EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Therapeutics and Nanomedicines

 
University of Nottingham
  

Research

The research in the Centre covers a wide range of projects, which are all developed from our key themes:

Systems pharmaceutics

  • Broad clinical, biological and chemical knowledge
  • Poorly soluble drugs, proteins, cell formulations
  • Predictive strategies
  • Innovative therapeutic strategies
  • Molecular Engineered formulation design

Novel materials and processes

  • Learn current processes and materials
  • Develop new materials
  • Continuous processing
  • Ensure processes can be scaled, made sterile, are reproducible and are cost effective

Advanced pharmaceutical analysis

  • Learn traditional analytical techniques
  • Surface and bulk materials characterisation
  • Multi component systems characterisation
  • In vitro-in vivocorrelations

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The projects undertaken in the CDT focus on developing formulation technologies that enable precise engineering of therapeutics down to the molecular level. This 'systems-based' approach will help make the crucial link between molecular and nanoscale technologies through to performance of medicines in the patient.  Our emphasis on practical formulations means that training in the CDT takes into account clinical and regulatory issues from the outset.

Our Projects

PhD students in the Centre work on a diverse range of projects encompassing all aspects of the key themes.

Please find below PhD project titles for each cohort of students and their respective supervisors

2018 cohort

PhD Project Title  Principal Supervisor Location
Combining advanced in vivo and ex vivo imaging to understand and to optimise bio-distribution and site-specific targeting of drugs  Pavel Gershkovich  UoN 
Nanomedicines inspired by nature: Understanding and exploiting targeting by extracellular vesicles  Gareth Williams UCL
Patient and Big Data Informed Product Design For Age Appropriate Oral Dosing (MedAge-App) Mine Orlu UCL
Food for thought: Rational formulation design using food as excipient  Mine Orlu UCL 
Engineering an artifical graft for axonal guidance and regeneration in treatment of peripheral nerve injury James Phillips  UCL
Are excipients inert? Investigating the biopharmaceutics of excipients and their potential sex-dependency on oral drug bioavailability  Abdul Basit UCL
To gel or not to gel - Predictive tools enabling effective formulation design and delivery of small, non-peptide based drugs with gelation suppressing excipients  Mischa Zelzer UoN
Novel formulations for spraying therapeutic cells for CNS injury     Maria Marlow UoN
Improving drug delivery to the lung as a function of excipient choice  Cynthia Bosquillon  UoN
Next Generation Designs for Personalised Dosage: Development of Design Characteristics for the Manufacture of Personalised Dosage John Segal  UoN
Hydrogel and polymer depot design to predict and modulate the foreign body response    Maria Marlow   UoN
Biomimetic inorganic nanoparticles for theranostics and targeted drug delivery  Gareth Williams   UCL
 Formulating poorly soluble drugs as amorphous solid dispersions to enhance bioavailability; a novel mixed carrier approach Asma Buanz UCL
 

2017 cohort

PhD Project TitlePrincipal SupervisorLocation
Targeted bio-distribution of drugs into the lymphatic system Pavel Gershkovich UoN
Investigating the protein corona on tuneable micro- and nanoparticles for cell delivery applications David Scurr & Jonathan Aylott UoN
Nanoparticle-based micro-assemblies for encapsulation and precision release of target compounds Stefan Guldin UCL
Biopharmaceutics of excipients in paediatric medicines Catherine Tuleu UCL
AFM-Raman (TERS) for nano-scale imaging of pharmaceutical solid dispersions and characterisation of nano-particles Jonathan Burley UoN
Beyond Antibodies – Pick ‘n’ Mix Modified Apoferritin Subunits Harnessing Self-assembly for Targeted Therapy Neil Thomas UoN
Development of three dimensional human stem cell-derived in vitro CNS models to evaluate novel natural product-derived acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease James Phillips UCL/UoN
Developing a nanogel for delivery into pericardial space to treat myocardial infraction Richard Day UCL
Corona Engineered Targeted Therapeutics Andreas Schatzlein UCL
Overcoming physiology: oral drug delivery platform for extended residence in gastrointestinal tract - beyond once-a-day pill Giuseppe Mantovani UoN
Long acting nanocomposite materials for parenteral delivery with a focus on intrathecal delivery Maria Marlow UoN
The development of a rapid sensor to monitor drug dose in vivo Frankie Rawson UoN
Does size matter? Formulation and effective oral delivery of "beyond rule of 5" compounds Maria Marlow UoN
 

