Joint Australian and New Zealand CRS Workshop

On April 21 and 22, 2016, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) in Melbourne hosted the 2016 Joint Annual Australian–New Zealand CRS Student Workshop

Zach Houston finishes his presentation in front of the magnificent Sissons Mural at Monash Parkville campus.

under the theme “Crossing Biological Barriers.” The workshop was the ninth in the series, which is held free of charge each year for students to attend. It was well attended, with approximately 100 attendees across the two days. Attendees came from Monash University, Melbourne University, RMIT, Swinburne, University of Newcastle, University of Queensland, University of Wollongong, University of New South Wales, University of Adelaide, and University of South Australia, as well as several students and academics from New Zealand institutions, including the University of Auckland and the University of Otago.

The aim of the workshop was to provide an overview and contemporary perspective of the issues around crossing biological barriers for advanced drug delivery across the area of tumour targeting, oral delivery, crossing the gastrointestinal tract, and transdermal delivery. To start the workshop, the chair of the organising committee, Ben Boyd (MIPS), welcomed delegates and introduced the following format of the workshop. The invited speakers were separated into related areas; there were two presentations per session, followed by 20 minutes for further discussion and questions. This format allowed students to engage with the presenters while providing a supportive environment that encouraged students to ask questions.

Day 1 was off to a great start with the session on tumour targeting, with our plenary speaker David Grainger (University of Utah, U.S.A.), presenting on “Bridging Realities: Perceptions and Barriers in Nanoparticle-Mediated Drug Delivery,” followed by Zach Houston (University of Queensland). Much interrogation of Prof. Grainger’s thesis followed in a lively discussion session. After lunch, Chris Porter (MIPS) and Mariusz Skwarczynski (University of Queensland) gave their perspectives on overcoming challenges with oral delivery of problematic drugs. The program on day 1 was completed with a final session on pulmonary (David Morton, Monash) and transdermal delivery (Mike Roberts, University of South Australia/University of Queensland).

The day was wrapped up a student-run trivia night for a fun evening of networking and socialising.

Igor Chektman, a Ph.D. student at MIPS, chairs the oral drug delivery discussion session.Tim Barnes attempts the impossible during the fun trivia social evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 started with a session on crossing the blood-brain barrier (Shakila Rizwan, University of Otago) and ocular drug delivery (Ilva Rupenthal, University of Auckland). Down at the cellular level, Angus Johnston (MIPS) described latest research into intracellular delivery of

Ilva Rupenthal discusses limitations in ocular drug delivery.

nanoparticles, while Colin Pouton (MIPS) discussed nuclear localization as a final hurdle in crossing biological barriers for genetic drugs. The final session of the workshop comprised a presentation by Cam Nowell (MIPS), who used fascinating images and videos to highlight how we can use imaging techniques to study the movement of small molecules and nanoparticles across biological barriers, and an industry perspective on hyphenated techniques from Scott Fraser (Perkin Elmer).

This workshop also saw the presentation of the Young Scientist Travel Award sponsored by ATA Scientific (AUD $2000), to support travel to the CRS Annual Meeting. Ph.D. students were invited to submit a 400-word abstract that they would present at the meeting. The Australian CRS committee is grateful to the chair of the CRS Young Scientist Committee, David Chen, for his assistance in assessing the applications based on their novelty and technical clarity. The top three abstracts selected by Dr. Chen presented an eight-minute oral presentation on their work (followed by a two-minute question time). All three presentations were of high calibre; however, a panel of judges awarded the bursary to Lisa Belfiore (University of Wollongong). Congratulations! Lisa will present her work at the 2017 CRS annual meeting in Boston.

Angus Johnston and Colin Pouton engage the audience during the discussion session on cellular delivery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa Belfiore accepts the ATA Student Travel bursary for best student abstract and presentation from Ben Boyd

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linda Hong (MIPS) accepts the runner-up prize for her presentation from Ben Boyd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nisa Abdul Ghaffir (University of Queensland) accepts the runner-up prize for her presentation from Ben Boyd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The organising committee would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the sponsors of the workshop: ATA Scientific, the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, Perkin Elmer, the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, and the CRS Australian Local Chapter. These meetings don’t happen without the support of external groups, particularly given that Ph.D. students could attend for free. Thanks also to the local organising committee, led by Lisa Kaminskas and Nicole Bisset, for a well-run and insightful workshop. Finally, thanks to the Australian and New Zealand committee members for their support of the event, as well as the financial support of the CRS for these important local chapter events.