Image: Dr Laurence Fitzhenry
A pre-college course led SETU’s Dr Laurence Fitzhenry into a research career, where he now has his eye on new technologies to make more effective and patient-friendly ophthalmic treatments.
Dr Laurence Fitzhenry’s academic career started at South East Technological University (SETU), formerly Waterford Institute of Technology.
He began with an undergraduate in applied chemistry followed by a PhD in polymer and analytical chemistry. From there, his postdoctoral work focused on the delivery of drugs from contact lenses and this sparked an interest in ocular drug delivery. He became a technology leader at the Pharmaceutical and Molecular Biotechnology Research Centre and a member of the academic staff at SETU.
Since then, he has founded the Ocular Therapeutics Research Group and become the project coordinator for the EU-funded ORBITAL-ITN project, a consortium with members from Europe, the US and Canada that focuses on developing and testing ocular drug delivery technologies.
‘We work on using nanotechnology and other smart materials to ensure that the drug that is supposed to get to the eye reaches the eye – and once it is there, that it stays there’
– DR LAURENCE FITZHENRY
Tell us about the research you’re currently working on.
My main research focus is on the development of technologies for the delivery of therapeutics to treat ophthalmic conditions.
The eye is an incredibly well-designed organ. We can walk around all day in many environments, and it keeps out bacteria, viruses and other things that can cause problems. However, when things break down, those same protective mechanisms make it difficult to get sufficient drugs to the site of treatment. For example, as much as 95pc of the drug in an eye drop can be washed away by tears and blinking, while conditions of the back of the eye (the posterior segment) often require regular injections to help maintain vision.
As such, I work on the development of nanomaterials, contact lenses and other devices that can make delivery of drugs to the eye more patient-friendly and more effective. I also work on the development of new drug combinations and the repurposing of drugs used for other diseases. We have a team of chemists, engineers, biologists, formulation scientists, commercial researchers and project managers, while we work with a broader team of clinicians, patient advocacy groups and, importantly, people who live with ophthalmic conditions.
The areas we focus on are important to the front of the eye (the part we can see) and include inflammation and ocular surface disease such as dry eye disease, as well as conditions that impact the back of the eye and which can have significant impact on vision and can result in sight loss.
Our research started during my first postdoctoral project where we looked at making contact lenses with biomimetic recognition properties that would allow the extended release of drugs. From there, the team started to grow and we began incorporating nanoparticles to both contact lenses and eye drops, with the view of minimising the dosage burden for patients. We work on using nanotechnology and other smart materials to ensure that the drug that is supposed to get to the eye reaches the eye – and once it is there, that it stays there.
In your opinion, why is your research important?
A particular area of interest for us is age-related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 50. Similarly, many people living with diabetes can go on to develop diabetic retinopathy, which can have a major impact on vision.
Both are treated by delivering sight-saving drugs to the back of the eye using intravitreal injections, in many cases on a monthly basis. As well as being potentially difficult for patients, this can have a number of side effects and has been reported to impact on patient compliance. With population growth and population ageing, these conditions are expected to increase in the coming years and with that a growing burden on both society and the people living with such conditions.
There are a number of incredibly successful drugs that help prevent further sight loss, so our work is focused on developing more patient-focused technologies that can minimise or negate the need for these injections and can help get these sight-saving drugs to the back of the eye without having to attend for regular injections.
If we can develop a contact lens or a more efficient eye drop that uses, for example, nanocarriers to overcome the natural protective barriers of the eye, we can help give patients and their carers more options to maintain their sight.
We aim to ensure that everything we work on has been informed by the people who live with these conditions, the clinicians and those that care for many of these ageing patients. This gives us the best chance to help develop technologies that can have a real impact on everyone involved.
What inspired you to become a researcher?
After a career change or two, and once my three children were in school, I started to think about what I had enjoyed most while I had been a student. I realised that some of my fondest memories of school were sitting in a science class or doing an experiment. I decided to take on a pre-college course to see if I still loved science and it just really started from there.
I loved every second of that course, decided to do my undergraduate degree and it just got more and more interesting. I really enjoyed listening to descriptions of chemical reactions and imagining what was happening at the molecular level.
To be honest, I didn’t really know what a PhD was. But I had two great supervisors, Prof Peter McLoughlin and Dr Pat Duggan, for my final-year undergraduate project and when they suggested I could apply for funding to work on that for another four years, I was pretty much sold. I don’t think I really thought of it as research for a long time, but once I finished my PhD I realised that what we were doing was adding our own small part to a much bigger picture and helping people, in however small a way, to develop technologies that can have a real impact on the world.
I would say that seeing what other scientists do and how hard they work is a really inspiring thing. As I moved further into the area of ocular drug delivery and began to speak more and more with people living with serious eye conditions, I realised how interested they were in research and the hopes they have for improved technologies and that really motivates me.
A lot of my work involves the training of the next generation of PhD researchers. In my own group, and the European consortium I coordinate, I am amazed at the creativity, enthusiasm and motivation of these early-stage researchers and it keeps me focused on improving my own skills and always being open to learning new things.
What are some of the biggest challenges or misconceptions you face as a researcher in your field?
I think one of the challenges we face is helping people to understand the time it takes to develop a new technology. When we talk to people about our work, I think we have a responsibility to manage expectations and not to over-promise.
When we report on exciting results, I think it is a big challenge for people to highlight that it is often just the beginning of many more experiments that could eventually lead to a treatment option for people. I believe that scientists take this responsibility very seriously – but, occasionally, this can be a challenge.
Do you think public engagement with science has changed in recent years?
I do see that people are more engaged with science in recent years. For example, the use of lipid nanoparticles in recent vaccines has made it much easier for me to explain my work to non-scientists. I would like to think that there is an increase in awareness of the work that variety of work that scientists are involved in and the different areas of expertise.
In our own research group, we try and encourage engagement with our work by training researchers in how to effectively communicate science to the public, using social media profiles and developing a website that helps highlight some of the work we do.
We have also invited people living with ophthalmic conditions to speak to our team, while we have organised a large event where we invited patients, carers and clinicians to sit and have coffee with our researchers to share experiences from both sides. Our researchers also take part in things like PubhD and Pint of Science, two really great initiatives that help people engage in science.
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