Samantha Donnellan
samantha donnellan

Dr Samantha Donnellan

Lecturer

 0131 455 2502

  S.Donnellan@napier.ac.uk

  

Biography

Dr Donnellan has a BSc (Hons) in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh.

Samantha's PhD at Heriot Watt University/Moredun Research Institute was to develop a rapid, low cost assay suitable for screening the anti-mycobacterial properties of nanoparticles (NPs) against mycobacteria. Solid drug NPs (SDNs) of the first line TB antibiotics were developed and screened in the assay and compared to conventional antibiotics. Additionally, the efficacy of the SDNs was monitored intracellularly (within a mycobacterium infected macrophage) and imaged to determine whether these particles co-localised with the mycobacteria.

Before joining Edinburgh Napier, Samantha worked at The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). In 2020 she was a Key Worker in the fight against coronavirus through scientific research, working in drug discovery.

Samantha is an FSA Scientific Advisor (Committee on Toxicology), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Samantha won LSTMs Director Catalyst Fund, allowing her to gain specialist training in South Africa (Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit at The University of Cape Town) and the USA (Harvard University) to focus on her own research - working with multi-drug resistant TB and developing a microfluidics device for sophisticated, dynamic drug screening.

School

Research Groups

News

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • European Crucible 2022 member

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • CBGH-CAIR networking conference
  • Centre for Biomedicine and Global Health Sandpitt event

 

Invited Speaker

  • Pint of Science
  • International Conference on Translational Nanomedicine (T-NANO) INDIA

 

Media Activity

  • TEDx Talk
  • Fame Lab Finalist
  • Interviewee on the BBC

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • ESCMID Full Member
  • Edinburgh Infectious Diseases Member
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of the Royal Â鶹ÉçÇø of Biology

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Cheltenham Science Festival STEM Mentor

 

Visiting Positions

  • Harvard University, USA - visiting researcher
  • Stellenbosch University, South Africa - visiting researcher
  • University of Chester, UK - guest lecturer

 

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16 results

Intracellular delivery of nano-formulated antituberculosis drugs enhances bactericidal activity

Journal Article
Donnellan, S., Stone, V., Johnston, H., Giardiello, M., Owen, A., Rannard, S., …Stevenson, K. (2017)
Intracellular delivery of nano-formulated antituberculosis drugs enhances bactericidal activity. Journal of Interdisciplinary Nanomedicine, 2(3), 146-156. https://doi.org/10.1002/jin2.27
Tuberculosis kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease. Treatment requires multiple drug therapy administered over long periods (6–24 months). The emergenc...

Validation of Intracellular Pharmacodynamic based modelling for the prediction of clinical fluoroquinolone activity against TB

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Donnellan, S. (2017, May)
Validation of Intracellular Pharmacodynamic based modelling for the prediction of clinical fluoroquinolone activity against TB. Poster presented at PreDiCT-TB, Paris, France

Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic modelling of intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth and kill rates is predictive of clinical treatment duration

Journal Article
Aljayyoussi, G., Jenkins, V. A., Sharma, R., Ardrey, A., Donnellan, S., Ward, S. A., & Biagini, G. A. (2017)
Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic modelling of intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth and kill rates is predictive of clinical treatment duration. Scientific Reports, 7(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00529-6
Tuberculosis (TB) treatment is long and complex, typically involving a combination of drugs taken for 6 months. Improved drug regimens to shorten and simplify treatment are ur...

A rapid screening assay for identifying mycobacteria targeted nanoparticle antibiotics

Journal Article
Donnellan, S., Tran, L., Johnston, H., McLuckie, J., Stevenson, K., & Stone, V. (2016)
A rapid screening assay for identifying mycobacteria targeted nanoparticle antibiotics. Nanotoxicology, 10(6), 761-769. https://doi.org/10.3109/17435390.2015.1124468
Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem. Nanotechnology offers enormous potential in medicine, yet there is limited knowledge regarding the toxicity of nanoparticles (NP) f...

Nanomedicines for the Treatment of TB

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Donnellan, S. (2014, November)
Nanomedicines for the Treatment of TB. Presented at Translational Nanomedicine, India

Remdesivir-Ivermectin combination displays synergistic interaction with improved in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2

Working Paper
Jeffreys, L., Pennington, S. H., Duggan, J., Breen, A., Jinks, J., Ardrey, A., …Biagini, G. A. (2020)
Remdesivir-Ivermectin combination displays synergistic interaction with improved in vitro antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2
A key element to the prevention and management of the COVID-19 pandemic is the development of effective therapeutics. Drug combination strategies of repurposed drugs offer a n...

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