Dr Sheng Qi's lab is focused on gaining a fundamental understanding of the behaviour of drug-polymer/lipid dispersions in solid (phase behaviour) and liquid (in biological fluids) states, and developing new approaches for stabilising supersaturated drug dispersions.
By working with industrial partners as well as cross-discipline collaborators, her group is aiming to contribute to the interdisciplinary research area of enhancing drug absorption via tailoring the physical chemistry of drug formulations.
Dr Sheng Qi
Principle Investigator
Email: sheng.qi@uea.ac.uk
Tel: 01603591470
Location: School of Pharmacy
Profile:Dr Sheng Qi is a pharmaceutical formulation scientist who has more than 12 years of pharmaceutical formulation and processing development experience. She has over 60 peer-reviewed publications and 5 invited book chapters in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. She has secured over £1 million in research grants in formulation development and built a supporting network with academic and industrial collaborators worldwide. She has a good understanding of the clinical and industrial needs at different stages of an innovative technology development.
Prof. Peter Belton
Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
Email: p.belton@uea.ac uk
Tel: 01603 592708
Location:School of Chemistry
Profile: Since retirement from full time work he has collaborated with colleagues in the School of Pharmacy to research drug delivery systems. Currently he is working the group of Dr Sheng Qi to develop novel methods of formulating drug dosage forms.
Dr Janine Wilkinson
Senior Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Email: janine.wilkinson@uea.ac.uk
Tel: 01603 591470
Location: School of Pharmacy
Profile: Dr Wilkinson is a postdoctoral scientist who specialises in ocular drug delivery technologies. Her PhD focused on engineering a novel vitreous humour replacement for individuals suffering from diabetic retinopathy. In her following postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge, she investigated a family of therapeutic molecules and delivered them in-vitro using hydrogel scaffolds (Published in Nature Medicine, 2015). Having had a prior research project management role, she has developed excellent communication and working relationship skills, having negotiated funding from large pharmaceutical companies and building up partnerships with local biotech groups. Currently, Janine's research projects focus on 1. Developing a novel drug delivery platform for ocular disease. 2. Formulating injectable structured oil depots for extended and controlled drug release.
Dr Gwenaelle Le Gal
Senior Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Email: g.le-gall@uea.ac.uk
Tel: 01603 591470
Location:School of Pharmacy
Profile:Dr Le-Gal studied organic chemistry (MSc) and obtained a PhD in 2001 on food authentication and metabolomics (University of East Anglia). This was followed by postdoctoral appointments and in 2010, became manager of the metabolomics unit at the Quadram Institute (formerly the Institute of Food Research). Gwenaelle has expertise in metabolomics/ lipidomics and over 20 years expertise in the field of metabolite analysis using techniques such as proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Mass Spectrometry. She is an author or co-author of 49 peer-reviewed articles, 5 book chapters, a Henri Stewart tutorial (NMR workflow from data analysis to metabolite identification, https://hstalks.com/bs/3611/) and numerous conference proceedings and posters.
Mr Fahad Alqahtani
PhD Student
Email: fahad.alqahtani@uea.ac.uk
Tel: 01603 591470
Location: School of Pharmacy
Profile: Mr Fahad Alqahtani obtained his Pharm.D degree from King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia, 2013). He then joined Umm Al-Qura University as a teaching assistant at the school of pharmacy. He studied M.Sc in Advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK, 2016). Fahad joined Qi laboratory group in 2017 as PhD candidate and now works on the development of solid dispersion based formulations Using HME technology.
Mr Sherif Hamdallah
PhD Student
Email:s.hamdallah@uea.ac.uk
Tel:01603 591470
Location:School of Pharmacy
Profile: Mr Hamdallah gained his Bachelor degree in pharmaceutical sciences in 2011 (distinction with honor) from Alexandria University in Egypt. Following this, he was appointed as teaching assistant in the department of pharmaceutics. He gained his master’s degree in 2017; “Applications of nanotechnology in the enhancement of pharmaceutical quality of some poorly soluble drugs”. Being from Egypt where HBV and HCV are the main cause of liver cancer that dominates on the other cancer types in Egypt, Mr Hamdallah is carrying out his PhD at the UEA focusing on “Nanofabrication of targeted drug delivery systems for cancer therapy” using materials of botanical origin by means of electrohydrodynamic and microfluidic techniques. Scholarships granted: - Newton-mosharafa program co-funded from British council and Egyptian ministry of higher education with a fund of £60 K to do PhD research degree liver cancer therapies.
