Programme Thursday 11th June
From 9.00 am
Registration / Hamnett Wing Foyer
11.00 am
Tea & Coffee / Hamnett Wing Ground Floor Social Space
SESSION A
New Horizons
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Clare Hoskins (University of Strathclyde)
11.40 am Jenifer Mains / Bicycle Therapeutics / 'Developing and manufacturing Radiopharmaceuticals'
11.55 am Blair Johnstone / University of Strathclyde / 'New Horizons Through Modelling: From Chemistry to AI-Enabled Drug Development' / Blair will share his career journey from chemistry and structural modelling through drug discovery and into the rapidly evolving world of modelling, data and AI in drug development. Reflecting on transitions across disciplines and sectors, the talk will highlight how curiosity, computational thinking and openness to new tools can create unexpected opportunities for the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists.
12.10 pm James King / GSK / 'Designing Lower‑Carbon Medicines: A Career Journey into Pharmaceutical Sustainability' / This talk will explore James’s career journey into pharmaceutical sustainability, from his academic background through to his current role as an Ecodesign and Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) Lead at GSK.
It will provide insight into how lifecycle assessment is applied in practice to support the development of lower‑carbon medicines, including a high‑level example from inhaler sustainability, using the Ventolin inhaler to illustrate how carbon footprinting can inform design decisions and drive meaningful environmental impact.
The session will conclude with reflections on building a career in sustainability, including key lessons learned, skills that have proven valuable, and practical advice for those considering a similar path.
12.25 pm '(Not) On the sofa': your chance to pitch questions to the speakers
1.00 pm Light lunch / Hamnett Wing Ground Floor Social Space
SESSION B
Short talks from our industrial exhibitors
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Purav Shah (TRM Ireland) & Mark Jackman (AstraZeneca)
2.00 pm Roquette
2.10 pm IMCD
2.20 pm Quotient Sciences
2.30 pm Royal Society of Chemistry
2.40 pm SOTAX Pharma
2.50 pm Hiden Isochema Ltd
3.00 pm Evonik
3.10 pm Avantor Sciences/ Ohaus
3.20 pm Teledyne LABS
3.30 pm Harke
3.40 pm Gattefosse UK
3.50 pm Close
Symposium Dinner
7.00 pm
Mharsanta, Glasgow, 26 Bell Street, Glasgow G1 1LG Scotland / See details below.
Registration / Hamnett Wing Foyer
11.00 am
Tea & Coffee / Hamnett Wing Ground Floor Social Space
SESSION A
New Horizons
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Clare Hoskins (University of Strathclyde)
11.40 am Jenifer Mains / Bicycle Therapeutics / 'Developing and manufacturing Radiopharmaceuticals'
11.55 am Blair Johnstone / University of Strathclyde / 'New Horizons Through Modelling: From Chemistry to AI-Enabled Drug Development' / Blair will share his career journey from chemistry and structural modelling through drug discovery and into the rapidly evolving world of modelling, data and AI in drug development. Reflecting on transitions across disciplines and sectors, the talk will highlight how curiosity, computational thinking and openness to new tools can create unexpected opportunities for the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists.
12.10 pm James King / GSK / 'Designing Lower‑Carbon Medicines: A Career Journey into Pharmaceutical Sustainability' / This talk will explore James’s career journey into pharmaceutical sustainability, from his academic background through to his current role as an Ecodesign and Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) Lead at GSK.
It will provide insight into how lifecycle assessment is applied in practice to support the development of lower‑carbon medicines, including a high‑level example from inhaler sustainability, using the Ventolin inhaler to illustrate how carbon footprinting can inform design decisions and drive meaningful environmental impact.
The session will conclude with reflections on building a career in sustainability, including key lessons learned, skills that have proven valuable, and practical advice for those considering a similar path.
