PULSE
SWANSEA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL
GLOBAL RESEARCH challenges MEET DR AMIRA GUIRGUIS, PROGRAMME DIRECTOR OF OUR NEW PHARMACY COURSE. HER RESEARCH EXPLORES NOVEL PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES, FORMERLY KNOWN AS LEGAL HIGHS, AND THE SIGNIFICANT THREAT THEY POSE TO PUBLIC HEALTH
Welcome THIS IS AN EXCITING TIME FOR SWANSEA UNIVERSITY AS WE CELEBRATE OUR CENTENARY YEAR. WELCOME TO THE CENTENARY EDITION OF SWANSEA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL’S MAGAZINE.
In the news UTERINE CANCER TREATMENT BREAKTHROUGH Medical School scientists’ hard work in the fight against endometrial cancer has seen them being granted a US patent for pioneering new therapy. Professor Deya Gonzalez and Professor Steve Conlan, of the Reproductive Biology and Gynaecological Oncology group, developed a method of treating gynaecological cancer which it is hoped will minimise side effects for patients. The team hopes that the new findings could lead to a new treatment option for uterine cancer patients. £10MBOOSTFORMENTALHEALTH A pioneering research centre which will develop new ways of reducing anxiety and depression in young people will be established with funding of £10m from a major UK charity, the Wolfson Foundation. The Medical School has worked alongsideCardiff University todevelop theWolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health. Professor Ann John, Deputy Head of the Medical School said: “The centre promises a step-change in research efforts to understand and transform the lives of children and young people with anxietyanddepression.” SILVER AWARD FOR GENDER EQUALITY The Medical School is celebrating after being rewarded for its ongoing commitment to gender equality. As part of the Athena SWAN Charter scheme run by the Equality Challenge Unit, the University already holds a silver institutional award - one of only 13 universities in the UK, and theonlynon-RussellGroupUniversity toachieve this. The Medical School has renewed its existing Silver Award - which has now been extended to include itsprofessional services staff.
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and how to embed them in practice. This has been achieved through the development of the Institute of Life Science (ILS). The Medical School’s research and innovation arm, the ILS aims to advance medical science through multi-and interdisciplinary research and to link those benefits to the economy through Open Innovation. This mix of strengths makes us ideally placed to prepare and support our students to undertake careers across the fields of medicine, science, health, social care and enterprise and to turn research into patient-focused improvements. We are proud that graduate employability for our life scientists is among the best in the UK. The University has enjoyed a period of tremendous growth in the past 10 years and we have achieved our ambition to be a top 30 research University, achieving 26th position in the UK’s Research Excellence Framework league table in 2014. The Medical School is very much part of that success story. I hope this Centenary edition will give you a glimpse into the thriving community we have here at Swansea University Medical School. Professor Keith Lloyd, Head, Swansea University Medical School
My research mainly focuses on drug detection of novel psychoactive substances - drugs that mimic the effects of traditional recreational drugs. These drugs are emerging at an alarming rate and pose significant public health risks as they have unpredictable side effects. So, initially they were called ‘legal highs’ and that was wrong because it implied that they were legal and they were safe but that was simply not true. They were also known as designer drugs, club drugs and more recently Spice. Whatever we call them, they all include a number of classes so they may include cathinones, synthetic cannabinoids, phenlythilamines...but also, they may contain food supplements or diverted prescription medicines. This variety of drug classes means that they can do many things to a user. There are a lot of chemical reactions that take place and they can affect the dopamine, serotonin and adrenaline pathways in our brains. With Spice, or synthetic cannabinoids in general, we’ve seen mass poisoning in a number of countries, including the UK. In Manchester in April 2017, groups of people were seen in the City Centre looking like Zombies, basically, they were in catatonic state from taking Spice.
True to the vision of our industrial founders, the university uses our teaching and research strengths, collaboration with industry and global reach to drive economic growth, foster prosperity, and contribute to the health, leisure, and wellbeing of our community. Swansea University Medical School has come a long way in a short time since its beginnings as a Clinical School in 2001, with a proven track record of research quality and intensity, teaching excellence, graduate employability and prospects and student satisfaction. As a medical school we constantly strive to innovate, expand and deliver world- class education. Our performance in the Research Evaluation Framework (REF 2014), where we came 1 st in the UK for research environment and 2 nd for overall research is testament to this. Few medical schools offer courses that contain Intellectual Property generation, knowledge transfer and innovation
“Harm reduction – making sure that the patient is going to be safe – that is the most important thing”
substances. By knowing which class a drug belongs to, we can inform treatment and reduce harm. Find out more about Amira’s research into the devastating effects of ‘legal highs’ in Swansea University’s Podcast Series ‘Exploring Global Problems’
Spice products may contain more than one synthetic cannabinoid so we can’t assume that they’ll all mimic cannabis in effect - they don’t only work on CB1/CB2 receptors, they also work on other receptors and can alter multiple body functions. I’m now working with Addaction UK to improve detection and classification of novel psychoactive
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Interested in Pharmacy too? Turn to page 16 to find out more about our new course
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