Medway school of pharmacy

I graduated from Bordeaux I University (France) in 1996 and discovered my interest for drug delivery systems during my Master research project. I then worked for Biovector Therapeutics a biotechnology laboratory that developed non-viral vectors for the delivery of antigens. In 1998, I moved to the United Kingdom and completed my PhD in 2002 on molecularly imprinted polymers at Cardiff University, Welsh School of Pharmacy. After my PhD, I joined ML Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company in Keele (UK), where I worked in the field of non-viral gene delivery. In 2003 I returned to The Welsh School of Pharmacy in the Centre for Polymer Therapeutics and developed polymers for the delivery of biologicals. I then moved back to France and worked at the CNRS in Paris, developing conducting polymers. In October 2006, I was appointed as a lecturer in Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology at the Medway School of Pharmacy.

Teaching

• PHAM1004 (MPharm 1): Medicines Design and Manufacture
• Pharmaceutical physical chemistry

• PHAM1011 (MPharm 3): Research Methods
• Supervision of MPharm students

• PHAM1090 (MPharm 4): Advanced Science Elective (course co-ordinator)
• Antibodies for targeted drug delivery
• Polymers in drug delivery

• PHAM1016 (MPharm 4): Sustained Research Project
• Supervision of MPharm students

Other activities

• Erasmus Exchange Co-ordinator
• Associate member of the EPSRC platform grant, “Bioresponsive polymer therapeutics: Synthesis and Characterisation of Novel Nanomedicines (Cardiff University)
• Referee for scientific journals including the New Journal of chemistry, Journal of Biomaterials Science: Polymer Edition and the Journal of Biomaterials Applications and for funding bodies, including EPSRC.

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My laboratory’s research lies at the interface of chemistry and biology in the field of nanomedecine. Our main objective is to develop novel stimuli-responsive polymers to deliver therapeutic agents for cancer therapy and tissue engineering, with a particular interested in the intracellular delivery of biologicals such as proteins and oligonucleotides. The research includes the synthesis, characterisation and biological evaluation of polymers and polymer/drug conjugates. We are also interested in understanding the mechanism of intracellular trafficking of these complexes and the correlation between their physicochemical properties and their biological activity.

Current Projects:

• Novel poly(amidoamide)s for cytosolic delivery of proteins
• Intracellular trafficking of poly(amidoamines)s: collaboration with Dr S.C.W. Richardson, Greenwich University, School of Science
• Investigation into the potential effects of nanodelivery systems on chondrocyte metabolism (Catalyst fund)
• Understanding the interaction of polymers with model membranes

Funding from

• University of Kent Catalyst Fund (2007)

Group members

• Current PhD student
• Ms Julie Dubois, BSc, MSc

• Visiting students and summer placement
• Mr Shivveer Sing, BSc, MTech, Amity Institute of Nanotechnology (India)
  March 2008 / August 20

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• Richardson, S. C. W.; Lavignac, N.; Pattrick, N. G.; Ferruti, P.; Griffiths, P.; Duncan, R. (2009) Intracellular fate of bioresponsive poly(amidoamine)s in vitro and in vivo. Journal of Controlled Release, Submitted
• Lavignac N. (2009) Synthesis of poly(amidoamine)s by microwave-assisted polymerisation, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 61:S1-A4
• Khraund G.S., Dubois J. and Lavignac N. (2009) Synthesis and characterisation of a novel poly(amidoamine)s for use as a potential protein delivery system. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 61:S1-A53
• Lavignac N., Nicholls J.L., Ferruti P. and Duncan R. (2009) Poly(amidoamine) conjugates containing doxorubicin bound via an acid-sensitive linker, Macromolecular Bioscience, 9: 480-487
• Lavignac N., Allender C. J. and Brain K. R. (2006) Concentration dependent atrazine–atrazine complex formation promotes selectivity in atrazine imprinted polymers. Bioscensors and Bioelectronics, 22: 138-144
• Lavignac N., Lazenby M., Franchini J., Ferruti P. and Duncan R. (2005) Synthesis and preliminary evaluation of poly(amidoamine)–melittin conjugates as endosomolytic polymers and/or potential anticancer therapeutics. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 300:102-112
• Khayat, Z., Duncan, R., Lavignac, N., Griffiths, P. and Paul, A. (2004) Use of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and surface tension to better understand the mechanism of membrane and surfactant micelle interaction of endosomolytic polyamicloamines Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 56: S13-S14
• Lavignac N., Lazenby M., Franchini J., Ferruti P. and Duncan R (2004) Synthesis and endosomolytic properties of poly(amidoamine) block copolymers. Macromolecular Bioscience, 4:922-929
• Lavignac N., Allender C.J. and Brain K.R. (2004) 4-(3-aminopropylene)-7-nitrobenzofurazan: a new polymerisable monomer to develop homogeneous molecularly imprinted sorbent fluoroassay. Tetrahedron Letters, 45:3625-3627
• Lavignac N., Allender C.J. and Brain K.R. (2004) Current status of molecularly imprinted polymers as alternatives to antibodies in sorbent assays. Analitica Chimica Acta. 510:139-145

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