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

News

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • European Crucible 2022 member

 

Invited Speaker

  • Pint of Science

 

Media Activity

  • Fame Lab Finalist
  • Interviewee on the BBC

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of the Royal Society of Biology

 

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Date


9 results

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

Journal Article
Jeffreys, L. N., Pennington, S. H., Duggan, J., Caygill, C. H., Lopeman, R. C., Breen, A. F., …Biagini, G. A. (2022)
Remdesivir-ivermectin combination displays synergistic interaction with improved in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 59(3), Article 106542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2022.106542
A key element for the prevention and management of COVID-19 is the development of effective therapeutics. Drug combination strategies of repurposed drugs offer several advanta...

Measurement of the Intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis Drug Effect and Prediction of the Clinical Dose–Response Relationship Using Intracellular Pharmacodynamic Modeling (PDi)

Book Chapter
Donnellan, S., Martínez-Rodríguez, C., Aljayyoussi, G., & Biagini, G. A. (2021)
Measurement of the Intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis Drug Effect and Prediction of the Clinical Dose–Response Relationship Using Intracellular Pharmacodynamic Modeling (PDi). In C. Barreiro, & J. Barredo (Eds.), Antimicrobial Therapies: Methods and Protocols (393-408). New York: Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1358-0
The human disease tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. A quarter of the world’s population is estimated to be latently infected. Dru...

Intracellular Pharmacodynamic Modeling Is Predictive of the Clinical Activity of Fluoroquinolones against Tuberculosis

Journal Article
Donnellan, S., Aljayyoussi, G., Moyo, E., Ardrey, A., Martinez-Rodriguez, C., Ward, S. A., & Biagini, G. A. (2020)
Intracellular Pharmacodynamic Modeling Is Predictive of the Clinical Activity of Fluoroquinolones against Tuberculosis. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 64(1), https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.00989-19
Clinical studies of new antitubercular drugs are costly and time-consuming. Owing to the extensive tuberculosis (TB) treatment periods, the ability to identify drug candidates...

Nanomedicines towards targeting intracellular Mtb for the treatment of tuberculosis

Journal Article
Donnellan, S., & Giardiello, M. (2019)
Nanomedicines towards targeting intracellular Mtb for the treatment of tuberculosis. Journal of Interdisciplinary Nanomedicine, 4(3), 76-85. https://doi.org/10.1002/jin2.61
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), causes the most human deaths than any other diseases from a single infectious agent. Treatments are long and cos...

Intracellular PD Modelling (PDi) for the Prediction of Clinical Activity of Increased Rifampicin Dosing

Journal Article
Aljayyoussi, G., Donnellan, S., Ward, S. A., & Biagini, G. A. (2019)
Intracellular PD Modelling (PDi) for the Prediction of Clinical Activity of Increased Rifampicin Dosing. Pharmaceutics, 11(6), https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics11060278
Increasing rifampicin (RIF) dosages could significantly reduce tuberculosis (TB) treatment durations. Understanding the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamics (PK–PD) of increasing ...

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...

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...

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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