2016 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Targeted Drug Delivery In Diseased Skin David Scurr UoN
Next-generation inducible nanotherapeutics for neurosurgically-applied brain tumour drug delivery Cameron Alexander UoN
Effect of Nano- and micro particle morphology on interaction with cells Lluisa Perez-Garcia UoN
Bio-sensing exosomal proteins for medical diagnostics Gareth Williams UCL
Using Apoferritin to deliver novel anticancer therapies Tracey Bradshaw UoN
Microparticlesfor Enhancing Adoptive T Cell Therapy for Cancer Richard Day UCL
Cellular enzyme factories for neurodegenerative disorders project Ahad Rahim UCL
Cubosomes Snow Stolnik UoN
Affinity-based subcutaneous formulation development Steve Brocchini UCL
Development of 3D printing technology for in-situ verification of dose Abdul Basit UCL
Developing clinically relevant biologically derived material systems James Phillips UCL/UoN
 

2015 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Self-imaging and local delivery of anticancer drugs by thermally responsive polymer drug conjugates Cameron Alexander UoN
Assessing the taste of medicines with the rat “BATA” model; insight into the physiological aspect of taste Catherine Tuleu UCL
Intranasal delivery of hyaluronidase coated polymer based nanoparticles carrying siRNA for gene silencing in glioblastoma Ijeoma Uchegbu UCL
Development and fabrication of SLA 3D-printed drug-eluting implants for treatment of malignant solid tumours Stephen Hilton UCL
Enzymatically orchestrated release of therapeutics: Management cancer progression by self-controlled moderation of enzymatic activity Mischa Zelzer UoN
Development of osmotic tablets by 3D printing Abdul Basit UCL
Targeted skin delivery using 3D ToF-SIMS ‘Chemical Histology’ David Scurr UoN
Development of a dynamic bio relevant flow dissolution test method for taste masked drug delivery systems Pavel Gershkovich UoN
Advanced Therapeutics for Parkinson’s Disease Using Cell and Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials Technology James Phillips UCL
Enzymatically orchestrated release of therapeutics: Promoting the healing of chronic wounds via self-regulation of multiple enzyme activities  Mischa Zelzer UoN
Delivery of therapeutics to the lung by size targeting to lung vasculature following systemic administration Martin Garnett UoN
Design and engineering of collagen based constructs for tissue engineering and regenerative medicines Steve Brocchini UCL
 

2014 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Synthesis and evaluation of novel antitumour benzothiazole nanoparticle formulations Tracey Bradshaw UoN
What innovative combinations of advanced analytical techniques can correlate with the product performance of novel and traditional dosage forms? Jonathan Aylott UoN
Towards cell-free cell therapies Gareth Williams UCL
Photochemical internalisation to deliver drugs more effectively: Focus on using 3D cell culture technology to develop new treatments  George Pasparakis UCL
Development of targeted lipid nanoparticles for cancer gene therapy Stephan Hart UCL
Hijacking transplasma membrane electron transport systems Frankie Rawson UoN
Design and construction of a family of in-process stabilisers (synthetic chaperones) for unusual mAb and non-mAb biologics Ajoy Velayudhan UCL
Design and construction of a family of in-process stabilisers (synthetic chaperones) for non-mAb biologics Snow Stolnik UoN
Analytical characterisation of PLGA microparticle formulations: measuring key physical properties and investigating their effect on stability and release performance Duncan Craig UCL
Targeted drug delivery by learning from H. pylori Franco Falcone UoN
 

2013 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Cellular uptake of Cancer Delivery nanoparticles Martin Garnett UoN
Formulation of taste masked flexible solid dosage forms for paediatric administrations using hot melt extrusion Duncan Craig UCL
Design and development of dosing devices for free-flowing multiparticulate dosage form to the paediatric patient population Joel Segal UoN
Effective administration of multiparticulates to paediatric patients Catherine Tuleu UCL
3D printing of model carriers and inhalation particles to determine the relative importance of morphology and surface energy for powder interaction  Clive Roberts UoN
Development of efficient screening methods for assessing drug-polymer miscibility and stability of solid dispersion systems  Clive Roberts UoN
 Novel formulations for nail, hair & skin Stephanie Allen UoN
Investigation into deformable vesicles for topical drug delivery Sudax Murdan UCL
Targeted liposomal formulations: design, development and ab initio understanding of cell-vesicle recognition Giuseppe Mantovani UoN
 

