School of Pharmacy Research Newsletter

Welcome
1st October, 2013 Inside This Issue
Welcome New faces! New PhDs! Funding Opportunities Hot off the Press RPS Conference UKPS Conference Clinical Trials
The newsletter is published monthly during term time. This issue covers the period September 2013. Please let Cat Hale (c.hale@reading.ac.uk) 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 October th 26 , 2013

#17

New faces!
We have a number of new faces joining the RSOP team this month ! Firstly, Academic Investment Post appointees, Dr Angela Bithell and Dr Patrick Lewis join the Pharmacology Division and are based in the Hopkins Building. Also joining the team in Hopkins is Dr Alistair Nunn, who takes up his role within the new Associate Professorship created within RSOP by a 240,000 donation from GW Pharmaceuticals. Finally, Dr Sandra Tejero, who previously worked in Food and Nutritional Sciences, joins Dr Al Edwardss lab to work on his microcapillary diagnostics technology with CFT Ltd.

Dr Nunn, RSOPs new Associate Professor in Hormesis and Metabolic Adaptation settles in.

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New PhDs!
RSOPs PhD student numbers are swelled by three new starters this month! Hesham Abduldaeem will be working with Dr Parastou Donyai and Dr Rosemary Lim on a project funded by the Saudi Armed Forces, Medical Services. Rebecca Thomson will be working with Prof. Helen Osborn and Dr Katja Strohfeldt-Venables on a project co-funded by the BBSRC and Ludger whilst Sarah Smith joins Dr Vitaliy Khutoryanskiys group to work on a project jointly funded by the BBSRC and McCormick. Finally, Ariane Thrun joins Dr Gary Stephens and Dr Ben Whalley to work on a project jointly funded by UoR and UCB Pharmaceuticals

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. University PhD Studentship Competition 2014 The application process for the annual University Studentships competition is now open. Updates on the number of available half studentships will be circulated as soon as the information is received from Faculty. University funding will cover 50% of Home/EU fees for three years, 50% of the student stipend at RCUK minimum doctoral stipend levels for three years and 500 per annum to cover personal development costs (training courses, conferences, etc.). Full details of the call can be obtained from Cat Hale (c.hale@reading.ac.uk). Please note that the remaining 50% of the funds required for these studentships must be met externally and must be agreed at the time the application is made.

Dr Patrick Lewis has highlighted the forthcoming Keystone meeting in March 2014 on Parkinsons Disease: Genetics, Mechanisms and Therapeutics which may be of interest to our burgeoning neurodegeneration specialisation. Details are available here: http://www.keystonesy mposia.org/14Q7

Dr Khutoryanskiys on tour again!

RSOPs Dr Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy visited Semey Medical University and th th Semey State University in Semey (Kazakhstan) on 16 -30 September to deliver lecture courses on polymer science and drug delivery. This marks his third visit to these two universities for the last two years where his collaboration with Semey has already resulted in reciprocal visits from Semey academics. In addition to delivering lectures, he also conducted collaborative experiments with colleagues from Semey Medical University to evaluate the efficiency of ophthalmic films; similar experiments performed during his previous years visit to Semey Medical University have resulted in a joint paper (Publications).

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Hot Off the Press!

