Dr Driton Vllasaliu

Driton is a registered pharmacist, having obtained a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree at the University of Nottingham, followed by the completion of pre-registration training at Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Driton gained his PhD (BBSRC Case award with UCB; Mucosal Protein Delivery) at the University of Nottingham. This was followed by further postdoctoral research in the same institution, working on the development of improved laboratory (in vitro) gut models. In November 2012 he was appointed to a lectureship at the University of Lincoln where he contributed towards the establishment of a new School of Pharmacy. He joined the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London as a Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics in April 2017. Driton’s research interests centre around overcoming the biological barriers to improve drug delivery and enable non-invasive delivery (e.g. oral) of drugs that currently require administration by injections. As part of this, he has specific interests in drug delivery systems, including nanomedicines (he was awarded an EPSRC ‘First Grant’ in this area), for mucosal delivery. He is also interested in drug delivery in mucosal diseases (e.g. Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and how such diseases influence drug absorption and delivery. Finally, aspects of Driton’s research relate to the creation of improved (more predictive) in vitro mucosal models for use in drug discovery and delivery research. The overarching aim of Driton’s activity is to improve patient outcomes through translational drug delivery research.