News from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology
Updates from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology and Upcoming Events
April 27, 2023:
Congratulations to The SURE Network, [Irish IOT/TU sector] who won the best Career Impact Strategy Award at the 2023 Education Awards held on the April 27, 2023 in the Crowne Plaza, Dublin. The Education Awards recognise, encourage and celebrate excellence in the third-level education sector on the island of Ireland.
The Award Categories are designed to highlight the key areas that impact student performance and provide opportunities for providers of Higher Education and Further Education and Training, their employees and contributors, to have their achievements recognised across the various important facets of their operation.
Dr. Anne Friel, Dr. Carmel Kealey, Head of Department, Dr. Anne Marie O’Brien and Dr. Cathy Brougham, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology at TUS, part of the SURE Network Team who won the Overall Career Impact Strategy Award at The Education Awards 2023.
The following video captures the announcement of the Award in Dublin: Career Impact Strategy Award at The Education Awards 2023.
February 15, 2023:
Well done to all members of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology who engaged with the TUS Internal Panel this morning as part of the Quality Assurance and Enhancement process in Programmatic Review 2023.
The Internal Panel provided some excellent and constructive feedback to the Team, which will greatly enhance the programme documentation to be submitted as the Department prepares for the visit of the External Validation Panel shortly due to evaluate its revised suite of programmes. The Department is very excited about its plan to integrate a 30 ECTS credit Work Placement module in Semester 6 of Year 3 on the Level 7 BSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Drug Development and Analysis), Level 8 BSc(Hons) in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Level 7 BSc in Biotechnology and Level 8 BSc(Hons) in Biotechnology undergraduate programmes in the Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology domains. This development is very much in response to student demand and should make all the programmes offered in the Department more attractive to potential applicants seeking a Work-Based Learning (WBL) component in their programmes of study. The Department has already in place a Work Placment module in its BSc(Hons) degree programme in Pharmacology.
February 13, 2023:
As part of the Government of Ireland Human Capital Initiative (HCI) Pillar 3 Project, members of the TUS Team from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology visited their colleagues at the Department of Chemistry at Maynooth University today to view their new AV facilties in their Chemistry Laboratories. The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology at TUS are currently planning an upgrade of their AV facilities in their Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biochemistry Laboratories. This upgrade of facilities is supported by funding from the HCI Project. The project involves a consortium of five higher education institutions, Maynooth University (lead), Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest (TUS), Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT), University College Cork (UCC) and Dublin City University (DCU) who have come together to work on an innovative projected focused on the use of virtual laboratories as a teaching tool for the chemical sciences. Further information on the project is found on the HCI Virtual Labs. Website. The following short video on the HCI Project on Virtual Labs. also provides an introduction to the aim of this project which TUS is very pleased to be involved in.
February 13, 2023:
The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology is currently at the planning stage of developing an exciting, new MSc in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Analysis, which is it is hoping to launch in September 2023 (subject to formal validation of the programme through TUS's normal Quality Assurance Processes).
Aim of Proposed Programme:
This proposed interdisciplinary MSc programme in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Analysis is designed to provide participants with industry-informed, expert knowledge and skills, in the application of modern, state-of-the-art, analytical techniques, which focus on pharmaceutical ingredients, products and other chemicals.
Objective of Proposed Programme:
This postgraduate programme has been designed to address the needs of industry across the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors. The programme is aimed in particular at addressing current employment shortages and skills deficits in pharmaceutical and chemical analytics. This MSc programme is designed for science graduates and scientists currently employed in industry, who, through a multidisciplinary targeted approach, wish to further develop their analytical skills in advanced drug analysis, chemical analysis and toxicology. Enhancement of environmental sustainability by the pharmaceutical and chemical industries will also be a key objective for the programme to address.
Expert training on the use of state-of-the-art, analytical, instrumentation will be provided. Graduates will gain insight into emerging developments in the growing, multinational, pharmaceutical sector in Ireland and across the EU. The programme will be delivered by a highly skilled, interdisciplinary team of academic staff, with analytical expertise across multiple domains (pharmaceutical and chemical sciences, pharmacy, pharmacology and toxicology). The proposed programme will have a strong focus on the requirements of the pharmaceutical and chemical industries in a multinational, global setting. The programme will also draw on a wide body of industry partners at various stages in the delivery of the programme.
One of the main objectives of the MSc programme once formally approved will be to deliver a wide range of experimental-focused, analytical skills in modern laboratory settings.* The programme also aims to equip the graduate to pursue a career as an analytical scientist employed in the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors or to prepare the graduate to embark on further postgraduate research studies across the pharmaceutical and chemical sciences. Through successfully completing this programme, the learner will acquire the competence to excel in the laboratory as an analytical scientist and facilitate career progression in this rewarding and multinational, industry-orientated field.
February 12, 2023:
The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biotechnology in the Faculty of Science and Health at TUS is looking forward again to being involved in SciFest 2023. SciFest 2023 will take place on the Athlone campus of TUS on Wednesday 26 April 2023 (Save the Date!). Further information can be found on the SciFest website.