Alumni
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The LBSA provides an excellent base for postgraduate and postdoctoral training. Since 1994, 85 PhD students have graduated from the group with a completion record of 99% within 4 years of registration. Many of these researchers have moved on to prestigious awards and positions in both academia and industry. Five of our past researchers have moved onto prestigious NATO, EPSRC or Royal Society fellowships and sixteen of our ex-members hold academic positions of which five are chairs.
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Anne Brindley
Then: PhD Student (1989-1992)
Now: Pharmaceutical Development & Project Management, Skye Pharma, Basel
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I did my PhD in the School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham from 1989-1992. My thesis was entitled "Preparation and characterisation of novel polymer colloids for site-specific drug delivery" and involved preparing colloidal systems with different surface properties aimed at targeting their delivery in the body, in particular to cancer cells. I used various surface characterisation techniques such as SSIMS and XPS, which were relatively new at the time, as well as more standard techniques.
After my Ph.D. I worked for Glaxo Group Research (now GlaxoSmithKline) in a formulation group for respiratory products. I initially worked on dry powder inhalers and was able to draw, not only on the general research training, but also on my experience with various physical characterisation techniques learnt during my Ph.D. on colloidal systems, and apply this to dry particles for inhalation. I then moved on to work on another type of respiratory formulation, metered dose inhalers (aerosols). This time the particles were in suspension, so again my Ph.D. training gave me some useful tools to apply to these systems.
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A career move to another pharmaceutical company came about in 1996 when Astra (now AstraZeneca, AZ) were looking for formulators with experience of inhaled products and I stayed there for 14 years. Initially I worked on inhalation products but then broadened into all major formulations, including orals and parenterals. Through several progressions I moved from Team Leader eventually to Director of Product Development across 2 of AZ's 6 research sites.
Throughout this time, I kept my links with the University of Nottingham, through research collaborations and joint Ph.D. projects and also through setting up a Doctoral Training Centre at Nottingham, funded by AZ. I lectured for several years to the undergraduates on Inhaled Drug Delivery and I am still a designated Special Lecturer.
In 2006 I had a slight career change in order to broaden my experience in the pharmaceutical industry and moved to become Global Product Director for early oncology products, leading a global team with the goal of bringing new treatments for cancer from the Discovery phase through the development process. Then, having experienced Development project leadership for 3 years, I moved into the Discovery organisation in AZ to help develop the Discovery Project Leaders.
In late 2009, I joined SkyePharma in Basel, Switzerland as VP Pharmaceutical Development & Project Management, returning somewhat to my product development background where I am currently gaining experience in a small specialty pharmaceutical company.
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Nagib A. Elmarzugi
Then: PhD Student (2001-2004)
Now: Head of Department of Industrial Pharmacy, Alfateh University, Libya
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I joined the School of Pharmacy in 2001, studing for a PhD in the LBSA. During those wonderful days my work focused on a Pharmaceutical Bionanotechnology based project characterizing gene delivery systems at the molecular scale.
I was involving a combination of advanced nano-biotechnological approaches of analysis, including atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and photon correlation spectroscopy and the development of suitable skills to handle biopharmaceutical systems, such as biopolymers and DNA. The characterization of such systems, in both static and dynamic states, has led to new insights into the inter-relation between their molecular structure and pharmaceutical function and behaviour.
After I received my PhD from such a prestigious Institution I joined the Department of Industrial Pharmacy at Faculty of Pharmacy, Alfateh University in Libya, as a lecturer, teaching the Pharmaceutical Technology and Industry, and also supervising different research projects in the biotechnology field. Since May 2006, I have been the Head of the Department, as well as a member of one of the few National Consulting Committees in Libya.
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Finally, it is very important to refer to my supervisors, their continuing support and the way that they urge postgraduate students forward. Problem solving, working in a team and cooperation are just some of the things I learnt in the LBSA.
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Graham Leggett
Then: Postdoctoral Research Fellow (1992-1994)
Now: Professor of Nanoscale Analytical Science, Department of Chemistry, The University of Sheffield
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I joined the LBSA in January 1992, having studied for a PhD in secondary ion mass spectrometry with John Vickerman at UMIST and carried out postdoctoral work on plasma polymerisation with Buddy Ratner in Seattle. My project in Nottingham was based around the characterisation of protein structure by STM, then a very new technique for biomolecular characterisation and one surrounded by controversy. I was attracted to the approach employed at LBSA, based upon careful validation of STM data using surface analysis methods. My particular responsibility was the development of methods for protein attachment to surfaces, but along the way I learned a number of very useful skills, particularly in handling proteins, and developed an understanding of protein structure and function, that have remained with me, and helped me, throughout my subsequent career. And probe microscopy remains at the heart of everything I do, scientifically speaking. Even now, fifteen years later, there is still a surprising lack of use of careful surface analysis measurements among members of the probe microscopy community, and the issues we were tackling back in 1992 are as relevant now as they were then.
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