Dr Mohamed Elsawy is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Leicester School of Pharmacy, Institute Head of Research Students at Leicester Institute for Pharmaceutical Innovation and the team leader of the Peptide BioNanomaterials Group (PBNG). He obtained his B.Pharm.Sc. (Hons.) from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt. He then got his PhD from School of Pharmacy at Queen’s University of Belfast in 2012 supervised by Prof Brian Walker. His PhD project focused on the design and synthesis of modified peptide analogues and peptidomimetics for targeting key protein-protein complexes implicated in cancer resistance towards intrinsic apoptosis. Following his PhD, he was awarded a short-term fellowship from Campus France, which allowed him to do his first postdoctoral training at the University of Bordeaux, France, hosted in the Ivan Huc Group. During his first postdoc, Dr Elsawy developed new solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) strategies for the synthesis of aliphatic/aromatic oligoamide foldamers with helical conformations. In 2014, he started a EPSRC funded postdoctoral training in the Polymers & Peptides research Group (led by Prof Alberto Saiani & Prof Aline Miller), at the University of Manchester. In Manchester, Dr Elsawy worked on the design and development of self-assembling β-sheet forming peptide nanofibers that he used for the fabrication of hydrogels as vehicles for controlled drug delivery and as 3D scaffolds for stem cells. In 2017, he was appointed a lectureship in Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, where he started the PBNG. In 2020, Dr Elsawy moved with PBNG to the Leicester Institute for Pharmaceutical Innovation at Leicester School of Pharmacy upon his appointment as a Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Dr Reem Alazragi is a postdoctoral research associate in the PBNG. She obtained her  Bachelor degree  in Biochemistry  from Faculty of Science, King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia. She then obtained her  M.Sc and   PhD in  Bionanotechnology   at Faculty of Chemistry,  University of Leeds, UK.  Currently, her project in PBNG aims to develop 3D peptide hydrogels as scaffolds for hard tissue engineering.

Abdulwahhab Khedr is a PhD student in the PBNG. He obtained his B.Pharm.Sc. (Hons.) from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Zagazig University, Egypt where he then was appointed as a teaching assistant at Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy. He completed M.Sc. degree in Pharmaceutics with focus on design, formulation and evaluation of both oral and transdermal controlled-release dosage forms. He got a scholarship from Newton-Mosharafa Programme to do his PhD in PBNG on a research project aiming to develop anti-cancer pro-drug peptide hydrogels for localised therapy of solid tumours.

Mohamed Soliman is a PhD student in the PBNG. He received Bachelors in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt; with honors and was the first on his class. He then got M.Sc. degree in Pharmaceutics (solubility enhancement of a poorly water soluble drug) at Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt. Currently, His PhD project in the PBNG aims at developing anti-microbial peptide based hydrogel for topical and surgical applications.

Abdelrhman Moustafa is a PhD student in the PBNG. He received Bachelors in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Egypt; with honors. Abdelrhman then got M.Sc. degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Industrial Pharmacy) from the same University. Currently, His PhD project in the PBNG aims at developing peptide based hydrogel for nasal delivery of vaccines.

Tehseen Fatima is a PhD student in the PBNG. She obtained M. Tech (Biotech) from school of biotechnology, RGPV with thesis at IIT, Mumbai, India. She completed B. Pharmacy degree with honours from BU, India. She then worked as senior lecturer in Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Later on, joined NHS in UK. Her PhD project is focused on development of peptide – based 3D nanofibrous scaffolds for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration.

Bekzod Bekchanov is a PhD student in the PBNG. He obtained his Bachelors from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Tashkent Pharmaceutical Institute, Uzbekistan where he then was appointed as a teaching assistant at Department of Industrial Pharmacy and after as a senior teacher at the same place. He completed M.Sc. degree in Tashkent Pharmaceutical Institue with focus on obtaining medicines (tablets, capsules) with hepatoprotective activity. He got a scholarship from Pharma Park Programme in ADPI Uzbekistan to do his PhD in PBNG on a research project aiming to using microfluidic techniques for the development of peptide-based nanofibrous soft materials as injectable formulations for the local administration in cancerous masses with controlled release kinetics for drug components of combinations therapy, to enable spatio-temporal control of delivery.

Afaf Abouzid is a PhD student in the PBNG. She received Bachelors in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandia University, Egypt; achieving high honours ranking in her year. She then completed M.Sc. degree in analytical bioscience and drug design at Salford university, UK (1:1). Currently, she is doing her PhD, which aims to develop a novel nanotechnology drug delivery system to treat oral mucosa ulcers.

Ronak Patel is a M.Sc. student in Industrial Pharmaceutics at PBNG. He obtained his BSc (Hons) in Biomedical sciences at UCLan in which he executed guided research supervised by Dr. Leroy Shevrington in the extraction and analysis of flavonols from hydrolysed Moringa oleifera leaves using RP-HPLC. Previously, he studied maths, biology, chemistry and psychology at Priestley college. His project in the PBNG aims at developing peptide based nanofibrous emulgels for drug delivery.

Rhema Patrick is a M.Sc. student in Cancer Biology and Therapy at PBNG. Before joining the group, she obtained her Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University in Pune, India. During her Masters, she worked on a research project investigating the relationship between obesity and breast cancer in women at The Interactive Research School for Health Affairs, India. Her project in the PBNG involves experimental and computational comparative study for designing potential anti-cancer nanomaterials.

Dhelal Mohammed is a M.Sc. student in Drug Discovery and Development at PBNG. She obtained her BSc in Pharmacy from University of Kufa in Iraq in 2008. She has 4 years work experience as a Clinical Pharmacist at Babylon Teaching Hospital for Maternity and Paediatrics. Her project in the PBNG aims at fine tuning the release kinetics of anti-cancer drugs from peptide hydrogels by manipulating peptide-drug non-covalent interactions.

Dipti Kaspate is a M.Sc. student in Cancer Biology and Therapy at PBNG. She obtained her MPharm at University of Pune, India. During her undergrad studies, she worked on a research project on the preclinical evaluation of the chronic toxicity of polyherbal formulations. She also has two years work experience in post marketing research (Pharmacovigilance) of Humira injection and completed in-plant training at Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd. Her project in the PBNG aims at the preclinical testing of anti-cancer peptide hydrogels for the localised therapy of glioblastoma.

James Leach is a Graduate Intern in the PBNG. He obtained his BSc (Hons) in Chemistry at UCLan. During his undergrad studies, he worked on a research project that involved the use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as bioensors. He also spent some time at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he worked on the electochemical polymerisation of a MIP film with cortisol as electrochemical sensor. His research project in the PBNG aims at developing peptide based nanofibrillised microparticles for drug delivery.

Nadia Moinuddin is an undergraduate Intern in PBNG, funded by the UCLan URIS scheme. She is currently a final year MPharm student at UCLan. During her second year, she worked on a research project supervised by Dr Sarah Wilson; project title: Developing professionalism- Student views on a personalised learning contract. Her research project in the PBNG aims at developing short self-assembling amphiphilic peptide nanofibres as emulsifiers for emulgel formulations.