The focus of T&L in recent years has been ‘quality’. In July, the School underwent its Septennial Review, where our excellence in T&L earned a number of commendations, including our innovative use of External Examiners, now in its third year.

External Examiners review the quality of draft exams and moderate the overall assessment for each course. Another feature that was noted is our curriculum design horizontally integrated by body systems, and involving progression of knowledge and skills (vertical streaming). This design, reviewed annually, has been established for 10 years.

The University-wide Curriculum and Teaching Quality Appraisal exercise is now underway, requiring interpretation of various data to put forward a case for quality-based funding. The University is also facing five-yearly audit early next year by the Australian Universities Quality Agency, this time with two themes: Quality of Teaching, and Academic Quality Assurance (Curriculum and Assessment).

A number of teaching-related initiatives have raised the profile of pharmacy recently: our involvement in Inter-Professional Education projects for first-year and fourth-year students, e-Learning opportunities via the ‘Pharmatopia’ project on Second Life, and funding to trial a series of English communication workshops, expertly taught by English tutors from our on-campus Institute of Continuing and TESOL Education. A number of improvements to the development of numeracy skills have also been introduced this year, with positive feedback from students.

At the start of 2010, Pharmacy education will have relocated to the PACE campus. Timetabling and planning is underway, and we expect that students will flourish in the new environment and high-tech facilities, which will encourage efficient teaching for our increasing student numbers and relative luxury in the available teaching space. We will no doubt report on the changes as they materialise.

Dr Lynne Emmerton
Chair, Teaching and Learning Team

The School of Pharmacy had nine teams of four competing in The Pharmacy Guild’s National Student Business Plan Competition for 2008.

One of the teams, made up by Courtney Emerson, Anita Venzke, Laura Hitchcock and Aimee Sullivan was selected to compete in the finals, which were held at the Pharmacy Women’s Congress in Melbourne from 29 to 31 August.

The team took out one of two runner-up positions in the competition, which was open to all 16 schools of pharmacy within Australia.

The eight other UQ teams consisted of:

• Catherine Denham
• Tania Billing
• Samantha Corrigan
• Kate Lewis
• Trent Jones
• Anna Zipf
• James Grant
• Brad Gilpin
• Zamilk Solanki
• Martin Wong
• Fallon Grieve
• Mark McMurtrie
• Shivani Sahai
• Sarah Lumchee
• Shao Huang
• Linh Pham
• Cecilia Poon
• Keating Vuong
• Sarah Williams
• Monique Williams
• Karl McDermott
• Estelle MacKinnon
• Clinton Leung
• Cheng Jiang
• Woo Jun Shun
• Julian Wong
• Linh Nguyen
• Tirath Gill
• Shuyu Luo

Student teams are guided by an industry mentor to produce a blueprint of their vision in the form of a business plan. Jude Singleton, practising pharmacist and UQ Lecturer, led the students to their outstanding result.

Innovation is a big focus of the competition, both in terms of the entries received from some of Australia’s brightest pharmacy students and the use of technology to conduct the competition. The finalists were chosen after presenting their business plans to a judging panel via a web conference, or webinar.

Judy Liauw, Chair of the Guild’s Women and Young Pharmacist’s Committee, said recent developments in communication and learning technology made using a webinar for this competition an effective and convenient option.

“Community Pharmacy is a profession that has always embraced new technology. With over 98 per cent of our members now connected to broadband, the Guild has led the way in the e-health revolution with initiatives such as PBS Online and Project STOP”, Ms Liauw said.

The students and staff involved would like to thank industry professionals who generously gave their time and expertise to assist our teams. They were Matthew Harris, Jamie Giles, Vaughan Reed and Steve Godfrey.

Pictured, from left: Aimee Sullivan, Laura Hitchcock, Anita Venzke and Courtney Emerson (team leader).

School Hosts Singapore Student Visit:

Form 9–11 September, the School of Pharmacy hosted 34 students and staff from Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore.

During their time here, the students were given a first-hand experience of student life at UQ; participating in tutorial and laboratory sessions and attending lectures. The students also interacted with pharmacy students and staff during a welcome lunch, toured the anatomy museum and visited hospital and community pharmacies.