2012 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Use of ex-vivo models to investigate the skin permeation of active skin care ingredients Majella Lane UCL
Understanding the effect of particle characteristics on their fate in the lungs using in vitro models Cynthia Bosquillon UoN
Modelling and experimental studies on assembly and properties of drug delivery nanoparticles Charlie Laughton UoN
Understanding Nano Particle Agglomerates Kevin Taylor UCL
Point-of-care solid dosage form manufacture using 3D extrusion printing Clive Roberts UoN
Use of imaging techniques to characterise the skin permeation of active ingredients in human skin David Scurr UoN
The Biology Underpinning Nanotheranostics Ijeoma Uchegbu UCL
Biorelevant characterisation of lipidic formulations and prediction for in vivo exposure Pavel Gershkovich UoN
Taste Masking and Dissolution Methodology of Oral Paediatric and Geriatric Dosage Forms Pavel Gershkovich UoN
 

2011 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Processability and Performance Predictions From Surface Analysis of Small Amounts of Drug and Excipients Clive Roberts UoN
Raman Chemical and Physical Mapping of Oral Dosage Forms Jonathan Burley & Jonathan Aylott UoN
Development of an in-vitro epithelial-myofibroblast intestinal model Felicity Rose UoN
Self-Assembling Pro-Drugs for Intra-Tumoural Drug Delivery Maria Marlow UoN
The Use of Thermoresponsive Nanoparticles for Targeting Cancer Cells Cameron Alexander UoN
Helicobacter pylori mimics for targeted drug delivery Franco Falcone UoN
 

2010 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Assessment of Drug-loaded Nanoparticles in a 3D In-vitro Brain Tumour Model Martin Garnett UoN
Lyophilised Biopharmaceuticals: Processing and Formulation Insights Jonathan Burley & Stephanie Allen UoN
Computational Modelling of Polymer-Based Drug Delivery Systems Charlie Laughton UoN
Engineered platform for nucleic acid delivery systems Giuseppe Mantovani UoN
 

2009 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Development of in vitro screening approaches to optimise formulation performance Stephanie Allen UoN
Development of Optical pH Nanoparticles for Biological Insights into Intracellular Trafficking Nanomedicines Jonathan Aylott UoN
The use of cell-penetrating peptides to deliver antibody fragments into the cell Peter Fischer UoN
Predicting the crystallisation tendency of amorphous preparations of poorly soluble drugs Peter Fischer UoN
Characterisation of self-assembling peptide nanostructures and their potential application in healthcare Clive Roberts UoN
 

2008 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Lyotropogenic Therapeutics- Tailoring the properties of biomacromolecule formulations for improved patient self-administration Stephanie Allen UoN
Amorphous molecular alloys for improved, tuneable physical properties Jonathan Burley UoN
Kinetics of inhaled antibodies using gamma scintigraphy David Pritchard UoN
Increasing drug retention in lung tissue through altered membrane permeation rates Cynthia Bosquillon UoN
An artificial stroma to investigate the interaction between bone marrow-derived colonising cells and metastatic epithelial cancer cells/ immune-infiltrating cells Snow Stolnik UoN
Cellular uptake of nanoparticles Jonathan Aylott UoN
 

2007 cohort

PhD project titlePrincipal supervisorLocation
Characterisation of prognostic and functional role of regulatory T-cells in gastro-intestinal (GI) malignancy David Pritchard UoN
Addressing macromolecular therapeutics to intracellular targets: Transbodies Peter Fischer UoN
Deregulating the immunological environment in and around a tumour David Pritchard UoN
Rapid approach for product identification and design Snow Stolnik UoN
Evaluating osteoarthritis for development of environmentally activated drug delivery systems Martin Garnett UoN
The impact of absorptive and efflux transporters on lung delivery Cynthia Bosquillon UoN
 

2006 cohort

PhD project title Principal supervisor Location
Targeted Therapy for Osteoarthritis: An In Vitro Model of Diseased Tissue for OA Delivery Kevin Shakesheff UoN
Home Based Formulation of Personalized Medicines Clive Roberts UoN
The Rational Design of Solid Dispersions for the Formulation of Poorly Soluble Drugs Peter Fischer UoN
 
 

EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training in Advanced Therapeutics and Nanomedicines

 

The University of Nottingham
School of Pharmacy
Boots Science Building
University of Nottingham,
Nottingham, NG7 2RD
t: +44(0)7809 888378
e: Graham.Harrison@nottingham.ac.uk

University College London
School of Pharmacy
University College London
29-39 Brunswick Square,
London WC1N 1AX.
t: +44 (0) 20 3987 28811
e: s.marks.pharm@ucl.ac.uk