Emily Atkinson

Project: Hydrogels for combined delivery of growth factor mimetics and small molecules in the treatment of central nervous system damage.

Emily is a Transformative Pharmaceutical Technologies CDT student in the 2020 cohort. Her research focuses on synthesising peptide mimetics and small molecules for local delivery to the brain within a hydrogel formulation. The controlled-release, combination therapy aims to provide neuroprotection and regeneration in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and traumatic brain injury.

Supervisors:

Dr Rachael Dickman – Lecturer in Drug Discovery, UCL School of Pharmacy

Prof. James Phillips – Professor of Regenerative Medicine, UCL School of Pharmacy

Prof. Alethea Tabor – Professor of Organic Chemistry, UCL Dept of Chemistry

Dr Maria Elena Piersimoni – Senior Scientist, Pfizer R&D UK Ltd

Background:

Emily completed an MChem in Medicinal Chemistry with Industrial Training at Newcastle University with a first-class honours in 2020, which included a year working at CPI as a formulation scientist within the complex particles team. Her Masters research project involved the use of point-to-helical chirality transfer for the synthesis of chiral BODIPY dyes for application in cell staining. She also carried out a summer placement at NewChem Technologies focusing on the scale-up and development of synthetic routes towards CBD metabolites. Emily worked on a rotation project with Prof. James Phillips on an alginate encapsulation system for the delivery of therapeutic cells for patients with Parkinson’s disease, which sparked her interest in the central nervous system.

Awards and Licences:

Tony Gibbs Memorial Prize for demonstrating excellence in MChem project report.

PIL AB & C (rodents)

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-atkinson-a9b9a1150/