From the examples above, the roles students perform include:
Designing and conducting experiments: formulation of nanoparticles or biologics; preparation of the particle/drug systems; incubations under various conditions (static, flow, shear); cellular assays (cytotoxicity etc).
Data collection: measurement of physicochemical properties (size, shape, charge, aggregation), protein corona composition, using instrumentation such as dynamic light scattering, field-flow fractionation (FFF, AF4), zeta potential, etc.
Data analysis: comparing different isolation/recovery methods; computational modelling, fitting of viscosity predictions; multivariate data integration (e.g. proteomics, metabolomics), analysing how parameters vary with conditions.
Scientific writing: authorship on journal articles; preparation of theses; conference presentations (poster/oral); preprints.
Thus students are deeply involved from bench work to analysis to disseminating results.
“Sequence engineering to improve the performance of biopharma in patient administration syringe devices” (Project: 2021-2024) involving Georgina Armstrong (Postgrad Student) under Rattray & Jamieson. University of Strathclyde+2University of Strathclyde+2
Continuous manufacturing of liposome formulations incorporating anti-cancer agents: this was a PhD opportunity jointly between Prof Yvonne Perrie & Dr Zahra Rattray. Students would work on formulation, particle characterisation, biological interactions etc. University of Strathclyde
The development of a pipeline for the analysis of polymeric nanoparticle interactions with protein-containing media — Karim Daramy, supervised by Zahra Rattray & Yvonne Perrie. PhD awarded in 2024. Stax+1
Development of adverse outcome pathways framework for the identification of novel mechanistic and clinical insights into the cardiotoxic actions of thiazolidinediones — Abdullah B. Al-Sultan, supervised by Zahra Rattray & Nicholas J.W. Rattray. PhD in 2024. Stax+2Strathprints+2
The impact of single-point mutations and IgG subclass on the developability of high concentration monoclonal antibody formulations — Georgina B. Armstrong, supervised by Zahra Rattray & Craig Jamieson. Thesis defense in November 2024. University of Strathclyde
Daramy et al. Nanoparticle Isolation from Biological Media for Protein Corona Analysis: The Impact of Incubation and Recovery Protocols on Nanoparticle Properties. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2024. Strathprints
Al-Sultan et al. Cytotoxicity and toxicoproteomics analysis of thiazolidinedione exposure in human-derived cardiomyocytes. Journal of Applied Toxicology, 2024. University of Strathclyde+1
Armstrong et al. A first insight into the developability of an IgG3: a combined computational and experimental approach. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, 2024. ACS Publications
Armstrong et al. Reconciling predicted and measured viscosity parameters in high concentration therapeutic antibody solutions. mAbs, 2024. University of Strathclyde
Armstrong et al. Assessing the manufacturability and critical quality attribute profiles of anti-IL-8 immunoglobulin G mutant variants. December 2024. University of Strathclyde
From what is publicly available, here are the types of student opportunities, training, and support in Dr Rattray’s lab / group:
PhD / Research Studentships: Dr Rattray is offering or supervising multiple PhD projects. On her Pure portal page, there are projects listed such as “Scalability of polymeric delivery system characteristics (Self-funded)”, “Developing new analytical pipelines for profiling the nanoparticle protein corona”, “Probing the impact of nanocarriers in cancer and immune cells phenotypes”. University of Strathclyde
Joint/Collaborative Projects: Some projects are jointly supervised with other faculty (e.g., with Prof Yvonne Perrie, with co-supervision), which can broaden scope and resources. E.g. continuous manufacturing liposome formulations. University of Strathclyde
Scholarships / Funding: Some projects are funded by external bodies (e.g., EPSRC, BBSRC, industrial partners such as GSK) to support doctoral studies. For example, Armstrong’s doctoral studies are sponsored by GSK and national research councils. University of Strathclyde+1
Practical Training / Experimental Facilities: The group has access to sophisticated instrumentation (Field-Flow Fractionation, NanoSight NS300, Archimedes Resonant Mass Measurement, etc.) and the Multiscale Metrology Suite for nanoparticle characterization. Students gain hands-on experience with these. University of Strathclyde+1
Data Analysis / Computational Training: In projects like Armstrong’s, students do computational modelling, descriptors calculation, prediction vs measured data etc. Also toxicoproteomics / metabolomics pipelines in Al-Sultan’s project. So students build skills in bioinformatics / computational analysis.
Writing & Publication: Students are co-authors on peer-reviewed journal articles; they prepare theses, conference presentations; in many cases their thesis work is published or is being published.
Conference / Presentation Opportunities: Students present at international conferences (posters, oral sessions). E.g. Daramy presented work at AAPS and JPAG meetings. University of Strathclyde+1
Dr Zahra Rattray’s research group offers substantial opportunities for students (PhD / postgraduate) to engage in full research cycles in drug delivery / nanomedicine / biologics:
Experimental work: formulation, nanoparticle preparation, cell assays, interactions in biological media, physical measurements of nanoparticles / antibodies.
Analysis work: data acquisition, computational and statistical analysis, modelling, comparisons of protocols.
Writing & publication: theses, peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings.
These align strongly with the group’s research focus: Innovation in Oral and Parenteral Drug Delivery Technologies (though more heavily parenteral / nanomedicine / biologic / injectable formulations in several cases).