Miss Zuzana Hlaskova
PhD Student
Email: zuzana.hlaskova@gmail.com
Tel: 01603 591470
Location:School of Pharmacy
Profile: Miss Hlaskova is a PhD fellow currently working on 'Personalised medicines by producing thin films with three drugs' project which is funded by Inovative Multicomponent drug design (IMODE) grant. Colon diseases such as colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome show high prevalence in Europe. Patients often suffer from adverse effects, since high dosage of drug is frequently required and systemic absorption can occur. Therefore, there is a need to investigate colon targeted drug delivery systems which could be delivered orally and in a controlled manner, which would improve the drug potency, bioavailability and decrease the adverse effects. Currently she is using electrohydrodynamic methods (electrospray and electrospinning) to develop a multiple drug delivery system targeted to the colon consisting of drug loaded protein nanoparticles incorporated in drug loaded polymer nanofibres.
Mr Jehad Nasereddin
PhD Student
Email: j.nasereddin@uea.ac.uk
Tel: 01603 591470
Location:School of Pharmacy
Profile: Mr Nasereddin acquired his BSc Pharmacy degree from the University of Petra, Amman, Jordan in 2015, after which he joined the MSc Pharmaceutical Technology programme at the University of Bradford. After graduating with distinction in December 2016 he joined Dr. Qi's group at the University of East Anglia, working towards his PhD. Mr Nasereddin's research project involves developing pharmaceutical formulations via Fused Deposition Modelling 3D printing. He is mainly interested in the design and formulation of amorphous solid dispersions, applications of hot melt extrusion in pharmaceutical manufacturing and the development of process analytical technologies for online pharmaceutical quality monitoring.
Mr Salman Abdur Rahman
PhD Student
Email: s.abdur-rahman@uea.ac.uk
Tel:01603 591470
Location: School of Pharmacy
Profile:Mr Rahman graduated with an MSC in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington in 2012. Afterwards, he worked abroad in China in an elevator engineering company looking at mechanical designs. Following this, he continued to work in Japan and New Zealand as a data analyst before starting his PhD at the UEA. In the Qi group, Salman focuses on preformulation and optimization of FDM 3D printed polypills specifically modeling the drug release to a desired release profile. This is highly favored if they are eventually to be custom tailored for patients. As a 3rd year student, he is due to finish by 2020.
Mr Chak Hin Tam
PhD Student
Email: chak-hin.tam@uea.ac.uk
Tel: 01603 591470
Location: School of Pharmacy
Profile: Mr Tam is a MPharm graduate from UEA in 2016. After completion of his pre-registration training and working as a full time pharmacist for a year, he returned to UEA to start his research journey. He is currently in his first year of his PhD degree supervised by Dr Sheng Qi. Mr Tam's research is focused on the development of printing technology for pharmaceutical oral films. Having seen many patients complain about taking medications whilst working as a pharmacist, he wanted to improve patients’ adherence by producing a better formulation. The work involves using a printing (Nanojet) dispensing system to print active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) on different surfaces. The ultimate aim is to create an efficient way to manufacture orodispersible film with control release of medications loaded by printing technology.
Miss Randa Ahmad Zoqlam
PhD Student
Email: r.zoqlam@uea.ac.uk
Tel: 01603 591470
Location: School of Pharmacy
Profile: Miss Zoqlam holds a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Jordan. After working as a pharmacist for several months, Randa decided to apply for a PhD at the University of East Anglia in 2017. Currently, she is a second year PhD student supervised by Dr Sheng QI. Her project focuses on the development of polymeric nanoparticles using the microfluidics for gene delivery into arthritic joints. The main aim of the project is to set up a method that would help to tune the size and the shape of the polymeric nanoparticles in order to increase the MicroRNA loading efficiency then to investigate the clinical effects of the MicroRNA for osteoarthritis treatment.
2018
A novel thermal imaging method for rapid screening of drug-polymer miscibility for solid dispersion based formulation development
Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P., Fabian, L., Wellner, N., Reading, M. & Qi, S. 29 Oct 2018 In : Molecular Pharmaceutics.
Development of a Simple Mechanical Screening Method for Predicting the Feedability of a Pharmaceutical FDM 3D Printing Filament
Nasereddin, J. M., Wellner, N., Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P. & Qi, S. Aug 2018 In : Pharmaceutical Research. 35, 8, 151
Towards controlling the crystallisation behaviour of fenofibrate melt: triggers of crystallisation and polymorphic transformation
Tipduangta, P., Takieddin, K., Fábián, L., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 10 Apr 2018 In : RSC Advances. 8, 24, p. 13513-13525 13 p.
