Abstract

Neill’s research investigates the biological interactions of conventional and nanotechnology-enabled medicines and therapeutics; encompassing assessment of the biocompatibility, immuomodulatory potential and risk of these novel therapeutic strategies to aid in the preclinical evaluation of new materials as well enabling future rational design of nanomaterials and therapies. Neill has worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Nanotechnology Characterisation Laboratory (NCL) based in Frederick, Maryland, USA and is a Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics where he heads a number of advanced therapeutics/materials immunocompatibility research programmes. Additionally, Neill is a member of the Core Expert Team (CET) and Assay Group leader (Immunotoxicity and Haematotoxicity) for the European Nanomedicine Characterisation Laboratory (EUNCL). Although our work spans many different advanced materials and complex medicines, this talk will detail some of our work on liposomes, given the recent resurgence due to their application in the COVID -19 vaccination programmes. In the context of carriers for small molecules and nucleic acids, we will discuss known interactions with the immune system that may affect their biocompatibility or reveal novel properties that give a therapeutic advantage. In particular, we will discuss our efforts to link together systems that may interact to bring about unwanted effects.