Professor Barbara Conwayb.r.conway@hud.ac.uk | 01484 472347
Barbara was appointed as Professor of Pharmaceutics at the University of Huddersfield in 2010. Following her first degree in Pharmacy at Queen’s University, Belfast, she registered as a pharmacist in 1990 and practised full-time in community pharmacy until joining Aston University in Birmingham in 1992 to undertake a Ph.D. Her PhD research project at Aston was in the pharmaceutics and drug delivery field, focusing on microencapsulation for delivery of biopharmaceuticals.
Following completion of her PhD studies in 1995, she was employed in various posts at Aston University, including lecturer and senior lecturer and was Director of the M.Pharm. programme prior to moving to the University of Huddersfield in 2010 as Professor of Pharmaceutics. During this time, she also became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and supervised projects on the application of e-learning technologies in Pharmacy. She was also a Medici Fellow, specialising in driving forward innovation within the university sector and hold several patents in the pharmaceutical area. She has supervised over 20 Ph.D. students and on-going research programmes focus on chrontherapeutic delivery and delivery of antimicrobials, novel excipients for drug delivery, the mechanical properties of pharmaceuticals and excipients and the development of chewing gum delivery systems.
She has a number of successful collaborations with other universities, NHS and pharmaceutical industry leading to publications and development of new products.
Her research encompasses the improvement of traditional and development of novel drug formulations in relation to stability, bioavailability and patient compliance. A major barrier to introduction of new chemical entities onto the market as novel therapeutics is the design of efficient delivery systems for drugs that are poorly soluble, unstable, or are of low permeability. Research in the group focuses on application of pharmaceutics, with the aim of improving delivery of challenging molecules through biological membranes and barriers with particular emphasis on rational formulation design and the introduction of innovation.
Understanding the fundamental physical properties of delivery systems in relation to their performance is key and one research strand focuses on the characterising the relationship between solid state properties and the performance of pharmaceutical materials, for example the prediction of mechanical properties of salt forms of drugs based on their crystal structures with a view to improving processing.
Other research strands involve the development of formulations for oral, ophthalmic and transdermal drug delivery, the design of modified release systems, including the use of mucoadhesives, fast-dissolving and chewing gum formulations and the enhancement of solubility and dissolution for poorly soluble drugs. It is essential to address both physiological and physiochemical barriers to drug absorption with a view to developing improved formulation strategies in clinical practice, for example, effective delivery of antiseptics into the lower layers of the skin to improve asepsis.
Asare-Addo, K., Conway, B., Hajamohaideen, M., Kaialy, W., Nokhodchi, A. and Larhrib, H. (2013) ‘Aqueous And Hydro-Alcoholic Media Effects On Polyols’ Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces . ISSN 0927-7765
Asare-Addo, K., Kaialy, W., Levina, M., Rajabi-Siahboomi, A., Ghori, M., Šupuk, E., Laity, P., Conway, B. and Nokhodchi, A. (2013) ‘The Influence of Agitation Sequence and Ionic Strength on in-vitro Drug Release from Hypromellose (E4 M and K4 M) ER Matrices - The use of the USP III Apparatus’ Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces , 104, pp. 54-60. ISSN 0927-7765
Ousey, K., Atkinson, R., Fleming, L. and Conway, B. (2013) ‘Academia and clinical practice – working together successfully to develop skin integrity knowledge and skills’ Journal of Community Nursing , 27 (1). ISSN 0140-0908
Hendry, E., Conway, B. and Worthington, T. (2012) ‘Digluconate and Isopropyl Alcohol Biocide Formulation’ International Journal of Molecular Sciences , 13 (11), pp. 14016-14025. ISSN 1422-0067
Nep, E. and Conway, B. (2012) ‘Preformulation studies on grewia gum as a formulation excipient’ Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry , 108 (1), pp. 197-205. ISSN 1388-6150
David, S., Timmins, P. and Conway, B. (2012) ‘Impact of the counterion on the solubility and physicochemical properties of salts of carboxylic acid drugs’ Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy , 38 (1), pp. 93-103. ISSN 0363-9045