Hill TDM, Hill AJ & Whalley BJ (2013) The development of cannabinoid based therapies for epilepsy in Endocannabinoids: Molecular, pharmacological, behavioural and clinical features Ed. Eric MurilloRodrguez Bentham Books Ch6 pp. 164-205 ISBN 978-1-60805-125-0 Gouveia RM, Castelletto V, Alcock SG, Hamley IW & Connon CJ. (2013) Bioactive films produced from self-assembling peptide amphiphiles as versatile substrates for tuning cell adhesion and tissue architecture in serum-free conditions. Journal of Materials Chemistry B doi: 10.1039/C3TB21031F Wright B, Hopkinson A, Leyland M & Connon CJ (2013) The secretome of alginate-encapsulated limbal epithelial stem cells modulates corneal epithelial cell proliferation PloS one 8 (7), e70860 Xiao X, Pan S, Liu X, Zhu X, Connon CJ, Wu J & Mi S (2013) In vivo study of the biocompatibility of a novel compressed collagen hydrogel scaffold for artificial corneas Journal of Biomedical Materials Research doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.34848 Castelletto V, Gouveia RM, Connon CJ & Hamley IW (2013) New RGDPeptide Amphiphile Mixtures Containing a Negatively Charged Diluent. Faraday Discuss. doi: 10.1039/C3FD00064H Castelletto V, Gouveia RM, Connon CJ & Hamley IW (2013) Self-Assembly and Bioactivity of a Polymer/Peptide Conjugate Containing the RGD Cell Adhesion Motif and PEG European Polymer Journal doi: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2013.02.016 Cheng G, Greenland BW, Lampard C, Williams N, Barhra MS & Hayes W (2013) Synthesis of Novel hyperbranched polymers featuring oxazoline linear units and their application in fast-drying solvent-borne coating formulationsJ. Polym. Sci. Part A: Polym. Chem. 51, 3964-3974. Hart LR, Harries JL, Greenland BW, Colquhoun HM, Hayes W (2013) Healable supramolecular polymers Polym. Chem. 4, 4860-4870. Burchell VS, Nelson DE, Sanchez-Martinez A, Delgado-Camprubi M, Ivatt RM, Pogson JH, Randle SJ, Wray S, Lewis PA, Houlden H, Abramov AY, Hardy J, Wood NW, Whitworth AJ, Laman H, Plun-Favreau H (2013) The Parkinson's disease-linked proteins Fbxo7 and Parkin interact to mediate mitophagy. Nat Neurosci. 16(9):1257-65 Mamais A, Raja M, Manzoni C, Dihanich S, Lees A, Moore D, Lewis PA, Bandopadhyay R. (2013) Divergent -synuclein solubility and aggregation properties in G2019S LRRK2 Parkinson's disease brains with Lewy Body pathology compared to idiopathic cases. Neurobiol Dis. 58:183-90 Withers CA, Cook MT, Methven L, Gosney MA, Khutoryanskiy VV (2013) Investigation of milk proteins binding to the oral mucosa Food & Function, DOI: 10.1039/C3FO60291E

Dr Gary Stephens has joined the Calcium Channel Network (http://www.calciumch annel.com/about/) which promotes Calcium Channel research.

Dr Ben Whalley delivered an invited talk to the North East Epilepsy Research Meeting on 27th September entitled Cannabis and epilepsy: fact from fiction.

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Hot Off the Press Continued!

Avery AJ, Ghaleb M, Barber N, Franklin BD, Armstrong SJ, Serumaga B, Dhillon S, Freyer A, Howard R, Talabi O, Mehta RL.(2013) The prevalence and nature of prescribing and monitoring errors in English general practice a retrospective case note review. British Journal of General Practice doi: 10.3399/bjgp13X670679. Khutoryanskaya OV, Morrison PWJ, Seilkhanov SK, Mussin MN, Ozhmukhametova EK, Rakhypbekov TK, Khutoryanskiy VV (2013) Hydrogen-bonded complexes and blends of poly(acrylic acid) and methylcellulose: nanoparticles and mucoadhesive films for ocular delivery of riboflavin Macromol. Biosci., DOI: 10.1002/mabi.201300313 Trabzuni D, Ryten M, Emmett W, Ramasamy A, Lackner KJ, Zeller T, Walker R, Smith C, Lewis PA, Mamais A, de Silva R, Vandrovcova J; International Parkinson Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC), Hernandez D, Nalls MA, Sharma M, Garnier S, Lesage S, Simon-Sanchez J, Gasser T, Heutink P, Brice A, Singleton A, Cai H, Schadt E, Wood NW, Bandopadhyay R, Weale ME, Hardy J, Plagnol V (2013) Fine-Mapping, Gene Expression and Splicing Analysis of the Disease Associated LRRK2 Locus PLoS One 8(8):e70724 Vaiyapuri R, Greenland BW, Colquhoun HM, Elliott JM & Hayes W (2013) Molecular recognition between functionalized gold nanoparticles and a healable supramolecular polymer blend a route to property enhancement Polym. Chem. 4, 4902-4909. Manzoni C, Mamais A, Dihanich S, Abeti R, Soutar MP, Plun-Favreau H, Giunti P, Tooze SA, Bandopadhyay R, Lewis PA. (2013) Inhibition of LRRK2 kinase activity stimulates macroautophagy Biochim Biophys Acta. 1833(12):29002910 Russo E, Scicchitano F, Whalley BJ, Mazzitello C, Ciriaco M, Esposito S, Patan M, Upton R, Pugliese M, Chimirri S, Mamm M, Palleria C, De Sarro G. (2013; accepted for publication) Hypericum perforatum: Pharmacokinetic, Mechanism of Action, Tolerability, and Clinical Drug-Drug Interactions Phytotherapy Research doi: 10.1002/ptr.5050 Citraro R, Russo E, Ngomba RT, Nicoletti F, Scicchitano F, Whalley BJ, Calignano A and De Sarro G. (2013) CB1 agonists, locally applied to the cortico-thalamic circuit of rats with genetic absence epilepsy, reduce epileptic manifestations. Epilepsy Research doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2013.06.004.

