Pharmaceutical Science and Biomaterials
Pharmaceutical Science and Biomaterials research focuses on the development and manufacture of next generation medical technologies that promote the effective delivery and targeting of drugs including advanced therapies. The major areas in this theme include drug formulation and development, advanced pharmaceutical technologies, formulation of biotech cargoes, and biomedical and tissue engineering.
The mission of the team is to enable the effective development and translation of therapeutics. Researchers in this area have extensive expertise including formulation for different routes of administration (oral, respiratory, parenteral, implant), therapeutic targets (tumour, respiratory), advanced drug delivery technologies (nanomedicines, brain delivery), drug-device combinations and specialised dosage forms (medicines for children and the elderly).
There is a significant focus on the development, and in some cases, commercialisation of advanced pharmaceutical technologies including controlled and targeted delivery systems. This includes the design and screening of novel excipients, biomaterials and formulations as well as harnessing advanced manufacturing processes for drug formulation and loading (particle engineering, 3D printing). Many of these advanced technologies are focused on enabling the delivery of biotech cargoes, including: protein and peptide-based therapeutics, gene medicines, stem-cell based therapies and vaccines. All the work in this theme has strong links with clinical research groups and where relevant teams work closely with industry partners.