Ines Colic

Ines graduated with an MPharm degree from the University of Zagreb in 2011. As part of her Master’s project, she worked on identifying methylated nucleosides in rRNA isolated from antibiotic-resistant bacteria using RP-HPLC. After finishing her pre-registration training in community and hospital pharmacy she registered as a pharmacist in Croatia and worked in community pharmacy for another year. Following this, Ines joined Formulation department at Xellia Ltd. R&D where she worked on the development of parenteral dosage form formulations and optimisation of manufacturing processes. In autumn 2017 she obtained MPhil by Research from the University of Cambridge, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, where she worked on a project aiming to optimise manufacturing scale preparation of liposome vaccines.

In September 2017, Ines joined the Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Advanced Therapeutics and Nanomedicine at UCL School of Pharmacy. In her first year Ines undertook a three-month project in academic setting exploring application of gene therapy for treatment of chronic pain under the supervision of Dr Stephanie Schorge, followed by a three-month industrial placement in GSK, Stevenage assessing use of folic acid hydrogels for drug delivery purposes under the supervision of Dr Andrea Dominguez Goncalves.

PhD Project title: Nanomedicines inspired by nature: Understanding and exploiting targeting by extracellular vesicles.

Supervisor: Dr Gareth R. Williams

Project description: Ines’s PhD is focused on understanding and exploiting cell targeting mechanisms used by extracellular vesicles (exosomes in particular) to develop nature-inspired nanomedicines. Exosomes are small anuclear vesicles, sized 30 – 150 nm, secreted by most cells in evolutionary preserved manner. Extensive research in last decade suggests exosomes are playing important roles in intercellular communication, immune response and are involved in both physiological and pathological processes. 

We aim to fully characterise exosomes isolated form different cell lines and assess their uptake and cargo delivery in order to gain better understanding of the mechanisms and molecules (ie surface proteins) involved in cell targeting by exosomes. Obtained data will be used to design exosome-inspired funcionalised liposome formulations.