The School accepts applications to the Bachelor of Pharmacy program from students who have successfully completed the Diploma of Pharmaceutical Science from Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Pictured, left to right: A/Prof Sushila Chang (Faculty of Biological & Chemical Sciences, UQ), Dr Julia Gandhi (Course Manager of Pharmacy Science, Ngee Ann Polytechnic), Professor Nick Shaw, Matthew Mak (Lecturer, Ngee Ann Polytechnic) and Esther Chue (Lecturer, Ngee Ann Polytechnic).

Congratulations to the School of Pharmacy University Medalists for 2008 - Teneale Stewart and Alice Hawes,as well as School of Pharmacy graduate Bryan Chan who received the University medal for Medicine.

A University Medal recognises the achievement of outstanding academic results throughout the student's program of study.

To be considered for a University Medal, a student must have been awarded a bachelor degree with first class honours and have demonstrated academic excellence.

Currently, a minimum GPA of at least 6.55 including all courses contributing to the relevant program is required, and only the top 1% of bachelor degree graduates in the relevant faculty may be nominated.

Pictured, from left: A/Prof. Greg Monteith, Dr Ben Ross, Brian Chan, Alice Hawes, A/Prof. Sarah Roberts-Thomson, Teneale Stewart and Prof. Nick Shaw (Head of School).

School of Pharmacy Hosts Inaugural Awards Evening

QPSA To Host Pharmacy 2008 Ball

The Queensland Pharmacy Students Association (QPSA) is again hosting the popular Pharmacy Ball on Friday, 17 October.

This year, the QPSA has moved toward a more open event that will allow both student socializing and professional development by means of a network opportunity with Industry Partners, School Staff and Pharmacists working in the industry.

It will give students an opportunity to meet contacts within the profession they will be entering, and meet people with whom they will be interacting during their professional lives.

The QPSA also extends an invitation to Community Pharmacists, and others, who host placement students on behalf of the School of Pharmacy and graciously volunteer their time. In doing this they will have an opportunity to interact with a wider variety of students, and even scout for employees or future Pre-registration pharmacists. Additionally we will be inviting our QPSA sponsors, and those who sponsor the School of Pharmacy, giving them the opportunity to meet the students that their generosity benefits.

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Dr Hoang Lam Pham attends 6th World Meeting on Pharmaceutics, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology

 

The 6th World Meeting on Pharmaceutics, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology was held at the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), Barcelona, Spain, 7 to 11 April 2008.

Dr Hoang Lam Pham, who was awarded his PhD through the School earlier this year attended the event and presented the following report:

“I was fortunate to have a travel grant from the School of Pharmacy to attend this international conference. This conference is devoted to established topics such as advanced drug delivery systems, stability testing, polymers, nanotechnology, packaging, quality.

“In order to meet the growing demand for an exchange of expertise within the pharmaceutical industry, the organizers for the first time arranged for special symposia with invited speakers from pharmaceutical companies holding talks about issues such as quality by design, process analytical technology, formulation of poorly water soluble drugs, biogenerics, polymorphism as well as new excipients.

“I presented two posters which were about The cationic derivatives of saponin Quil A: “Synthesis and chemical characterization” (poster 1) and Physico-chemical characterisation and colloidal structures formed with phospholipid and cholesterol (poster 2).

“The conference delegates shared their ideas and offered useful suggestions regarding my research. The conference was an excellent opportunity for me to meet and interact with well-known researchers in the field of Pharmaceutics, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology.

"I would like to thank the School of Pharmacy for their travel support, and my supervisors (Dr Nigel Davies, Dr Ben Ross, Dr Ross McGeary and Prof. Nick Shaw) for their invaluable advice and supervision during completion of my research project."

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PhD Candidate Greg Kyle attends ISPOR Conference, Korea:

 

During September, School of Pharmacy PhD candidate Greg Kyle travelled to Korea to attend an ISPOR conference, and presents his report on the event here:

“I had the opportunity to attend the 3rd Asia-Pacific Conference of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) in Seoul, South Korea from 7 - 9 September 2008.

“The focus of the conference was application of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research to evidence-based health care throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Over 500 delegates attended, primarily from Asia, but with all continents represented. Delegates represented a wide range of health and health economics disciplines and health technologies were discussed in addition to medications.

