SweDeliver Alumni

SweDeliver's PhD students and postdocs form an international team, conducting high-quality research, while laying the foundation for future leading positions in life science. Several of our junior researchers have already completed their work in SweDeliver and started the next phase of their careers. Meet our Alumni:

Ann-Sofie Persson, Pulmonary drug delivery

Ann-Sofie Persson conducted her research project Investigation of adhesive layer microstructure of adhesive mixtures using Small Angle X-ray Scattering in Work package Pulmonary drug delivery. Ann-Sofie's project aimed to improve our knowledge on how the information of adhesive layer microstructures can be used to understand the dispersibility of adhesive mixtures during inhalation of a pulmonary drug.

Selected Publication Tabletability and compactibility of α-lactose monohydrate powders of different particle size. I. Experimental comparison (Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, Vol. 27, 2022)

Researcher bio Ann-Sofie Persson is a pharmacist and has a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from Uppsala University. She is currently a researcher in Pharmaceutical Technology with the main research focus on increased understanding and manufacturing of solid dosage forms.

Current position Researcher at Uppsala University's Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences.

Marcus Wanselius, Parenteral drug delivery

Marcus Wanselius conducted his PhD project Development and characterization of an in vitro method for interaction studies between polymers and pharmaceuticals: Aiding in the development of new drug delivery systems in Work package Parenteral drug delivery. Marcus investigated how active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in subcutaneously administered drug formulations interact with the components of the extracellular matrix in the subcutaneous adipose tissue (hypodermis).

Thesis Development and characterization of an in vitro method for interaction studies between polymers and pharmaceuticals: Aiding in the development of new drug delivery systems (Published 28 September 2023, Dissertation defense 20 October 2023)

Researcher bio Marcus Wanselius wrote his master thesis at the Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University and got his Master of Science in Pharmacy from Uppsala University 2014. Marcus started his PhD studies within Pharmaceutical Physical Chemistry at Uppsala University in the spring of 2018, after working as a pharmacy manager for several years.

Current position Formulation Scientist at APL (Apotek Produktion & Laboratorier).

Jonas Gernandt, Parenteral drug delivery

Jonas Gernandt conducted his research project Improving FRAP data analysis in Work package Parenteral drug delivery. Jonas' project aimed to provide the scientific community with efficient, user-friendly software for high-throughput analysis of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) experiments, employing the latest and most powerful techniques

Researcher bio Jonas Gernandt earned his PhD in 2013 at the Department of Pharmacy at Uppsala University with a thesis on protein-polymer interactions. After this he spent several years teaching physical chemistry and researching transport processes in polymer gels before joining SweDeliver and Professor Per Hansson’s group at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry in December 2022.

Yassir Al-Tikriti, Parenteral drug delivery

Yassir Al-Tikriti conducted his PhD project Amphiphilic drugs in microgels in Work package Parenteral drug delivery. Yassir's work aimed to improve our fundamental understanding of the drug-aggregation inside microgels and to derive release models that contribute to the development of novel drug release systems.

Thesis Microgels as drug delivery vehicles: loading and release of amphiphilic drugs (Published 17 May 2022, Dissertation defense 14 June 2022)

Researcher bio Yassir Al-Tikriti is a pharmacist with a B.Sc. degree in pharmacy from Baghdad University. In 2012, Yassir earned a Master's degree in pharmaceutical science from Uppsala University, with the main field of the study being in drug discovery and development.

Current position PostDoc at Uppsala University's Department of Medicinal Chemistry following a position as Pharmaceutical Development & Research Manager at Calliditas Therapeutics AB.

Vicky Barmpatsalou, Oral drug delivery

Vicky Barmpatsalou conducted her PhD project Exploring the impact of the Gastrointestinal Mucus on drug absorption: Characterization and development of novel predictive tools in Work package Oral drug delivery. Vicky's work aimed to provide novel insights regarding the nature of the gastrointestinal mucus of preclinical species, and to develop in vitro models to enable the assessment of the permeation behavior of poorly soluble drugs through the colonic mucus.

Thesis Understanding the gastrointestinal mucus and its impact on drug absorption (Published 26 January 2023, Dissertation defense 17 march 2023)

Researcher bio Vicky Barmpatsalou is a pharmacist, holding a MPharm and a MSc in Industrial Pharmacy from the National University of Athens. Vicky conducted her MPharm research project at the Drug Delivery & Disposition lab at KULeuven and her MSc thesis at Astellas Pharma, before being recruited to Uppsala University and SweDeliver.

Current position Assessor at the Swedish Medical Products Agency.

Staffan Berg, Oral drug delivery

Staffan Berg conducted his PhD project Investigation of the interplay between permeation enhancers, GI physiology and macromolecular drugs to facilitate design of oral dosage forms in Work package Oral drug delivery. In his work, Staffan designed formulations to reduce the large intra- and individual variability often observed when delivering biologics via the oral route, which can in turn be an obstacle to oral delivery of macromolecules using permeation enhancers.

Thesis Oral delivery of macromolecules formulated with permeation enhancers (Published 29 Augusty 2022, Dissertation defense 30 September 2022).

Researcher bio Staffan Berg studied pharmacy first at Åbo Akademi (BSc) and later at University of Helsinki (MSc). His Master’s Thesis was on a targeted anticancer drug delivery system performed at the University of Utah. After graduation Staffan Berg joined a rotational trainee program at AstraZeneca where he did placements in biopharmaceutics, project management, and early phase formulation. Staffan Berg worked as a senior scientist in biopharmaceutics at AstraZeneca when joining the Drug Delivery group at Uppsala University.

Current position Senior Scientist at AstraZeneca.

