Prof Ryan Donnelly
Applications accepted all year round
Self-Funded PhD Students Only
About the Project
Microneedle arrays are minimally-invasive devices that painlessly, and without drawing blood, penetrate the skin’s stratum corneum barrier. This allows delivery of a range of substances that would otherwise not be able to move into or across the skin. Though microneedles have found great use in intradermal vaccines, our Group focusses on high-dose drug delivery. A key trend in the pharmaceutical industry is currently long-acting drug delivery. Here, instead of taking tablets daily, a patient receives an injection or implant that contains weeks or months of medication. However, these conventional long-acting systems are invasive, requiring skilled healthcare workers and carrying the risk of infection and problematic disposal. The novel microneedle systems to be developed here will take these complex therapeutics out of the formal healthcare setting and place them in the hands of patients, who will be able to self-apply the microneedle systems that will then simply dissolve in their skin to deposit the high dose, long-acting medication. In this project, the student will design and characterise long-acting microneedle systems using a range of innovative techniques. The benefits to patients of the technology developed during this studentship will be profound. The student will work at the cutting edge of developments in a leading research Group, thus greatly enhancing their employability.
Funding Notes
Applicants should have a 1st or 2.1 honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant
subject. Relevant subjects include Pharmacy, Molecular Biology, Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Biochemistry, Biological/Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Engineering, or a
closely related discipline. Students who have a 2.2 honours degree and a Master’s
degree may also be considered, but the School reserves the right to shortlist for
interview only those applicants who have demonstrated high academic attainment
to date