School of Pharmacy

I joined the School of Pharmacy as a lecturer in pharmaceutics in 2011. Here I teach on the MPharm course and continue my research interest in nanomedicines. I completed my PhD in pharmaceutics at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2009.  I then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Medical Science and Technology at the University of Dundee. Here I investigated the potential use of magnetic nanoparticles for nerve regeneration in the peripheral nervous system.  Now my work focusses on the investigation into hybrid metallic nanoparticles as multifunctional vehicles for imaging and targeted drug delivery for pancreatic cancer. I am a member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the UK and Ireland Controlled Release Society.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth main cancer in the western world. Pancreatic resection is currently the only treatment known for this cancer with only 5-34% of patients surviving 5 years after treatment. Currently the only chemotherapy available clinically is gemcitabine which only proves effective in 23.8% of patients. Therefore there is a huge clinical need for increasing the efficiency of this treatment as well as exploring alternative therapies.

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MNPs) have become widely studied for biomedical applications in recent years including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), drug and gene therapy. In order for these MNP's to be safe they are coated with materials such as silica and polymers. However, increasing safety concerns over the use of polymer coated MNPs has arisen. For example degradation of the flexible polymer coats results in exposure of iron oxide leading to increased toxicity. This unwanted side effect has led to the recent withdrawal of Feridex^®, the clinically used MRI contrast agent. Gold is renowned for its chemical stability and biocompatibility and surface plasmon resonance. Surface coating of the MNPs results in a rigid coat shielding the external environment from the iron oxide. This results in safer particles with increased applications. Surface functionalization of gold nanoparticles can be carried out through thiol (–SH) group conjugation forming relatively stable bonds. When nanoparticles are irradiated, the SPR absorption of Au nanoparticles is followed by rapid conversion of light into heat. In biomedicine this unique property can be exploited for applications such as photo thermal ablation and thermo responsive drug delivery. Clinically, the optimal wavelengths for laser irradiation of AuNPs is within the ‘biological near infrared region (NIR)’. Laser beams inside the NIR window are capable of deep tissue penetration due to the high tramisivity of water and haemoglobin within these wavelengths. This can be exploited for non-invasive or minimally invasive therapy.

I am interested in the fabrication of hybrid iron oxide-gold core-shell nanostructures with strong magnetism, biocompatibility and surface plasmon resonance. Conjugation of drug molecules onto particle surface results in the capability for image guided thermoresponsive drug delivery. Preliminary data for these hybrid nanoparticles has highlighted the great potential for pancreatic cancer therapy. Use of these hybrids as delivery vehicles reduces invasive procedures and increases therapeutic efficacy whilst minimising patient side effects.