as well as a laboratory-based bachelor’s research project where I worked in Pharmaceutical Analytics. In 2020, I completed my master’s degree (MSc) in Pharmaceutics at UCL, being awarded a Distinction at graduation. My research project investigated machine learning algorithms for the predictivity of orally administered drugs and excipients to permeate through the blood-brain barrier.

After graduating from UCL, I completed a three-month internship in the Early Formulation team at Aptuit (Evotec) working on small molecule formulation development. From January 2021 and up until starting this CDT programme, I worked for Intract Pharma as a Research Scientist. The company focuses on technology development for oral delivery of biologics with especial emphasis on inflammatory bowel disease. My role included working on new and optimized technologies and molecules for internal and external collaborators and sponsors.

 
 
Amy-LOCKS2

Amy Locks

University College London (UCL)

Research:

For my PhD project "3D Printing for Enzyme-Controlled Drug Delivery and Release" I am working with Prof. Helen Hailes in the School of Chemistry, Dr Steve Hilton in the School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham and AstraZeneca. The use of 3D printing in pharmaceutical applications is growing due to its ability to enable highly adaptable designs, allowing the manufacture of systems with a complexity which would not be possible to achieve with conventional manufacturing techniques. Incorporating enzymes in these 3D-printed constructs, such as enzymes that are being developed in-house at UCL for the degradation for non-toxic biocompatible formulations is an exciting and feasible development that adds an additional element of personalised and controlled drug delivery. This is due to the enzymes enabling either fast release or sustained release of drug depending on how the enzyme is incorporated within the 3D-printed structure, and the enzymes only be active in certain physiological conditions meaning that it will only release drug when required.

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Experience:

For my first academic rotational research project in the CDT, I worked on developing a resin formed via vat photopolymerization using an Anycubic Photon LCD 3D Printer, in hope that it could be used as a biocompatible noncytotoxic drug delivery system. I worked under the supervision of Professor Abdul Basit and PhD student Jun Jie Ong.

I graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2021 with an MSci Chemistry with Industrial Experience with Honours degree, 2.1 qualification.

The industrial experience I undertook in 2019-2020 took place at Pfizer in Sandwich, Kent. My project, "Predictive Degradation Modelling: Using Drug Load to Explain Excipient Compatibility of Binary Blends and Multicomposite Blends", was my main reason for applying to the CDT in TPT, as I thoroughly enjoyed the pharmaceutical research. I had plenty opportunity to develop my analytical abilities throughout the year, becoming familiar using techniques such as HPLC. Since the approach developed throughout this undergraduate project was deemed successful, I was fortunate enough to carry out a repeat approach on a different API during the later months of my placement.

My final year master's project in 2020-2021, supervised by Dr Paramaconi Rodriguez, was on surface-modified platinum electrodes for the electrochemical remediation of nitrates in contaminated water.

Outside of my PhD I enjoy weightlifting/running (I also completed the UK Three Peaks in 24 hours challenge last summer and climbed Kilimanjaro in September 2022!). To relax, I spend time cooking and socialising with friends. I have played the violin amongst other instruments my whole life which has allowed me to travel the world playing in concerts but sadly I have not been able to keep this up as much since the pandemic.

 
 
Fady

Fady Mina

University of Nottingham (UoN)

Research:

For my first training project, I am working under the Supervision of Dr. Maria Marlow and Prof. Snow Stolink. For my project, I am evaluating the potential use of lipids-DNA complexes loaded in microneedles as a delivery system for vaccine skin delivery.

Experience:

I graduated with a bachelor in pharmaceutical sciences from University of Modern sciences and arts in 2018. Then, I obtained my master's degree in drug innovation from University of Utrecht, The Netherlands in 2020. Afterwards, I worked as a teaching assistant in the field of pharmaceutics for a year. My expertise and research interest are focused on advanced drug delivery technologies.

 
 
Manuela Mitroi

Manuela Mitroi

University of Nottingham (UoN)

Research:

For my first training project at the University of Nottingham I am working under the supervision of Dr Maria Marlow and Prof. Abina Crean (University College Cork) on optimising the insulin , polymer and sugar rations in dissolving microneedles for diabetic patients.

Experience:

Before joining the CDT, I completed my MPharm degree at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich. As part of my final year, I completed a 3-month Erasmus research placement at Complutense University, in Madrid, Spain where I worked on the development of predictive models to understand the impact of aging on chemical stability, dissolution, efficacy and toxicity of Amphotericin B coated pellets.