“I presented part of my PhD work as a poster and received some comments regarding my work and future directions. The plenary and concurrent sessions provided insight into current research being conducted throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The local research was also placed into the context of international research efforts.

“I made contacts for future research collaborations and also had the opportunity for some sightseeing around Seoul and Hong Kong. I encourage other PhD students to present their work and network at an international conference and commend the School of Pharmacy for supporting this through the travel grant initiative.

“I would like to thank the School for providing support to attend this conference and the support from my supervisors, Dr Lisa Nissen and Professor Sue Tett.”

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Bachelor of Pharmacy Student, Yiwen Cheah attends Dragon 100 Forum, China:

First year Pharmacy student, Yiwen Cheah, was selected to attend the Dragon 100 Young Chinese Leaders Forum in August 2008, which comprised of a 3-day program in Hong Kong and a six-day study tour in the Pearl River Delta region of China.

The School assisted Yiwen with travel expenses, and she has provided the following report on her trip:

“The Dragon 100 Program is an annual event where 100 people come together (40 from China and 60 from around the world) to discuss global issues and explore the recent economic development of Mainland China, Chinese history, culture and tradition.

“During my stay in Hong Kong, the program took us to visit the Museum of History and the Heritage Museum where I learnt a lot about culture of China in the past. Being born and raised in Australia, I realised I was unfamiliar with my ethnic country so I found these visits educational. In our scarce free-time, about 10 other delegates and I visited the Avenue of the Stars and the famous Lan Kwai Fong.

“The following day, we were divided into 8 groups where we had a street venture tour on Wanchai and Lei Yue Man. During that time, we walked through a small local village which lead to the ocean and I learnt about the pirates terrorising the seas around Hong Kong which occurred a few centuries ago. I immediately thought of my previously educated knowledge from the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We also participated in interactive cultural activities such as Chinese opera appreciation and a cultural performance exchange.

“We travelled to the People’s Republic of China from Hong Kong by bus. In the PR China we visited three cities which are located in the Pearl River Delta Region in our six day stay; Guandong, Jiangmen and Zhongshan. We visited the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Guangdong where we met with the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to discuss global issues of China such as the rapid economic development and the infrastructure which supports it. Many questions were raised by the delegates, generating an international exchange of ideas about the economic trade and the cultural aspects of China.

“We also visited a printing company, clothing manufacturing company and a massive ship-manufacturing factory to broaden our perception on the world wide demand on the supply of products made in Mainland China, contributing to the rapidly rising economy. As the Pearl River Delta is also well known for its cultural and historical interest, we stopped over to appreciate Chinese gardens such as Kaiping Diaolou and Liyuan Garden and historical museums like Jiangmen’s Overseas Chinese Museum and the Museum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. We were constantly exposed to the Chinese economy, history and culture. We were made to realise that the ‘Made in China’ trademark contained more quality than we stereotypically assumed.

“When the Dragon Foundation Program had come to its end, we travelled one and a half hours on a ferry from Zhongshan to Hong Kong. During my final night in Hong Kong, I bought the last of my souvenirs from night markets and also caught the funicular railway up to Victoria Peak which provided us a spectacular view of Hong Kong.

“From this program I have made many friends and close contacts with other delegates from around the world. Many delegates have been selected from well recognised universities such as Harvard, John Hopkins, Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge. I found it was an enlightening experience to interact with students from such prestigious universities. I am extremely privileged to represent the University of Queensland in this renowned program.

“I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the School of Pharmacy for their support. I had the most amazing time during my trip to China in the Dragon 100 Young Chinese Leaders Forum 2008. I highly recommend others to apply to this program to visit Hong Kong and China and also meet other delegates from around the world. This is a remarkable program and I am so appreciative to be selected as a delegate.”

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A research collaboration between Professor Mary Garson from the School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences (SMMS) and Dr Ben Ross from the School of Pharmacy, has graduated its first student. Suciati, who is a Pharmacy Lecturer from Airlangga University in Indonesia, was recently awarded a UQ Master of Philosophy degree for research in the field of pharmacognosy. In her project, Suciati isolated secondary metabolites from plant specimens collected in East Java and Irian Jaya, and tested them for anti-cholinesterase activity.

“An aim of my project was to discover centrally-selective non-alkaloidal cholinesterase inhibitors that might circumvent the side effects associated with alkaloids such as rivastigmine and galantamine,” Suciati said.

