5 May 2022, 11AM - 12PM

Edinburgh Innovations is proud to present the next event in the Spotlight on Industry series showcasing successful collaborations between University of Edinburgh researchers and industry partners. 

This event is of particular interest to research-active staff interested in the EPSRC IAA Open Call for Funding and wanting to engage with industry and is a great example of how university research can help address applied challenges. 

Join us online to hear how this event provides a unique opportunity to: 

• hear about an EPSRC IAA collaboration from both the company and the academic perspectives 
• explore how multidisciplinary industry partnerships can develop 
• learn what it is like to work with an industry partner and how this can benefit you and your career 
• ask your questions about the project and the EPSRC IAA during the audience Q&A session 

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About the project

This multidisciplinary project sought to understand the effects of environmental skin damage from different cleansing agents. Clinicians and physicists came together with industry expertise to seek the use of physical characterisation of the skin before and after damage. Successful characterisation of the skin would then lead to understanding the interaction mechanisms between the cleansing agent and the skin which the team can then translate the learnings to clinical relevance. The objective of this project was to bring a multidisciplinary team together to study the fundamental effects of skin damage due to cleansing agents by physical characterisation and how we can translate the findings into clinical relevance to reduce the number of cases of dermatitis. This would be a significant societal benefit across the world.

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Speakers

• Secondee - Dr Denise Li, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Soft Matter Physics,​ Institute for Condensed Matter Physics and Complex Systems​, University of Edinburgh

Dr Denise Li is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Soft Matter Physics. She completed her PhD under the Soft Matter and Functional Interfaces Centre for Doctoral Training (SOFI CDT) in 2018, studying the Structure and Stability of Phospholipids in Dermatological Formulations. Denise then went on to join the Physical Sciences team at Mondelēz International. Her role involved utilising and maximising the capabilities of the analytical facilities to support product development and problem solve manufacturing issues. She has experience working on various collaborative projects between academia and industry; sectors including chemical, food and personal care. Her research interest focusses on understanding the structure and phase behaviour of soft matter materials. This information enables us to determine the product’s functionality, stability and shelf life, for instance.

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• Industry Contact - Professor David Moore, Director, Scientific Engagement & Business Development (Europe), Tioga Research and also Honorary Professor of Skin Biophysics​, School of Physics​ and Astronomy at University of Edinburgh

David is based in the UK where he is responsible for scientific engagement and business development activities across Europe and Israel for Tioga Research. Since obtaining his PhD in biophysical chemistry at Rutgers University, David has spent his career in industrial R&D working in the USA and UK. From 2013 to 2020 David led skin health R&D innovation and product development activities at GSK working on dermo-cosmetic and OTC topical product development from laboratories in North Carolina, New Jersey, and the United Kingdom. Prior to his roles at GSK, David was an Institute Fellow at TRI-Princeton and the founding director of the TRI-Princeton Center for Applied Dermatology. Between 1996 and 2011 David worked in the R&D laboratories of Unilever and International Specialty Products (now Ashland), leading various R&D groups focused on skin barrier and membrane biophysics, measurement science, skin biology, soft matter, topical formulations and materials science. David has held visiting academic positions at Rutgers University and Princeton University and served as an industrial advisor to doctoral students at University College London, Stanford University, Princeton University, Rutgers University and more recently the universities of Newcastle, Durham, Leeds and Edinburgh. In addition to acting as a regular reviewer for many journals and grants, David has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers, review articles and book chapters in the fields of skin barrier science, topical delivery, lipid biophysics, spectroscopy and imaging, and presents often at international scientific and dermatological conferences. David is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and was co-chair of the 2019 Gordon Research Conference on The Barrier Function of Mammalian Skin. 

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Please register to attend this online event.

For assistance with registrations, please contact us on eievents@ei.ed.ac.uk