Investigation of the mechanical properties of hot-melt extruded filaments for pharmaceutical applications of FDM
Nasereddin, J., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 20 Mar 2018
Suppression of Tumor Energy Supply by Liposomal Nanoparticle-Mediated Inhibition of Aerobic Glycolysis
Zhang, . Y., Wei, J., Xu, J., Leong, W. S., Liu, G., Ji, T., Cheng, Z., Wang, J., Lang, J., Zhao, Y., You, L., Zhao, X., Wei, T., Anderson, G. J., Qi, S., Kong, J., Nie, G. & Li, S. 24 Jan 2018 In : ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 10, 3, p. 2347–2353 7 p
Personalised polypills produced by fuse deposition modelling 3D printing
Qi, S., Nasereddin, J., Alqahtani, F. & Brochard, A. 2018 (Accepted/In press) 3D and 4D Printing in Biomedical Applications: Process Engineering and Additive Manufacturing. Wiley
2017
A multi-technique characterization of the stability of surfactant containing solid dispersion based buccal patches prepared by hot melt injection moulding
Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 7 Aug 2017 In : International Journal of Pharmaceutics. 528, 1-2, p. 547–562
Characterization of heterogeneity and spatial distribution of phases in complex solid dispersions by thermal analysis by structural characterization and X-ray micro computed tomography
Alhijjaj, M., Yassin, S., Reading, M., Zeitler, J. A., Belton, P. & Qi, S. May 2017 In : Pharmaceutical Research. 34, 5, p. 971–989
Rationalising polymer selection for supersaturated film forming systems produced by an aerosol spray for the transdermal delivery of methylphenidate
Edwards, A., Qi, S., Liu, F., Brown, M. B. & McAuley, W. J. May 2017 In : European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. 114, p. 164–174
Local Thermal Analysis by Structural Characterization (TASC)
Reading, M., Qi, S. & Alhijjaj, M. 25 Mar 2017 Thermal Physics and Thermal Analysis: From Macro to Micro, Highlighting Thermodynamics, Kinetics and Nanomaterials. Šesták, J., Hubík, P. & Mareš, J. J. (eds.). Springer, p. 1-10 10 p. (Hot Topics in Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry; vol. 11)
2018
A novel thermal imaging method for rapid screening of drug-polymer miscibility for solid dispersion based formulation development
Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P., Fabian, L., Wellner, N., Reading, M. & Qi, S. 29 Oct 2018 In : Molecular Pharmaceutics.
Development of a Simple Mechanical Screening Method for Predicting the Feedability of a Pharmaceutical FDM 3D Printing Filament
Nasereddin, J. M., Wellner, N., Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P. & Qi, S. Aug 2018 In : Pharmaceutical Research. 35, 8, 151
Towards controlling the crystallisation behaviour of fenofibrate melt: triggers of crystallisation and polymorphic transformation
Tipduangta, P., Takieddin, K., Fábián, L., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 10 Apr 2018 In : RSC Advances. 8, 24, p. 13513-13525 13 p.
Investigation of the mechanical properties of hot-melt extruded filaments for pharmaceutical applications of FDM
Nasereddin, J., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 20 Mar 2018
Suppression of Tumor Energy Supply by Liposomal Nanoparticle-Mediated Inhibition of Aerobic Glycolysis
Zhang, . Y., Wei, J., Xu, J., Leong, W. S., Liu, G., Ji, T., Cheng, Z., Wang, J., Lang, J., Zhao, Y., You, L., Zhao, X., Wei, T., Anderson, G. J., Qi, S., Kong, J., Nie, G. & Li, S. 24 Jan 2018 In : ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 10, 3, p. 2347–2353 7 p
Personalised polypills produced by fuse deposition modelling 3D printing
Qi, S., Nasereddin, J., Alqahtani, F. & Brochard, A. 2018 (Accepted/In press) 3D and 4D Printing in Biomedical Applications: Process Engineering and Additive Manufacturing. Wiley
2017
A multi-technique characterization of the stability of surfactant containing solid dispersion based buccal patches prepared by hot melt injection moulding
Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 7 Aug 2017 In : International Journal of Pharmaceutics. 528, 1-2, p. 547–562
Characterization of heterogeneity and spatial distribution of phases in complex solid dispersions by thermal analysis by structural characterization and X-ray micro computed tomography
Alhijjaj, M., Yassin, S., Reading, M., Zeitler, J. A., Belton, P. & Qi, S. May 2017 In : Pharmaceutical Research. 34, 5, p. 971–989
Rationalising polymer selection for supersaturated film forming systems produced by an aerosol spray for the transdermal delivery of methylphenidate
Edwards, A., Qi, S., Liu, F., Brown, M. B. & McAuley, W. J. May 2017 In : European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. 114, p. 164–174
Local Thermal Analysis by Structural Characterization (TASC)
Reading, M., Qi, S. & Alhijjaj, M. 25 Mar 2017 Thermal Physics and Thermal Analysis: From Macro to Micro, Highlighting Thermodynamics, Kinetics and Nanomaterials. Šesták, J., Hubík, P. & Mareš, J. J. (eds.). Springer, p. 1-10 10 p. (Hot Topics in Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry; vol. 11)
2018
A novel thermal imaging method for rapid screening of drug-polymer miscibility for solid dispersion based formulation development
Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P., Fabian, L., Wellner, N., Reading, M. & Qi, S. 29 Oct 2018 In : Molecular Pharmaceutics.
