What inspires two Industrial Fellowship winners

Alice Hagan is working with Biocompatibles UK Ltd and the University of Brighton to develop beads capable of blocking blood flow to cancerous tumours while simultaneously releasing drugs directly into the targeted area. Congratulations on being awarded an Industrial Fellowship – can you tell us about the work that won the award? I’m working on improving the treatment of liver cancer by developing drug eluting beads – tiny beads that are aimed at selectively blocking blood supply to liver tumours whilst delivering a targeted dose of chemotherapy. The beads have been in use in cancer treatment for some time, however there is room for improvement as liver tumours can become resistant to the current drugs in use or escape treatment by growing new blood vessels. I’m investigating the efficacy of beads loaded with novel, targeted drugs that could disrupt the mechanisms by which liver tumours sometimes escape destruction. This could potentially improve treatment outcomes for the patient as well as having greatly reduced side effects compared to conventional chemotherapy. And how will this award help your research/academic career? I’m delighted to receive the award as I believe it has given me the best possible start to my research career. The funding will allow me to focus full time on my studies whilst remaining an employee of the company, gaining experience of both academic and industrial research. Industry can be a fast moving environment in terms of product development so being able to take time to investigate the detailed science behind a new investigative treatment is highly significant in supporting its successful transfer to clinical trials. Additionally, the fellowship provides a travel allowance which will enable me to attend more conferences, an important part of keeping up with the latest developments in research and evolving clinical/patient needs. Tell us about your industry partner – who are they and how can they help develop your work? Biocompatibles UK Ltd, a BTG International group company, specialises in the development and manufacture of drug/device combination products with a particular focus on oncology treatments. The company has been hugely supportive in my desire to study for a doctorate since I joined just over a year ago. I work with a team of great scientists who have a wealth of experience with the drug-eluting bead technology, and I am lucky to have use of BTG’s brand new lab facilities and equipment in order to carry out all the necessary characterisation tests on the beads – for example looking at how efficiently they load and release drugs, or how they behave in a simulated vascular network. What made you apply for the Fellowship, and did it ever occur to you that you might win? I applied for the fellowship because of the opportunity it would allow me to combine working in industry with attaining a PhD, which would otherwise have been difficult to achieve due to the challenge of fitting the academic study around my job. I applied knowing that there would be fierce competition, and was over the moon when I heard that I had been selected. The application process was simple and the commission is highly flexible and supportive. I would definitely encourage people to apply. Who is your scientific inspiration and why? There are many inspiring scientists to choose from, but I think it is a consequence of the historical gender inequality in science and engineering that more female scientists don’t receive greater recognition for their work. For that reason, researchers who have made significant discoveries despite barriers to women in science are an inspiration to me: Rosalind Franklin, Rita Levi-Montalcini and Jocelyn Bell Burnell to name but a few. Women today are fortunate to have far greater opportunities to succeed in science and engineering, but there is still much room for improvement in making the industry more accessible to them. The CEO of BTG, Dame Louise Makin, is also someone I admire – she has gone from her background in Materials Science to become the leader of a company that she has helped transform and grow. She is one of few female CEO’s in the industry and serves as an inspiration for where a career in science can take you.

Congratulations on being awarded an industrial Fellowship – can you tell us about the work that won the award? My work, which is supported by the Fellowship, is to study and optimise the mechanisms responsible for enhancements in drug delivery to solid tumours due to ultrasound and microbubble interactions. And how will this award help your research/academic career? The Fellowship will help my career by supporting me and my work financially, as well as giving me international recognition and a network of peers with whom I can network and develop new ideas. Tell us about your industry partner – who are they and how can they help develop your work? Lein Applied Diagnostics is a small but very innovative company based in Reading. They specialise in confocal microscopy as applied to an industrial and medical context. They will continue to provide technical expertise on the instrumentation aspect of the project, and their industry connections will help me in commercialising the developed instrument. What made you apply for the Fellowship, and did it ever occur to you that you might win? I was made aware of the Fellowship by my supervisors, who encouraged me to apply for it. While everyone applies for a Fellowship with some expectation of being awarded, I was nonetheless pleasantly surprised when I received the news. Who is your scientific inspiration and why? My interest in science and engineering has been inspired by the likes of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, whose theories elegantly explained the seemingly unfathomable universe; and writers such as Arthur C Clarke, whose stories of human endeavours in outer space steered me towards engineering disciplines.