“I isolated 27 compounds in total, one of which was novel, and some of the compounds show promise as inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase.”

Dr Ross said that the collaboration between SMMS and Pharmacy was an excellent opportunity for pharmacists to gain experience in pharmacognosy.

“Students have access to the facilities of both Schools and they work on projects led by Professor Garson who is an internationally-renowned natural products chemist. My laboratory at the Pharmacy School studies the medicinal chemistry of Alzheimer’s disease and we have developed a series of assays that are used to test the bioactivity of natural products.”

Suciati’s research was supported by an AusAID Australian Development Scholarship and a grant from the Queensland Pharmacy Research Trust (PSA Qld Branch). The results have been presented at international conferences and an article is soon to appear in an international peer-reviewed journal.

Pictured, from left: Dr Ben Ross, Suciati and Professor Mary Garson

Three School of Pharmacy PhD Candidates Graduate at July Ceremony:

Congratulations go to Dr Ian Coombes, Dr Helen Faddy and Dr Hoang Lam Pham, all of whom received their PhD during the graduation ceremony in July this year.

The School of Pharmacy wishes them all the best with their future pursuits.







Pictured, from left: Dr Ian Coombes, Dr Helen Faddy and Dr Hoang Lam Pham

Allan Coombes is an Associate Professor at the School of Pharmacy, after taking up the position in 2007.

Associate Professor Coombes obtained his first degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science from Nottingham University and his PhD in Polymer Physics from Bristol University.

Post-doctoral research followed in the area of bioengineering at University College London, bone substitution at the University of Texas in San Antonio, nano and microparticle drug carriers and vaccine formulation at the School of Pharmacy, Nottingham University.

A short spell at Quadrant Healthcare working on controlled protein delivery was followed by a research fellowship in tissue engineering at Nottingham University. A/Prof. Coombes was appointed Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at Aston University, Birmingham, UK in 1998, Senior lecturer in Pharmaceutics at Sydney University in 2003 and Professor in Pharmaceutics at Kingston University London’s new School of Pharmacy in 2005.

In-depth teaching experience in pharmaceutical formulation and physicochemical characterisation is complemented by an extensive publication record in the fields of advanced drug delivery, vaccine formulation, biomaterials and tissue engineering. He has attracted/helped attract a total of $1.7 million research funding over the last 7 years, is an inventor on 10 patent applications/pending and has supervised/co-supervised 6 PhD students to completion.

Current research focuses on controlling delivery drug delivery from porous polymer matrices:

1. for combatting bacterial and viral infection
and
2. for promoting tissue repair

A/Professor Coombes visited Taiwan in August for meetings with research collaborators, to discuss the opportunities for student exchange visits and to give a series of lectures at the National Defense Medical Centre, the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and National Chiayi University.

Allan is seen here (left) with Dr Hsin-I Chang his former PhD student and now an Assistant Professor at National Chiayi University. Hsin-I worked in the School from May – July 2008 as a post-doctoral researcher with Nigel Davies before taking up her lectureship in Taiwan.

Views from the top of Taipei 101 (the world’s tallest building) and a chance meeting with one of our 4th year placement students in Taipei (a city of 2.6 million inhabitants) provided two remarkable features of a highly informative and constructive visit.

Selected Publications

Assoc. Professor Coombes regularly reviews submitted manuscripts for a number of scientific journals and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Microencapsulation and the Journal of Biomaterials, Polymer Edition.

Advanced Drug Delivery

• Wang Y, Chang H-I, Wertheim DF, Jones AS, Jackson C, Coombes AGA. Characterisation of the macroporosity of polycaprolactone-based biocomposites and release kinetics for drug delivery. Biomaterials. 28, 4619-4627 (2007).
• Chang H-I, Perrie Y, Coombes AGA. Delivery of the antibiotic gentamicin sulphate from precipitation cast matrices of polycaprolactone. J. Control Release. 110, 414-421 (2006).
• Williamson MR, Chang H-I, Coombes AGA. Gravity spun polycaprolactone fibres : controlling release of a hydrophilic macromolecule (ovalbumin) and a lipophilic drug (progesterone). Biomaterials. 25, 5053-5060 (2004).
• Turner P, Coombes AGA, Al-Rubeai M. Measuring the heterogeneity of protein loading in PLG microspheres using flow cytometry. J Control Release. 96, 193-205 (2004).