Ann-Christin Jacobsen, Oral drug delivery

Ann-Christin Jacobsen was recruited as a postdoc to Work package Oral drug delivery. Ann-Christin worked in the project Local intestinal generation of transient permeability enhancers by digestion of lipid formulations aiming to develop and evaluate lipid-based formulations for oral delivery of biologics such as peptides and proteins.

Selected publication Intrinsic lipolysis rate for systematic design of lipid-based formulations (Drug Delivery and Translational Research, 2022)

Researcher bio Ann-Christin Jacobsen holds a PhD degree from the University of Southern Denmark (2020). The focus of her PhD project was developing novel tools to evaluate the oral performance of enabling formulations of poorly soluble drugs with emphasis on combined dissolution/permeation approaches. She is a pharmacist by training and received the master’s degree from the University of Southern Denmark in 2017. During her studies, she stayed four months at AbbVie Germany for an industrial internship.

Current position Postdoc at University of Southern Denmark, Editorial assistant at European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Martin Lord, Parenteral Drug Delivery

Martin Lord was recruited as a postdoc to Work package Parenteral Drug Delivery. Mertin worked in the project Immunogenicity of synthetic long peptides and the role of formulation and structure for efficacy and toxicity. A work aimed at increasing our understanding of optimal vaccine formulations for synthetic long peptides that best preserve the functional properties but also enhances lymph node drainage by non-cellular transportation within the extracellular matrix.

Selected publication An Adaptable Antibody-Based Platform for Flexible Synthetic Peptide Delivery Built on Agonistic CD40 Antibodies (European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 2022)

Researcher bio Martin Lord has his background in biotechnology and cancer research, in which he holds an MScEng in molecular biotechnology at KTH, and a PhD in tumor biology/lymphoma at Karolinska Institutet. Martin was recruited to SweDeliver as a postdoc in Sara Mangsbo's research group in immuno-oncology at Uppsala University.

Current position Researcher at Uppsala University’s Department of Pharmacy

Enamul Mojumdar, Parenteral Drug Delivery

Enamul Mojumdar was recruited as a postdoc to Work package Parenteral Drug Delivery. Enamul worked in the project Novel in vitro methods to understand transport properties of biologics.

Researcher bio Enamul Mojumdar obtained his PhD in pharmaceutical biophysical science from Leiden University. In 2015 Enamul was recruited to a postdoctoral position at Lund/Malmö University, specializing in skin barrier research, trans(dermal) and topical drug delivery systems and molecular self-assembly of lipids/surfactants. In April 2022 Enamul Mojumdar joined SweDeliver and Professor Per Hansson’s research group in Pharmaceutical physical chemistry.

Current position Researcher Malmö University

Agnes Rodler, Parenteral Drug Delivery

Agnes Rodler was recruited as a postdoc to Work package Parenteral Drug Delivery. Agnes worked in the project Novel in vitro models for subcutaneous administration of drugs aiming to develop an in vitro model capable of predicting in vivo behaviour of subcutaneous injection.

Selected publication Gastrointestinal mucus in dog: Physiological characteristics, composition, and structural properties (European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 2022)

Researcher bio Agnes Rodler conducted her PhD in a bioprocess science and engineering group at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna where she graduated in 2017. During her PhD Agnes Rodler gained experience in polymer chemistry at the nanoscale as a user at the Molecular Foundry, at Berkeley Labs, USA. From that work, she qualified as a finalist of Merck Millipore’s Life Science award in Bioseparations (Europe) in 2015. In spring 2018 she joined SweDeliver as a postdoc in the Pharmaceutical Physical Chemistry group at Uppsala University.

Current position Researcher at Uppsala University’s Department of Pharmacy.

Sohan Sarangi, Pulmonary drug delivery

Sohan Sarangi conducted his PhD project Particle Dynamics and Multiscale Modelling of Adhesive Mixtures for Inhaled Medicines in Work package Pulmonary drug delivery. In his work, Sohan aimed to – via studying the interactions between the drug and carrier particles and its aggregates in an adhesive mixture for inhalation using a particle based modelling approach – contribute new knowledge on adhesive mixtures during general handling and transportation.

Thesis Understanding Adhesive Mixtures for Inhalation: Particle Dynamics Modelling and Segregation Experiments (Published 29 September 2022, Dissertation defense 21 October 2022)

Researcher bio Sohan Sarangi completed his BS-MS Dual Degree, majoring in Physics from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. In his thesis, he worked on computational fluid dynamics method development and application. He has also worked on computational biomechanics of decubitus ulcers.

Current position Senior scientist at AstraZeneca

Irès van der Zwaan, Pulmonary drug delivery

Irès van der Zwaan conducted her PhD project Development of A Novel Pulmonary Controlled Release Drug Delivery System in Work package Pulmonary drug delivery. Irès work aimed to create a new controlled release system for drug delivery in the lung by surveying and evaluating the dissolution of several promising controlled release options as well as novel systems.

Thesis Characterisation of an in vitro dissolution method for assessment of novel pulmonary drug delivery systems: With a focus on controlled release systems (Published 28 February 2023, Dissertation defense 21 April 2023)

Researcher bio Irès van der Zwaan received her master degree in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2017 from Leiden University, before, in March 2018, being recruited as a PhD Student to Uppsala University and SweDeliver.

Current position Postdoc Researcher at AstraZeneca.

Ann-Sofie Persson, Pulmonär läkemedelstillförsel

Ann-Sofie Persson utförde sitt forskningsprojekt Undersökning av mikrostrukturen i det adhesiva lagret hos adhesiva blandningar med hjälp av lågvinkelröntgenspridning i Arbetspaket Pulmonär läkemedelstillförsel. Ann-Sofies arbete syftade till att förstå hur packningsstrukturen hos det adhesiva lagret i en adhesiv blandning för pulmonärt bruk påverkar dispergerbarheten av läkemedelspartiklar vid inhalation.