Dr Alain PluenPhD., B.Sc., M.R.S.C.

Overview

PHAR20100 Medicine Module leader

BSc Pharmaceutical Sciences Director

Post-Graduate Tutor

Biography

Alain Pluen – a physical chemist by training – is a Lecturer within the Division of Pharmacy and Optometrics. Alain joined the then School of Pharmacy in 2000 and has been pursuing his research effort on i) transport and/or delivery of novel medicines and 2) the study the protein-protein interactions espectially aggregation in solution to understand issues related to biopharmaceuticals formulation and cells.  This is carried out using bioimaging techniques (confocal microscopy, Raster Image Correlation Spectroscopy or Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy) as well as light scattering (DLS, SLS). Previously Alain did his post-graduate studies at the Institut Charles Sadron – Centre de Recherche sur les Macromolecules, (CNRS UPR 22, Strasbourg, France) where he studied the mechanisms of transport of macromolecules (single stranded DNA) in gels to improve sequencing (EU Biomed 1). Then in 1997, he joined the team of Prof. R.K. Jain at the Massachusetts General Hospital - Harvard Medical School as a post-doctoral research fellow. In this biomedical engineering laboratory and in collaboration with Dr. David Berk, he started to study the relation between the tumour microenvironment and the transport hindrance of novel medicines i.e. antibodies, protein, peptides or liposomes. In September 2000, he joined the then School of Pharmacy and Pharamceutical Sciences.

Social responsibility

Alain Pluen takes regularly Nuffield placement students during Summer time and is also a school governor of a primary school in the Peak District

Qualifications

• 1996 Ph.D. Polymer Physical Chemistry - University of Strasbourg, France
• 1992 M.Sc. Physical Chemistry - University of Strasbourg, France
• 1991 B.Sc. Physical Chemistry - University of Strasbourg, France

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Member of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences