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Reading School of Pharmacy's April 2013 Research News
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The newsletter is published monthly during term time. This issue covers
March 2013. Please let Cat Ashford ([email protected]) know if
there are items you would like included in the next issue. We aim to report
successful grant applications, published papers, and related research news.
The deadline for the next newsletter is Thursday April 26th
, 2013
Welcome
Pharmacy Practice Showcase The first Pharmacy Practice Research Showcase was held on 28
th February
2013 to highlight some of the exciting new research being undertaken
within RSOP’s Pharmacy Practice Division. The event, hosted by Dr Donyai
who was ably supported by Cat Ashford, provided a platform for
dissemination of Pharmacy Practice research from a variety of academic
colleagues, external guests and undergraduate students.
A varied mix of presentations kept the audience’s interest throughout and
included work from the Academic Pharmacy Unit (Kate Masters) and two
RSOP researchers with Pharmacy Practice Research Trust funding. The first,
Dr Man Lau described the methods employed to examine community
pharmacists’ role in the use of topical corticosteroids while the second,
Shailesh Patel described the results of his survey of pharmaceutical
services and medication reviews in care homes. Notable Masters year
Pharmacy undergraduate student projects were also showcased (Puja
Nathwani and Ameena Malik) together with a number of posters
presented by colleagues and PhD students within the burgeoning
Pharmacy Practice research groups.
Inside This Issue
Welcome
Pharmacy Practice
Showcase
Gretschen Amphlet
Memorial Lecture
Major Grant Successes!
Funding Opportunities
RSOP is on Target!
Hot off the Press
REF is Coming
Forthcoming Seminars
Dr Stephens has been
acting up!
Imagining Science
Big Plans in Pharmacology
School of Pharmacy Research Newsletter
1st April, 2013 #14
Gretschen Amphlet Memorial Lecture
One of our newly appointed academic staff, Dr Lewis will be delivering the
Gretschen Amphlet memorial lecture at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge on
17th
April.
This is an annual lecture held by Parkinson's UK, and is aimed at a lay
audience. Places are free but advance booking is required. Call 020 7963
9309 or email [email protected] name, address and contact phone
number if you want to attend.
Dr Khutoryanskiy gave
an invited seminar
entitled
"Pharmaceutical
materials for ocular, oral
and intravesical
delivery" at Cardiff
School of Pharmacy
and Pharmaceutical
Sciences, University of
Cardiff on 13th March)
Reading School of Pharmacy Research News
2
Funding Opportunities
Grant opportunities see Funding news on the University Web pages.
Studentship opportunities have their own page. These pages list
numerous opportunities for grants and studentships, as well as the
deadlines. Research Professional Online is a searchable source of funding
opportunities and research news.
JSPS London Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers:
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowships for Foreign Researchers (Short Term)
provides researchers based outside of Japan with the opportunity to
conduct collaborative research activities Japanese Universities and
Research Institutions for between 1-12 months. Applicants must be within
2 years of finishing their PhD Japan or have obtained their PhD after 2 April
2007. Eligible research fields are not limited. Application deadline is
Monday 3rd
June 2013 and more information can be found at
http://www.jsps.org/funding/2013/03/postdoctoral-fellowship-for-foreign-
researchers-short-term.html.
RSOP is on Target!
Alongside other major grants awarded during the current financial year
(July 2012-July 2013), Dr Khutoryanskiy and Dr Brazier’s successes this
month mean that RSOP has exceeded our annual grant income target by
~£200,000.
I think we should all feel duly proud, not just of those who have
successfully won these grants, but of every member of RSOP who creates
an environment in which excellent grant success and research flourishes!
Looking to the next year, we hope to announce new ways in which we can
help one another achieve further grant success as major grant income also
provides important and substantial research funding that benefits all of
RSOP
Hosted by Pharmacy
Practice’s Dr Howard,
this month’s Pharmacy
Practice Research
Seminar held on March
7th saw Dr Mary Tully
(University of
Manchester) give a
very interesting talk
about prescribing errors
in hospitals. She
highlighted how
commonly they occur,
why they happen and
how they can be
avoided (very
important for
pharmacists!).
In addition to regular
staff and student
attendees, RSOP also
welcomed some local
healthcare
professionals
(pharmacists and
doctors) to hear about
to this important topic.
The Pharmacy Practice
Division are keen to
extend their invitation
to local healthcare
professionals for future
seminars so spread the
word!
Major grant successes!
Dr Khutoryanskiy’s application for a The Leverhulme Trust Research
Project grant entitled ‘Developing in vitro approaches for testing
mucoadhesive drug delivery systems’ (£160,851) was successful! The
project will develop synthetic materials capable of mimicking mucosal
tissues that can be used in place of animal mucosa in experiments
assessing novel drug delivery systems.
To further add to our success, RSOP’s Dr Brazier, in collaboration with
Prof. Cardin (Chemistry), has won a £470,000 BBSRC Project grant to
investigate metal polypyridyl complex interactions with duplex and higher
order DNAs.
Our congratulations to both for these excellent successes!
Reading School of Pharmacy Research News
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PAGE 3
Hot Off the Press!
In addition to this month’s excellent grant funding news, it has also been a
bumper month for publication outputs!
Acton AL, Fante C, Flatley B, Burattini S, Hamley IW, Wang Z, Greco F &
Hayes W (2013). Janus PEG-based dendrimers for use in combination
therapy: controlled multi-drug loading and sequential release.
Biomacromolecules 14: 564-574.
Greco F, Arif I, Botting R, Fante C, Quintieri L, Clementi C, Schiavon O &
Pasut G (2013). Polysialic acid as a drug carrier: evaluation of a new
polysialic acid–epirubicin conjugate and its comparison against
established drug carriers. Polymer Chemistry 4: 1600-1609.
Rajkumar S, Shankland K, Goodman JM. Cobb AJA (2013) Organocatalytic
domino reaction of cyanosulfones: access to complex cyclohexane
systems with quaternary carbon centers Org Lett doi: 10.1021/ol400356k
Cheng G, Greenland BW, Lampard C, Williams N, Bahra MS & Hayes W
(2013) Lightly branched comb polyesters: application in fast drying
solvent-borne coating formulations Reactive & Functional Polymers 73:
619–623.
The Wellcome Trust
Science Writing Prize is
again being run and
winning articles from
each category will be
published in the
'Guardian' or the
'Observer' in addition to
receiving a £1000 cash
prize.
The competition is open
to professional scientists
of postgraduate level
and above so please
highlight this to your
PhD students and
PDRAs too!
Details can be found
here:
http://www.wellcome.a
c.uk/Funding/Public-
engagement/Science-
Writing-Prize/index.htm
REF is Coming
Please remember to keep your paper submissions to Centaur up to date,
as this is the way that the University collects information about research
outputs, particularly with REF approaching
With regard to REF, would all staff please check that their web pages are up
to date. We expect that panel members and others involved in REF will
soon begin looking informally at our profiles.
It is vital your web page not only provides an accurate biography and
reflects your current research activity, grant income and Centaur-
linked outputs but also emphasises the impact of your research.
Please address any queries about web page updates to Cat Ashford
([email protected]) or Dr Connon ([email protected]).
Forthcoming Seminars
Physiological Society Seminar
Professor Chris Peers will give the Reading leg of this exciting seminar
series on Wed 24th
April in Hopkins 101. His talk will be entitled "Carbon
monoxide: good and bad news for the heart and brain".
RSOP were instrumental in the bid for funding for this roving seminar
series which has previously visited University of Surrey and University of
Kingston. All are welcome!
Further information can be obtained from Dr Stephens
RSOP is delighted to
welcome a new PhD
student, Long Chen,
supervised by Dr
Greenland with Howard
Colquhoun (Chemistry).
The team will work
multifunctional
conducting polymers
for electronics and
sensing.
Reading School of Pharmacy Research News
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A quick reminder that
all PhD studentship
applications must be
co-ordinated by Cat
Ashford, so let her know
at the earliest
opportunity if you have
prospective students.
There is a formal
application process
that must always be
followed and she will
help staff ensure that
the applications are
valid.
Dr Cobb gave an
invited talk at the
University of Birmingham
Department of
Chemistry entitled 'The
synthesis of unnatural
biomolecules'
Dr Stephens has been acting up! Dr Stephens acted as an 'expert neuroscientist' as part of a National
Science and Engineering Week event.
The Y Touring Theatre Company staged a play entitled "Stunted Trees and
Broken Bridges" which investigated the ethics behind the use of
neurotechnology and, in particular, the notion that brain scanning
technology could be used in the future as a forensic device to quantify
criminal behaviour. The play also examined manipulation of
neurotransmitter levels in the brain to control emotions. The event was
held at Stratford East Picturehouse on Wednesday 20th
March and was
attended by around 100 14-18 year school students. Following the one
hour play, there was an interesting debate led by an invigilator and Dr
Stephens.
Dr Stephens has a DVD copy of the play should others want to view and
use it ([email protected]).
Imagining Science The Imagining Science science-themed art exhibition was held at
University of Reading Central Gallery. Organised by three scientist-artists,
Sally Hunter (Cambridge, UK), Michelle Anderst (Seattle, USA), and Dr
Immy Smith (RSOP, Reading, UK), the exhibition was held during Reading
Science Week and National Science & Engineering Week 2013.
Ably supported by numerous RSOP PDRAs and PhDs, the exhibition, which
included a family day and was attended by over 250 people, was a great
success and culminated in a private view on 22nd
March.
‚Which came first, the science or the art?‛
Sir David Bell and Dr Smith
Left to Right: Immy Smith (RSOP), Sal Hunter (Cambridge) and
Lu Wallace (BSA). The identity of the bearded gentleman
accosting RSOP’s Dr Weston remains a mystery…
Family day: Dr Smith
pictured with RSOP PhD
student assistants, Ahlam
Al-Husaini and Camille
Soubrane
Imagining Science
Fundraising: The event’s
(see main story)
exhibition catalogue
and some original
artworks were also sold
in aid of Brain Tumour
Research, the CC75C
project and the British
Science Association to
raise a total of £725.
Reading School of Pharmacy Research News
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PAGE 5
The BNA Festival of
Neuroscience is coming
soon.........four days of
jam-packed
neuroscience from
Sunday 7th -
Wednesday 10th April
at the Barbican,
London that includes 56
scientific symposia
spanning 8 themes
https://meeting.tfigroup
.com/tfi/frontend/reg/h
omepage.csp?pd=7348
4&msID=4676&eventID=
556
Big Plans in Pharmacology
New academic members of staff, Dr Lewis, Dr Cottrell and Dr Dallas made
a splash with stimulating talks about their research plans at RSOP to a wide
ranging audience which included the Vice Chancellor, Sir David Bell and
the PVC for Research and Innovation, Prof. Christine Williams.
Chaired by the erstwhile Dr Stephens, the talks were very well received
and demonstrate RSOP and the University’s commitment to top class
research!
Expect more exciting news in the areas of Parkinson’s Disease,
gasotransmitters, migraine and endosomes in the very near future!
Dr Lewis: Genetic insights into Parkinson’s
disease
Dr Cottrell: From endosomes to migraine and
beyond!
Dr Dallas: A friendly face to carbon monoxide?
