Biography
Interests:- The crystallisation of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) onto excipients
- Pharmaceutical organic chemistry
- Process safety
- "From Arsenic to Zirconium - Poems and Surprising Facts about the Elements", No Starch Press (2020)
Research Interests
The crystallisation of APIs onto excipients:The work focuses on (i) methods (wet and dry impregnation, and ion exchange) to facilitate the crystallisation of APIs onto pre-formed particles or granules of excipients or excipient mixtures, and (ii) the development of surface treatment of excipients to make them more suitable as matrices on which crystallisation will occur. Initially the role of the solvent, supersaturation and metastable zone widths will be assessed with a view to determining how best to promote heterogeneous crystallisation on the excipient as opposed to nucleation in solution. Once formed, the nature and strength of the interactions will be investigated, including an evaluation of the suitability of the technique for a range of pharmaceuticals with propensity to form a range of polymorphs and particle habits when crystallised through primary nucleation.
Professional Activities
Education
- 1993 University of Limerick - PhD
- 1989 University of Limerick - BSc (Hons)
Employment
- University of Limerick - Lecturer - part-time (2005 - 2009); Lecturer below the bar (2009 - 2018); Lecturer (2019 - present)
- Davern & Bell - Co-proprietor (2002 - 2005)
- Novartis Ringaskiddy Limited, Cork - Production Chemist (1995 - 2002)
- GlaxoSmithKline, Cork - Process Development Chemist / Production Technologist (1993 - 1995)
Consultancy
- Novartis Ringaskiddy Limited, Cork - providing technical support to API production (2005 - 2017)
Outreach
-
'Chemistry Magic Show' demonstrations for the following:
* Local primary schools
* UL Open Days
* BT Young Scientist Exhibitions, Dublin - 'Chemistry Magic Show' Workshops for secondary school chemistry teachers
Other
- Course Leader - BSc in Health & Safety (2011 - 2015)
- Course Director - Dip. in Safety, Health & Welfare at Work (2010 - 2014)
- Course Leader - BSc in Environmental Science (2018 - present)
- Organizer: 2-day Master Class in Process Safety (2016): Seven internationally-recognized process safety experts delivering plenary lectures / workshops to 80+ engineers, chemists, and process safety practitioners from the Irish PharmaChem sector.
- Organizer: 1-day Master Class in Process Safety (2018): Six internationally-recognized process safety experts, 100+ from the Irish PharmaChem sector.
Association
- Member, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Associate member, Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE)
- Graduate member, Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH)
- Member, IChemE Safety & Loss Prevention Group
Committee
- IOSH (Ireland Branch), Western District,
- Royal Society of Chemistry (2012-13),
- SciFest Ireland,
- CS Dept. Student Status Committee,
- CS Dept. Postgraduate Progression Review Committee,
- UL Safety Committee,
- CS Dept. Safety Committee,
- CS Dept. Athena Swan Committee,