Development of a Simple Mechanical Screening Method for Predicting the Feedability of a Pharmaceutical FDM 3D Printing Filament
Nasereddin, J. M., Wellner, N., Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P. & Qi, S. Aug 2018 In : Pharmaceutical Research. 35, 8, 151
Towards controlling the crystallisation behaviour of fenofibrate melt: triggers of crystallisation and polymorphic transformation
Tipduangta, P., Takieddin, K., Fábián, L., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 10 Apr 2018 In : RSC Advances. 8, 24, p. 13513-13525 13 p.
Investigation of the mechanical properties of hot-melt extruded filaments for pharmaceutical applications of FDM
Nasereddin, J., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 20 Mar 2018
Suppression of Tumor Energy Supply by Liposomal Nanoparticle-Mediated Inhibition of Aerobic Glycolysis
Zhang, . Y., Wei, J., Xu, J., Leong, W. S., Liu, G., Ji, T., Cheng, Z., Wang, J., Lang, J., Zhao, Y., You, L., Zhao, X., Wei, T., Anderson, G. J., Qi, S., Kong, J., Nie, G. & Li, S. 24 Jan 2018 In : ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 10, 3, p. 2347–2353 7 p
Personalised polypills produced by fuse deposition modelling 3D printing
Qi, S., Nasereddin, J., Alqahtani, F. & Brochard, A. 2018 (Accepted/In press) 3D and 4D Printing in Biomedical Applications: Process Engineering and Additive Manufacturing. Wiley
2017
A multi-technique characterization of the stability of surfactant containing solid dispersion based buccal patches prepared by hot melt injection moulding
Alhijjaj, M., Belton, P. & Qi, S. 7 Aug 2017 In : International Journal of Pharmaceutics. 528, 1-2, p. 547–562
Characterization of heterogeneity and spatial distribution of phases in complex solid dispersions by thermal analysis by structural characterization and X-ray micro computed tomography
Alhijjaj, M., Yassin, S., Reading, M., Zeitler, J. A., Belton, P. & Qi, S. May 2017 In : Pharmaceutical Research. 34, 5, p. 971–989
Rationalising polymer selection for supersaturated film forming systems produced by an aerosol spray for the transdermal delivery of methylphenidate
Edwards, A., Qi, S., Liu, F., Brown, M. B. & McAuley, W. J. May 2017 In : European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. 114, p. 164–174
Local Thermal Analysis by Structural Characterization (TASC)
Reading, M., Qi, S. & Alhijjaj, M. 25 Mar 2017 Thermal Physics and Thermal Analysis: From Macro to Micro, Highlighting Thermodynamics, Kinetics and Nanomaterials. Šesták, J., Hubík, P. & Mareš, J. J. (eds.). Springer, p. 1-10 10 p. (Hot Topics in Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry; vol. 11)
Sheng Qi winner of UEA Award
Dr Sheng Qi won her category at the UEA Impact and Innovation Awards. In the category of 'Outstanding Commercialisation of Technology', Sheng was up against a number of very strong finalisists, all of whom have made significant impacts with their research to progress medical technologies.
Innovation and Impact Award finalist
Our PI, Dr Sheng Qi has been short listed for the UEA's Innovation and Impact Award. We have our fingers crossed for Sheng when the winners are announced in January.