Olga Labovitiadi delivered her presentation at the Association’s annual meeting, in Geneva, Switzerland, and was presented with the award for a ‘First-time Presenter at an International Conference’.
Labovitiadi is currently in the final year of a PhD at the University’s School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. Dr Kerr Matthews and Dr Andrew Lamb are supervising her project, entitled ‘Formulation and evaluation of antimicrobial wafers as a novel technology for infection control in chronic wounds’.
Labovitiadi presented data generated over the last three years at the meeting, discussing the formulation of lyophilised antimicrobial wafers using biopolymers and the in-vitro testing of these wafers using a specifically designed, antimicrobial, vertical diffusion assay.
‘My research combines formulation science and microbiology, focusing on sustained antimicrobial release for topical delivery and infection control of suppurating chronic wounds,’ she said. ‘This essentially involves developing innovative transdermal technologies for topical drug delivery and wound healing.’
Labovitiadi was previously awarded first prize for her research on infected, non-healing wounds for her poster presentation ‘Microbiological (MRSA) and rheological testing of karaya antimicrobial wafers’ at the British Pharmaceutical Conference 2008 (Manchester).