12.25 pm '(Not) On the sofa': your chance to pitch questions to the speakers
1.00 pm Light lunch / Hamnett Wing Ground Floor Social Space
SESSION B
Short talks from our industrial exhibitors
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Purav Shah (TRM Ireland) & Mark Jackman (AstraZeneca)
2.00 pm Roquette
2.10 pm IMCD
2.20 pm Quotient Sciences
2.30 pm Royal Society of Chemistry
2.40 pm SOTAX Pharma
2.50 pm Hiden Isochema Ltd
3.00 pm Evonik
3.10 pm Avantor Sciences/ Ohaus
3.20 pm Teledyne LABS
3.30 pm Harke
3.40 pm Gattefosse UK
3.50 pm Close
Symposium Dinner
7.00 pm
Mharsanta, Glasgow, 26 Bell Street, Glasgow G1 1LG Scotland / See details below.
Programme Friday 12th June
From 8.00 am
Registration / Hamnett Wing Foyer
9.00 am
Welcome & Opening Remarks / Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info / Karl Malcolm (Queen's University Belfast)
SESSION 1
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Katie Ryan (University of Cork) & Lewis Dymock (University of Strathclyde)
9.10 am KEYNOTE: Anja Boisen / Technical University of Denmark (DTU) / 'Swallow your doctor – sensing, sampling and delivery in the GUT' / Our vision is that in the future we can ‘swallow our doctor’. Ingestible capsules can be made smart so that they can eventually measure, take samples, and perform local repairs/medication in the stomach and intestines. Can this be done without also having to swallow a battery, and how do you take a sample from the intestines? I will give examples from our research that encompass both new discoveries and startup stories.
9.40 am Maria Evdokimou / University of Strathclyde / 'PC-PE Helper Phospholipid Headgroups “Write the Message”: Tuning the Stability-Fusion Balance in mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles'
9.55 am Ethan Morrissey / University College Cork / 'Developing a CAP coating method for drug coating of angioplasty balloons'
10.10 am Awaneesh Upadhyay / University of Oxford / 'Effect of physiological media on the stability and acoustic behavior of phospholipid microbubbles relevant to ultrasound-mediated drug release'
10.25 am
SESSION 2
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Sarah Gordon (University of Birmingham) & Chelsea Mullan-Graham (Ulster University)
10.55 am Sarah Lindsay / University of Strathclyde / 'Small Scale, Big Expression: Validating a novel 3D microfluidic mixer for In Vitro and In Vivo mRNA Delivery'
11.10 am Jessica Mahajan / Abertay University / 'Gold-coated magnetic nanoparticle delivery of cysteine-tagged nitroreductase for enzyme-prodrug cancer therapy'
11.25 am Shangjie Lian / Queen’s University Belfast / 'Coaxial electrospun nanofibres for staged delivery of levofloxacin and CGRP in diabetic wound management'
11.40 am Zainab Safdar / South East Technological University, Waterford / 'Physicochemical Characterization of Fenretinide (BCS Class IV) for Rational Design of a Lipid-Based Nanotherapeutic System'
11.55 am
12.45 pm
SESSION 3
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Gareth Williams (University College London) & Lewis Dymock (University of Strathclyde)
1.45 pm KEYNOTE: Steve Rannard / University of Liverpool / '"Translational Research for Healthcare - reflections on three attempts" / In this talk, I will show some of the work that we have done, give an honest overview of our findings and try to play all that into a "career in academic and industrial research" theme.'