Nep, E. and Conway, B. (2011) ‘Grewia Gum 1: Some Mechanical and Swelling Properties of Compact and Film’ Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research , 10 (4), pp. 385-392. ISSN 1596-5996
Adebisi, A. and Conway, B. (2011) ‘Gastroretentive microparticles for drug delivery applications’ Journal of Microencapsulation , 28 (8), pp. 689-708. ISSN 0265-2048
Nep, E. and Conway, B. (2011) ‘Grewia Gum 2: Mucoadhesive Properties of Compacts and Gels’ Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research , 10 (4), pp. 393-401. ISSN 1596-5996
Karpanen, T., Casey, A., Conway, B., Lambert, P. and Elliott, T. (2011) ‘Antimicrobial activity of a chlorhexidine intravascular catheter site gel dressing’ Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy , 66 (8), pp. 1777-1784. ISSN 0305-7453
Nep, E. and Conway, B. (2011) ‘Evaluation of grewia polysaccharide gum as a suspending agent’ International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences , 3 (2), pp. 168-173. ISSN 0975-1491
Nep, E. and Conway, B. (2011) ‘Physicochemical characterization of grewia polysaccharide gum: Effect of drying method’ Carbohydrate Polymers , 84 (1), pp. 446-453. ISSN 01448617
Nep, E. and Conway, B. (2011) ‘Grewia polysaccharide as a pharmaceutical excipient in matrix tablets’ Journal of Excipients and Food Chemicals , 2 (1), pp. 3-15. ISSN 2150-2668
David, S., Ramirez, M., Timmins, P. and Conway, B. (2010) ‘Comparative physical, mechanical and crystallographic properties of a series of gemfibrozil salts’ Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology , 62 (11), pp. 1519-1525. ISSN 2042-7158
Nep, E. and Conway, B. (2010) ‘Polysaccharide gum matrix tablets for oral controlled delivery of Cimetidine’ Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research , 2 (11), pp. 708-716. ISSN 0975-1459
Karpanen, T., Conway, B., Worthington, T., Hilton, A., Elliott, T. and Lambert, P. (2010) ‘Enhanced chlorhexidine skin penetration with eucalyptus oil’ BMC Infectious Diseases , 10 (278), pp. 1-6. ISSN 1471-2334
Schwalbe, C., Ramirez, M., Conway, B., Bache, C., Coles, S. and Timmins, P. (2010) ‘Structure and properties of (hydroxy)alkylammonium salts of flurbiprofen’. In: Transactions of the Symposium held at the 2010 American Crystallographic Association Annual Meeting. : American Crystallographic Association. .
Karpanen, T., Hendry, E., Worthington, T., Lambert, P. and Conway, B. (2010) ‘Chlorhexidine : skin permeation and antisepsis’ Industrial pharmacy , 26, pp. 11-14. ISSN 1741-4911
Nep, E. and Conway, B. (2010) ‘Characterization of grewia gum, a potential pharmaceutical excipient’ Journal of Excipients and Food Chemicals , 1 (1), pp. 30-40. ISSN 2150-2668
Hendry, E., Worthington, T., Conway, B. and Lambert, P. (2009) ‘Antimicrobial efficacy of eucalyptus oil and 1,8-cineole alone and in combination with chlorhexidine digluconate against microorganisms grown in planktonic and biofilm cultures’ Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy , 64 (6), pp. 1219-1225. ISSN 0305-7453
Karpanen, T., Worthington, T., Conway, B., Hilton, A., Elliott, T. and Lambert, P. (2009) ‘Permeation of Chlorhexidine from Alcoholic and Aqueous Solutions within Excised Human Skin’ Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy , 53 (4), pp. 1717-1719. ISSN 0066-4804
Karpanen, T., Worthington, T., Hendry, E., Conway, B. and Lambert, P. (2008) ‘Antimicrobial efficacy of chlorhexidine digluconate alone and in combination with eucalyptus oil, tea tree oil and thymol against planktonic and biofilm cultures of Staphylococcus epidermidis’ Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy , 62 (5), pp. 1031-1036. ISSN 0305-7453
Karpanen, T., Worthington, T., Conway, B., Hilton, A., Elliott, T. and Lambert, P. (2008) ‘Penetration of Chlorhexidine into Human Skin’ Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy , 52 (10), pp. 3633-3636. ISSN 0066-4804
Conway, B (2008) ‘Delivering scents and flavours - lessons from the pharmaceutical industry ’ Chimica Oggi , 26 (3), pp. 28-29. ISSN 0392-839X
Zhang, L., Russell, D., Conway, B. and Batchelor, H. (2008) ‘Strategies and Therapeutic Opportunities for the Delivery of Drugs to the Esophagus’ Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems , 25 (3), pp. 259-304. ISSN 0743-4863
Conway, B (2008) ‘Recent Patents on Ocular Drug Delivery Systems ’ Recent Patents on Drug Delivery & Formulation , 2 (1), pp. 1-8. ISSN 1872-2113
Conway, B (2007) ‘The sticky solution to drug delivery’ World pharmaceutical frontiers , pp. 87-89.
