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Padrela Group | The Team

Active Members

Luis Padrela

Principal Investigator

Prof. Luis Padrela is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical Sciences at the University of Limerick (Ireland) and the lead investigator of the Padrela Research Group. Prof. Padrela is Course Director of the BSc in Industrial Biochemistry programme and a Principle Investigator at the Bernal Institute. He is a Funded Investigator at SSPC (the SFI Research Centre for Pharmaceuticals), Principle Investigator at PMTC (Pharmaceutical Technology Centre) and has been awarded grants as PI/Co-PI from various funding agencies (EU H2020, Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland).

Prof. Padrela obtained BSc in Biochemistry and PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Following his PhD, he worked for Hovione FarmaCiência, Portugal before joining SSPC in UL as a Postdoctoral Researcher and later as a Senior Research Fellow later on. Prof. Padrela worked in different academic and industrial institutions in Ireland, Portugal and Sweden. His research has focused on Particle Engineering Technologies, Continuous Nanocrystallization and (Bio)Pharmaceutical Processing.

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Clarinda Costa Sequeira

Post-doctoral Researcher

M.Sc. Chemical and Biochemical Engineering – 2016. Ph.D. Sustainable Chemistry (Thesis title: Integrated manufacture of liposomal dry powder formulations) – 2023. Clarinda is currently working on the project Controlled Nucleation for the Continuous Crystallization of Nanopharmaceuticals funded by the SFI (Science Foundation Ireland). Her research interests rely on nano(bio)pharmaceuticals, supercritical carbon dioxide-based techniques, polymeric and disaccharide-based microparticles, chemical engineering, microfluidics, and oral and pulmonary drug administration. Clarinda is also a member of the Portuguese Chemical Society.

Aaron O'Sullivan

PhD Candidate

B.Sc Industrial Biochemistry – 2020. PhD: “Nanocrystallization of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients using Supercritical Fluid Technology”. Aaron is working in SSPC (Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Pharmaceuticals) within the University of Limerick. This project aims to contribute towards the ever-increasing need to develop novel nano/crystallization methods to produce micro- and nanoparticles of APIs with the desired physicochemical properties and polymorphic purity, and to develop computational modelling approaches which would allow rationalization towards ultimately predicting the influence of distinct additives/polymers on the outcome of (nano)crystallization processes.

Mohamad Baassiri

PhD Candidate

B.Sc Mechanical Engineering – 2012. M.Sc Mechanical Engineering – 2014. Research Engineer – 2014-2016. Dar Group, Mechanical Design Engineer – 2016-2021. PhD: “CFD modelling of sc-CO2 assisted spray drying for pharmaceutical manufacturing applications”. Mohamad is working on the enhancement of supercritical assisted-particle production techniques by applying Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling in parallel to experimentation. His work is part of the collective efforts meant to help the pharmaceutical industry gain better understanding on the particle production processes leading to better manufacturing efficiency and enhanced bioavailability of produced medicines.

Wiktoria Brytan

PhD Candidate

B.Sc Industrial Biochemistry – 2020. PhD: “The role of Post-Translation Modifications on enabling stabilisation of biopharmaceuticals in spray drying”. Wiktoria is in the Padrela Research Group in the University of Limerick, to produce novel biopharmaceutical products with molecular features which will deem them viable for final formulation using spray drying. This project is aimed at facilitating the switch of biopharmaceutical production from batch to continuous, with a special focus on monoclonal antibody production.

Aoife Cotter

PhD Candidate

B.Sc Industrial Biochemistry – 2022. PhD: “Nanocrystallization of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients using Supercritical Fluid Technology”. Aoife was awarded the Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship to complete her PhD. Aoife’s research will focus on developing inhalable nanoparticulate powders of therapeutic proteins.

Roisin Leamy

PhD Candidate

B.Sc Industrial Biochemistry-2023. Ph.D.: “Development of Heat-stable Therapeutic Proteins as Dried Powder Formulations (Bio-STABLE)”. Roisin was awarded the Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship to complete her PhD. This project will develop a unique approach for the manufacture of therapeutic proteins as heat-stable dried powders, combining bioinformatics, genetic engineering, cell culture, processing optimization, process modeling, and characterization.

Alumni

Fidel Mendez

B.Sc Nanoscience and Nanotechnology – 2018. M.Sc Nanomedicine – 2019. PhD: “Single-Step Nucleation, Crystallization And Formulation Of Aqueous Crystal Injectable Nanosuspensions With Long-Acting Activity Using Supercritical Antisolvent Assisted Spray Drying”. Fidel is working in the SSPC (Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Pharmaceuticals) at the University of Limerick. His PhD is part of the LongActNow Marie Skłodowska-Curie project and it will also take place in Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Belgium) and Trinity Collage of Dublin. The goal of his project is to produce an injectable suspension of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) which can continue to release the API for a specific time and is biocompatible with the body.

Shehashis Nandi

B.Sc Pharmaceutical Technology – 2020. M.Sc “Generation of Dual Drug Nanocrystals Loaded Microparticles”. PhD: “Technology Selection for Botton-U[ Manufacturing of Stable, Aqueous, Long-Acting Injectable Suspensions Using Novel Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)”. Nandi is a member of the LongActNow (Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions) PhD project which investigates technology selection for bottom up manufacturing of stable aqueous nanocrystal suspensions for new APIs. The goal of the project is to validate the toolboxes and technologies developed by the other LongActNow projects and apply their findings and methodologies to optimally guide the selection of the most appropriate bottom-up technology and excipients to obtain suspensions with tailored properties for new Janssen APIs.

Fatima Anjum

B.Sc Chemical Engineering – 2017. Graduate Trainee Engineer – 2017-2018. M.Sc Membrane Engineering – 2020. PhD: “Development of a Membrane-based production process for long-acting suspension of complex active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)”. Fatima is doing her PhD under the industrial doctorate program, LongActNow (Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions). She is working at TU Dortmund at the thermodynamic chair. She will also conduct part of her research work at University of Limerick (Ireland) and Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Belgium). The goal of her project is to design a membrane process that can remove organic solvents from API crystal suspensions without affection the physio-chemical properties of APIs. Thus, producing biocompatible and long-acting injectable suspensions.