C-MIU Dugald Cameron lecture, by Prof Eleanor Stride

Please join us for the annual Centre for Medical & Industrial Ultrasonics (C-MIU) Dugald Cameron lecture, delivered this year by Professor Eleanor Stride OBE FREng, from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering Science, University of Oxford.

Abstract:

Despite extraordinary advances in the development of new drugs and biotechnology, the rates of mortality due to diseases such as cancer, stroke and drug-resistant infections continue to rise. In many cases the problem lies not with the drugs but rather the difficulty in successfully delivering them to the target site. 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 diseases such as cancer, 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 instances 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 my research is to develop new methods for delivering both small molecule and advance therapeutics 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 tissue using micro and nanoscopic bubbles as delivery
Vehicles.

Speaker Biography:

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 lectureship and a Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Research Fellowship. In 2011 she was awarded an EPSRC Challenging Engineering grant and joined the Biomedical Ultrasonics Biotherapy and Biopharmaceutical Laboratory (BUBBL) in the Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering, where she became 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 an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2021 and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers in 2026. She has published over 240 academic papers, 16 patents and is a director/advisor for 4 spin out Companies set up to translate her research into clinical practice.