Dr Mark Dallas gave an invited talk to the European Network on Gasotransmitters at Exeter University on 8th September entitled 'Carbon monoxide regulation of the Kv2.1 channel'

The BBSRC have invited RSOPs Dr Che Connon to apply for the Innovator of the Year competition for his development of novel stem cell storage technology

Royal Pharmaceutical Society Conference

Shailesh Patel presented his findings at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society conference earlier this month and saw them published in IJPP: Patel S, Donyai P. Investigating care-home managers views and experiences of pharmaceutical services and medication reviews in older people using a new questionnaire. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 2013; 21 (S2): 108-109 Shailesh is in the process of completing his project supported by a Sir Hugh Linstead Fellowship Award, administered by Pharmacy Research UK and awarded to Dr Parastou Donyai.

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UK Pharmaceutical Sciences Conference

A team of RSOP Pharmaceutics postgraduate students attended and presented at UK Pharmaceutical Sciences Conference held this year in nd th Edinburgh on 2 -4 September. Samuel Bizley presented a talk "Hydrogen bonded layer by layer enetric coatings for oral drug delivery" while Divyashree Ravishankar presented a talk entitled "Synthesis of Hydroxy Flavones with their 4-THIO, Methoxy Analogues and their Antiproliferative Evaluation Against Breast Cancer Cell Lines". Peter Morrison and Yasser Albarkah also presented their research as posters and rumours abound that other RSOP researchers were also spotted at the conference!

Clinical Trials
Work investigating the therapeutic potential of non-psychoactive components of cannabis for the treatment of drug resistant epilepsy by RSOP staff, Dr Ben Whalley, Dr Gary Stephens and Dr Andre Cobb has reached human clinical trials and named patient use in paediatric epilepsies. In a press release (http://www.gwpharm.com/Phase1Epilepsy.aspx), sponsors GW Pharma said We are pleased to have advanced GWP42006 to first dose in man, a significant milestone in the development of this novel product candidate. The decision to progress into Phase 1 follows several years of highly promising pre-clinical research. We believe that GWP42006 has the potential to become an important advance in the treatment of epilepsy, a condition for which there remains a substantial unmet medical need. In addition to the Phase 1clinical trial that is now in progress, a different compound, cannabidiol, developed within RSOP as part of the same programme is now being used to treat intractable childhood epilepsy. Three expanded access INDs have recently been granted by the FDA to U.S. clinicians to allow treatment of a small number of paediatric epilepsy patients with a CBD formulation supplied by GW Pharma.

Dr Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy delivered talk entitled "New synthetic routes to thiolated mucoadhesive nanoparticles" at the 27th Conference of the European Colloid and Interface Society held in Sofia (Bulgaria) on 1st September in addition to an invited lecture "Microencapsulation of probiotics using alginates" at 1st UK Hydrocolloids symposium held at the University of Huddersfield on 10th September.