Suppasansatorn, P., Nimmannit, U., Conway, B., Du, L. and Wang, Y. (2007) ‘Microemulsions as topical delivery vehicles for the anti-melanoma prodrug, temozolomide hexyl ester (TMZA-HE)’ Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology , 59 (6), pp. 787-794. ISSN 0022-3573
Cheung, E., David, S., Harris, K., Conway, B. and Timmins, P. (2007) ‘Structural properties of a family of hydrogen-bonded co-crystals formed between gemfibrozil and hydroxy derivatives of t-butylamine, determined directly from powder X-ray diffraction data’ Journal of Solid State Chemistry , 180 (3), pp. 1068-1075. ISSN 0022-4596
Suppasansatorn, P., Wang, G., Conway, B., Wang, W. and Wang, Y. (2006) ‘Skin delivery potency and antitumor activities of temozolomide ester prodrugs’ Cancer Letters , 244 (1), pp. 42-52. ISSN 0304-3835
Gramaglia, D., Conway, B., Kett, V., Malcolm, R. and Batchelor, H. (2005) ‘High speed DSC (hyper-DSC) as a tool to measure the solubility of a drug within a solid or semi-solid matrix’ International Journal of Pharmaceutics , 301 (1-2), pp. 1-5. ISSN 0378-5173
Shaw, L., Irwin, W., Grattan, T. and Conway, B. (2005) ‘The Effect of Selected Water-Soluble Excipients on the Dissolution of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen’ Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy , 31 (6), pp. 515-525. ISSN 0363-9045
Esnaashari, S., Javadzadeh , Y., Batchelor, H. and Conway, B. (2005) ‘The use of microviscometry to study polymer dissolution from solid dispersion drug delivery systems’ International Journal of Pharmaceutics , 292 (1-2), pp. 227-230. ISSN 0378-5173
Shaw, L., Irwin, W., Grattan, T. and Conway, B. (2005) ‘The influence of excipients on the diffusion of ibuprofen and paracetamol in gastric mucus’ International Journal of Pharmaceutics , 290 (1-2), pp. 145-154. ISSN 0378-5173
Conway, B (2005) ‘Drug delivery strategies for the Treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection ’ Current Pharmaceutical Design , 11 (6), pp. 775-790. ISSN 1381-6128
Morjaria, Y., Irwin, W., Barnett, P., Chan, R. and Conway, B. (2004) ‘In vitro release of nicotine from chewing gum formulations’ Dissolution Technologies , 11 (2), pp. 12-15. ISSN 1521-298X
Morjaria, Y., Irwin, W., Barnett, P., Chan, R. and Conway, B. (2004) ‘Chewing gum as a drug delivery system’ Drug delivery systems and sciences , 4 (1), pp. 11-15. ISSN 1472-4715
Conway, B (2003) Chewing gum as a drug delivery system PharmaDeals
Lambert, P. and Conway, B. (2003) ‘Pharmaceutical quality of ceftriaxone generic drug products compared with rocephin’ Journal of Chemotherapy , 15 (4), pp. 402-413. ISSN 1120-009X
Shaw, L., Irwin, W., Grattan, T. and Conway, B. (2002) ‘The development of a modified dissolution method suitable for investigating powder mixtures’ Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy , 28 (9), pp. 1147-1153. ISSN 0363-9045
Rostami-Hodjegan, A., Shiran, M., Tucker, G., Conway, B., Irwin, W., Shaw, L. and Grattan, T. (2002) ‘A New Rapidly Absorbed Paracetamol Tablet Containing Sodium Bicarbonate. II. Dissolution Studies and In Vitro/In Vivo Correlation’ Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy , 28 (5), pp. 533-543. ISSN 0363-9045
Tran, C., Timmins, P., Conway, B. and Irwin, W. (2002) ‘Investigation of the coordinated functional activities of cytochrome P450 3A4 and P-glycoprotein in limiting the absorption of xenobiotics in Caco-2 cells’ Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences , 91 (1), pp. 117-128. ISSN 0022-3549