2.15 pm Scott Reid / University of Strathclyde / 'Enabling Formulation Development Through Real-Time Monitoring of Dissolution/Precipitation in Biorelevant Media'
2.30 pm Rutuja Meshram / Queen’s University Belfast / 'Development of 3D-printed microarray patches for co-delivery of curcumin and 5-fluorouracil in skin cancer therapy'
2.45 pm Sophia Kontou / University of Strathclyde / 'Rational Design of Polymeric Nanoparticles for the Delivery of Biologics for Cancer Therapy'
3.00 pm
SESSION 4
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Dimitrios Lamprou (Queen's University Belfast)
3.50 pm
Soapbox Session (1 minute on any topic!) / Sign up here
4.35 pm
Closing Remarks and Prizes
Registration / Hamnett Wing Foyer
9.00 am
Welcome & Opening Remarks / Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info / Karl Malcolm (Queen's University Belfast)
SESSION 1
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Katie Ryan (University of Cork) & Lewis Dymock (University of Strathclyde)
9.10 am KEYNOTE: Anja Boisen / Technical University of Denmark (DTU) / 'Swallow your doctor – sensing, sampling and delivery in the GUT' / Our vision is that in the future we can ‘swallow our doctor’. Ingestible capsules can be made smart so that they can eventually measure, take samples, and perform local repairs/medication in the stomach and intestines. Can this be done without also having to swallow a battery, and how do you take a sample from the intestines? I will give examples from our research that encompass both new discoveries and startup stories.
9.40 am Maria Evdokimou / University of Strathclyde / 'PC-PE Helper Phospholipid Headgroups “Write the Message”: Tuning the Stability-Fusion Balance in mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles'
9.55 am Ethan Morrissey / University College Cork / 'Developing a CAP coating method for drug coating of angioplasty balloons'
10.10 am Awaneesh Upadhyay / University of Oxford / 'Effect of physiological media on the stability and acoustic behavior of phospholipid microbubbles relevant to ultrasound-mediated drug release'
10.25 am
- Tea & Coffee / Hamnett Wing Ground Floor Social Space
- Exhibitors / HW111
SESSION 2
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Sarah Gordon (University of Birmingham) & Chelsea Mullan-Graham (Ulster University)
10.55 am Sarah Lindsay / University of Strathclyde / 'Small Scale, Big Expression: Validating a novel 3D microfluidic mixer for In Vitro and In Vivo mRNA Delivery'
11.10 am Jessica Mahajan / Abertay University / 'Gold-coated magnetic nanoparticle delivery of cysteine-tagged nitroreductase for enzyme-prodrug cancer therapy'
11.25 am Shangjie Lian / Queen’s University Belfast / 'Coaxial electrospun nanofibres for staged delivery of levofloxacin and CGRP in diabetic wound management'
11.40 am Zainab Safdar / South East Technological University, Waterford / 'Physicochemical Characterization of Fenretinide (BCS Class IV) for Rational Design of a Lipid-Based Nanotherapeutic System'
11.55 am
- Poster Session 1 / Hamnett Wing Level 2 North & South (1st floor)
- Exhibitors / HW111
12.45 pm
- Lunch / Hamnett Wing Ground Floor Social Space
- Exhibitors / HW111
SESSION 3
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Gareth Williams (University College London) & Lewis Dymock (University of Strathclyde)
1.45 pm KEYNOTE: Steve Rannard / University of Liverpool / '"Translational Research for Healthcare - reflections on three attempts" / In this talk, I will show some of the work that we have done, give an honest overview of our findings and try to play all that into a "career in academic and industrial research" theme.'
2.15 pm Scott Reid / University of Strathclyde / 'Enabling Formulation Development Through Real-Time Monitoring of Dissolution/Precipitation in Biorelevant Media'
2.30 pm Rutuja Meshram / Queen’s University Belfast / 'Development of 3D-printed microarray patches for co-delivery of curcumin and 5-fluorouracil in skin cancer therapy'
2.45 pm Sophia Kontou / University of Strathclyde / 'Rational Design of Polymeric Nanoparticles for the Delivery of Biologics for Cancer Therapy'
3.00 pm
- Poster Session 2 / Hamnett Wing Level 2 North & South (1st floor)
- Tea & Coffee / Hamnett Wing Ground Floor Social Space
- Exhibitors / HW111
SESSION 4
Lecture Theatre / Room AB101 / Robertson Wing / Info
Chaired by Dimitrios Lamprou (Queen's University Belfast)
3.50 pm
Soapbox Session (1 minute on any topic!) / Sign up here
4.35 pm
Closing Remarks and Prizes
