The Dean Kitchin Circle: “Engineering Bubbles for Targeted Drug Delivery” by Professor Eleanor Stride
All legators are warmly invited to join the Dean Kitchin Circle, named after our first Censor, George Kitchin, who presided over the Delegacy from 1868 to 1883. The Circle meets in person, once a year, either at College or in London, and also gathers twice a year for exclusive online talks by our students and Fellows.
The first of this year’s online talks will be delivered by Professor Eleanor Stride on Engineering Bubbles for Targeted Drug Delivery.
Abstract
Despite extraordinary advances in the development of new drugs and biotechnology, cancer continues to represent one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In many cases the problem lies not with the drugs but rather the difficulty in successfully delivering them to the site of a tumour. In healthy tissue there is a regular structure of blood vessels supplying oxygen and nutrients to cells, which divide and grow at a steady rate. In cancerous tumours, however, cell division and growth is unregulated, leading to a chaotic vessel structure and regions of tissue with little or no blood supply. Consequently, when drugs are ingested or injected into the blood stream not all parts of the tumour are treated and there is a high risk of recurrence. Compounding this, in many tumours there is a pressure gradient that resists uptake of drugs from the blood vessels so that only a very small fraction is actually delivered. The rest of the drug circulates and is eventually absorbed by healthy tissue, often leading to intolerable side effects. The goal of the research being carried out in the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) is to develop new methods for delivering anti-cancer drugs that overcome these barriers. In particular physical stimuli such as ultrasound and magnetic fields are being used to localise the release and improve the distribution of drugs within tumours using micro and nanoscopic bubbles as delivery vehicles. In this talk, Eleanor Stride will present the new techniques that have been developed used to fabricate and characterise these bubbles; and how they are being applied for the treatment of cancer.
Professor Eleanor Stride
Eleanor Stride is the Statutory Professor of Biomaterials in the Departments of Engineering Science and the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences. She specialises in the fabrication of nano and microscale devices for targeted drug delivery.
She obtained her BEng and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from UCL where she subsequently appointed to a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. In 2011 she joined the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering becoming a full Professor in 2014.
Her work has been recognized through the award of a Philip Leverhulme prize, The Royal Society Interface Award, Engineering Medal at the Parliamentary Science, Engineering & Technology for Britain awards, Acoustical Society of America Bruce Lindsay Award (2013), IET AF Harvey prize (2015), Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists (2020). She was also made a fellow of the ERA foundation for her contributions to public engagement and promotion of Engineering, for example through the Born to Engineer series and documentaries for the BBC.
She was nominated as one of the top 100 most influential Women in Engineering in 2016 and 2019, was made a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2017, of the Acoustical Society of America in 2018, an honorary fellow of the IET in 2020 and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2021.
Date
2 April, 2025
Time
16:00
Venue
Online
Price
Free