Engineering Bubbles for Targeted Drug Delivery

Wed Nov 10 2021 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm

Cross Street Chapel | Manchester

The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
Publisher/HostThe Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
Engineering Bubbles for Targeted Drug Delivery In this talk, Prof Eleanor Stride will present the new techniques that have been developed to fabricate and characterise nanoscopic bubbles.
About this Event

Despite extraordinary advances in the development of new drugs and biotechnology, cancer continues to represent one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In many cases the problem lies not with the drugs but rather the difficulty in successfully delivering them to the site of a tumour. In healthy tissue there is a regular structure of blood vessels supplying oxygen and nutrients to cells, which divide and grow at a steady rate. In cancerous tumours, however, cell division and growth is unregulated, leading to a chaotic vessel structure and regions of tissue with little or no blood supply. Consequently, when drugs are ingested or injected into the blood stream not all parts of the tumour are treated and there is a high risk of recurrence. Compounding this, in many tumours there is a pressure gradient that resists uptake of drugs from the blood vessels so that only a very small fraction is actually delivered. The rest of the drug circulates and is eventually absorbed by healthy tissue, often leading to intolerable side effects.


The goal of the research being carried out in the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) is to develop new methods for delivering anti-cancer drugs that overcome these barriers. In particular physical stimuli such as ultrasound and magnetic fields are being used to localise the release and improve the distribution of drugs within tumours using micro and nanoscopic bubbles as delivery vehicles. In this talk, Professor Eleanor Stride will present the new techniques that have been developed to fabricate and characterise these bubbles; and how they are being applied for the treatment of cancer.


About the speaker

Eleanor Stride, FREng, OBE is the Statutory Professor of Biomaterials in the Departments of Engineering Science and the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences. She specialises in the fabrication of nano and microscale devices for targeted drug delivery.

She obtained her BEng and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from UCL where she was subsequently appointed to a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. In 2011 she joined the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering becoming a full Professor in 2014.

She has published over 180 academic papers, 8 patents and is a director of 2 spin out companies set up to translate her research into clinical practice. Her work has been recognized through the award of a Philip Leverhulme prize, The Royal Society Interface Award, Engineering Medal at the Parliamentary Science, Engineering & Technology for Britain awards, Acoustical Society of America Bruce Lindsay Award (2013), IET AF Harvey prize (2015), Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists (2020). In 2016 and 2019 she was nominated as one of the top 100 most influential Women in Engineering.


*This talk will also be livestreamed - if you would prefer to watch online, please purchase a 'livestream access' ticket*


Interested in becoming member? Find out more: manlitphil.ac.uk/membership

Event image: 'Bubbles in BCN' - Photo by Marc Sendra Martorell on Unsplash

Event Venue

Cross Street Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester, United Kingdom

Tickets

GBP 5.00 to GBP 8.00

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