 
 
Christina Abascal Ruiz

Christina Abascal Ruiz

University College Dublin (UCD)

Research:

Currently, I am working under the supervision of Ioscani Jimenez del Val. My research revolves around maximising biopharmaceutical α6-sialylation through CHO cell glycoengineering. My work these following years will focus on developing a biological technology capable of incorporating these features into CHO cells, by CRISPR/Cas9 and other synthetic biologic techniques. 

Experience:

Before coming to Dublin, I completed my BSc in Biotechnology at Pablo Olavide University based in Seville. During this time, I was also involved in scientific divulgation associations and organisation of scientific fairs and congresses. After that, in September 2019, I started an internship in the pharmaceutical industry (Hovione Pharmascience) based in Lisbon. During this time, I gained experience in the pharmaceutical field, carried out projects about nasal delivery vaccines.

I started the MSc in Bioenterprise at University of Granada in September 2020. Along this course, I also started a research internship in Drug Crystallization. After that, I developed my final master’s thesis project in a biotechnological company (Domca) focused on the antitumoral and anti-inflammatory properties of natural products in colorectal cancer cells lines.

In my free time, I enjoy dancing and listening flamenco, reading, playing theatre, going out with friends and cooking!

 
 
Marissa Taub

Marissa Taub

University College London (UCL)

Research:

My initial academic project revolves around developing atranslatable tissue transplantation method for local immunosuppression of peripheral nerve allografts to reduce donor tissue rejection. This project aims to assess the viability of using a polymer solution of tacrolimus-loaded particles as a mucoadhesive coating to nerve allografts for sustained drug release in preparation forsurgical transplantation. This project is supervised by Professor James Phillips, Professor Gareth Williams, Dr. Victoria Roberton, and Dr. Karolina Dziemidowicz.

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Experience:

I received my BSc from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Biomolecular Engineering with a minor in Bioinformatics in 2017. I worked on genetically engineering cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) to produce essential vitamins with the aim of sustainably alleviating global malnutritionfor the2017 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. I completed my MSc at the University of California, Davis in Biomedical Engineering in 2021. My central research project involved engineering native extracellular vesicles (EVs) with therapeutic cargo and using laser trapping Raman spectroscopy (LTRS) to assess efficiency of loading at the single vesicle scale. In my free time, I enjoy playing video games, boxing, pretending that I can bake while watching The Great British Bake Off, and taking long walks in the rain.

 
 
Kate Tolan

Kate Tolan

Trinity College Dublin (TCD)

Research:

My current project investigates the use of a metabolomics approach to assess the impact of processing technologies on the phytochemical profile and potentially the biological activity of the plant species: Echinacea Purpurea. I am also assessing the potential for the use of different solidification methods to convert natural product extractions to powdered materials. Selected solidified natural product extracts will be progressed further to capsule or tablet presentation. The overall objective of the project is to ascertain suitable processing and formulation approaches that can be employed to harness the potential of natural products.

Experience:

I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry of Pharmaceutical Compounds from University College Cork in 2021. As part of my final year, I was engaged in two research projects. The first was in the field of biochemistry and investigated the overexpression and purification of the Thermotoga Maritima UvrC protein. The second was an organic chemistry project and investigated the spectroscopic data of the novel HIV drugs α-CNPs. These drugs exist as diastereomers and this work identified a carbon-phosphorus coupling constant which tracked the diastereomeric series.

When I’m not in the lab I spend as much time as possible sailing off the beautiful Irish coast!

 
 
Daniel Vaughan

Daniel Vaughan

University of Nottingham (UoN)

Research:

My current research training project is Synthesis of Metal-Complexes for Real-Time Imaging of Drug Delivery under the supervision of Dr Rian Grifiths, Dr Peter Harvey, Dr Ruman Rahman, and Professor Cameron Alexander.

Experience:

In 2021 I graduated with an MMATH in Mathematics from the University of Nottingham. My master's dissertation was about Chaotic behaviour in mathematical models for gene networks. I predominantly studied applied mathematics and computational modelling during my undergraduate degree. My first experience in research was a part of the University of Nottingham's 2019 iGEM (international genetically engineered machines) team. This project introduced me to synthetic biology and academic research. I subsequently went to Boston USA to present our research and meet other teams from all over the world. My industrial experience includes working at MiProbes which is a startup developing at-home diagnostics. 

In my spare time, I enjoy rock climbing, hiking, camping and running.