Griffin, K., Conway, B., Alpar, H. and Williamson, E. (1998) ‘Immune responses to V antigen of Yersinia pestis co-encapsulated with IFN-y;: effect of dose and formulation’ Vaccine , 16 (5), pp. 517-521. ISSN 0264-410X
Conway, B., Eyles, J. and Alpar, H. (1997) ‘A comparative study on the immune responses to antigens in PLA and PHB microspheres’ Journal of Controlled Release , 49 (1), pp. 1-9. ISSN 0168-3659
Eyles, J., Alpar, H., Conway, B. and Keswick, M. (1997) ‘Oral delivery and fate of PLA microencapsulated interferon’ Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology , 49, pp. 669-674. ISSN 0022-3573
Conway, B. and Alpar, H. (1997) ‘Single and Coencapsulation of lnterferon-? in Biodegradable PLA Microspheres for Optimization of Multicomponent Vaccine Delivery Vehicles’ Drug Delivery , 4 (2), pp. 75-80. ISSN 1071-7544
Conway, B. and Alpar, H. (1996) ‘Co-encapsulation of proteins into PLA microspheres’ Pharmaceutical sciences , 2 (4), pp. 173-176. ISSN 1460-8081
Conway, B. and Alpar, H. (1996) ‘Double emulsion encapsulation of proteins as model antigens using polylactide polymers : effect of emulsifier on the microsphere characteristics and release kinetics’ European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics , 42 (1), pp. 42-48. ISSN 0939-6411
Salt formation has been studied extensively as a strategy to improve drug solubility and a range of different counterions can be used. This modification will also alter the mechanical properties of a drug and the type of counterion will be important in determining those properties. A better understanding of which factors of the solid state can have an influence in the mechanical properties of pharmaceutical powders can help to optimise and reduce cost of tablet manufacturing. The aim of this project is to form different series of salts of poorly soluble and poorly compressible acidic drugs and to establish predictive relationships between architectural characteristics and physicochemical and mechanical properties of the salts.
Appropriate skin antisepsis to reduce the number of microorganisms on the skin prior to carrying out an invasive procedure is critical, as it decreases the risk of subsequent infection. However, skin antisepsis does not eradicate all the microorganisms associated with the skin. This is probably related to the limited skin permeation of antiseptics and the presence of microorganisms residing in the deeper layers of the skin. This aim of this project is to develop formulations better designed to target these sites within the skin.
Targeting the buccal mucosa can be an effective route for drug absorption avoiding complications associated with conventional oral delivery systems. In order to facilitate absorption, the drug must be presented to the mucosa in an absorbable state from a dosage form that can enhance uptake by this route. Using a range of in vitro techniques, this project will focus on strategies to enhance buccal absorption. Correlation between rates of release and buccal absorption will be developed for a range of dosage forms.
Nanoparticles can be used for targeted drug delivery, to improve bioavailability, to prolong drug release, and to enhance the dissolution of drugs with limited aqueous solubility. Penetration of drugs applied to the skin may occur via the stratum corneum or by the skin appendages such as sweat glands and hair follicles. Recent studies have shown that the hair follicles can be targeted using nanoparticles and this project will involve the development and characterisation of follicular delivery systems.
