We are delighted to introduce the first contribution to our New Principal Investigators collection.
Read the paper
Cystine crystal nucleation and decay in the context of cystinuria pathogenesis and treatment
Kimberley Noble and Oisín N. Kavanagh
Meet the Principal Investigator
Oisín N. Kavanagh is a pharmacist and Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, Newcastle University and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He received the Gold Medal from the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland in 2017 and completed his clinical training in his hometown of Derry before moving to the University of Limerick to undertake his PhD. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the School of Pharmacy, University of Michigan and was subsequently appointed to a Lectureship at Newcastle University in 2021. His research interests are centred around the relationship between drug physical properties and their pharmacokinetics. He is PI for multiple research streams funded by government and charitable organisations. This includes an EPSRC-funded project (EP/Y014596/1) investigating drug-induced crystalluria and a project funded by Action Medical Research/LifeArc focused on engineering new drug formulations for cystinosis, a rare disease.
Check out the video below where Oisín summarises his recent paper:
You’ve recently started your own group, what are the big research question/s your group will be focussing on?
The central vision for my team is to develop fundamental understanding to describe the relationships between drug supersaturation and pharmacokinetics. This has brought us to work on two applications (1) crystal engineering to modulate the pharmacokinetics of absorption and (2) contextualising supersaturation processes in the kidney with pharmacokinetics to predict drug induced crystalluria.
What inspired you to get into science?
If I cast my mind back, I can’t remember ever wanting to be anything other than a scientist. I suppose the path forward became a little clearer during my time at university, where I studied Pharmacy. There, I developed a solid foundation in pharmaceutical sciences and worked every summer in the research labs of Professor John Callan. This experience was formative for me.
What advice would you give to those who are seeking their first group leader position?
This is a difficult path and there are moments when things look bleak… in those times, try to remember why you’re doing this – and then get at it!