• Saleem IY, Vordermeier M, Barralet JE, Coombes AGA. Improving peptide-based assays to differentiate between vaccination and m.bovis infection in cattle using nanoparticle carriers for adsorbed antigens. J. Control. Release. 102/3, 551-561 (2005).
• Yeh, M-K, Coombes, AGA, Chen, J-L, Chiang, C-H. Japanese Encephalitis Virus vaccine formulations using PLA lamellar and PLG microparticles. J. Microencapsulation, 19, 671-682 (2002).
• Moynihan J, Blair J, Coombes A, D’Mello F, Howard C.R. Enhanced immunogenicity of a Hepatitis B virus (HBV) peptide vaccine using oligosaccharide ester derivative (OED) microparticles. Vaccine. 20, 1870-1876 (2002).
• Jabbal-Gill, I., Wu Lin, Jenkins, P., Watts, P., Jimenez, M., Illum, L., Davis, S.S., Wood, J.M., Major, D., Xiongwei Li, Lavelle, E.C., Coombes, A.G.A. Potential of polymeric lamellar substrate particles (PLSP) as adjuvants for vaccines. Vaccine. 18, 238-250 (2000).

• Williamson MR, Woollard KJ, Griffiths HR, Coombes AGA. Gravity spun polycaprolactone fibres for applications in vascular tissue engineering. Proliferation and function of human vascular endothelial cells. Tissue Engineering. 12, 45-51 (2006).
• Dai, N-T, Williamson, MR, Khammo, N, Adams, EF, Coombes, AGA. Composite cell support membranes based on collagen and polycaprolactone for tissue engineering of skin. Biomaterials. Vol 25/18, 4263-4271 (2004).
• Williamson, MR, Coombes AGA. Gravity spinning of polycaprolactone fibres for applications in tissue engineering. Biomaterials, 25, 459-465 (2004).

Pharmacy Graduate Irina Vetter Receives Deans Commendation

Dr Irina Vetter, one of our own B.Pharm (Hons) PhD graduates, has been honoured by her inclusion on the Deans Commendation List for 2007 for her PhD thesis.

This outstanding achievement means that her PhD thesis was considered to be of an exceptional standard. Below, Dr Vetter describes her journey from undergraduate Pharmacy studies to her present position as a postdoctoral scientist.

“I arrived from Germany just in time for the 1st semester of my BPharm studies in 1999 with an interest in pharmacology and what medicines do (but not quite so much English).

“During my time as an undergraduate student at UQ, I was given the opportunity to carry out an On-course Honours research project under supervision of Dr Peter Cabot, which fuelled my interest in research.

“Having had entirely too much fun at university, I returned to UQ in 2004 – after my pre-registration year at the Princess Alexandra Hospital - to start my PhD under supervision of Dr Peter Cabot, A/Prof Greg Monteith, A/Prof Sarah Roberts-Thomson and Dr Bruce Wyse.

“My experience in isolation and culture of dorsal root ganglion neurons, which I gained during my time at the School of Pharmacy, led to a postdoctoral position at the Queensland Brain Institute under A/Prof Geoffrey Goodhill, quantifying the guidance response of neurons to gradients of nerve growth factor.

“I have now returned closer to my original interests with a position under A/Prof Richard Lewis at the Institute for Molecular Biosciences, where I study the pharmacology of peptides derived from conesnail venom in the hope of identifying novel analgesic molecules.”

We are pleased to welcome the following staff to the School of Pharmacy:

• Leanne Tucker joined us in the position of Acting School Manager
  
• Elizabeth Pyke returned to her previous position as Research Administrative Officer
  

Farewells:

With our very best wishes we say farewell and thanks to the following staff:

• Kay Bills has moved on to the School of Medicine at Griffith University
  
• Felicity Lindberg has taken up a 5-month secondment with the Research and Research Training Division
  
• Erin Musgrave will be on maternity leave
  

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Please send all contributions for the School of Pharmacy Bulletin to School of Pharmacy Marketing and Communications Officer, Ms Stephanie Dunn, at news@pharmacy.uq.edu.au