Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
Dr Marisa van Der Merwe
Senior Lecturer
Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
St. Michael’s Building
White Swan Road
Portsmouth
PO1 2DT
Profile
Marisa graduated with a BPharm (Cum Laude) from the University of Potchefstroom, Republic of South Africa (RSA) in 1998. She then went on to complete an MSc in Pharmaceutics (Cum Laude) which was awarded in 2000 from the University of Potchefstroom, RSA and also registered as a pharmacist with the South African Pharmacy Council. Her research for her MSc focussed on investigating the in vitro toxicity profile of N-trimethyl chitosan chloride (TMC), a mucosal absorption enhancer used in the delivery of peptide drugs.
Upon completion of her MSc, Marisa was awarded a prestigious Nelson Mandela Scholarship from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands allowing her to do her PhD research in the group of Prof. Dr. Hans Junginger in Pharmaceutics at Leiden Amsterdam Center for Drug Research. Prof. Junginger’s laboratory was world renowned for the work done in the delivery of peptide drugs with various mucosal absorption enhancers as well as mucosal vaccination. Her work during her studies in Leiden focussed on developing solid oral dosage forms for the oral delivery peptide drugs with TMC. She was awarded a PhD from the University of Potchefstroom, RSA in 2003.
Marisa was appointed in 2003 as a postdoctoral fellow at North West University, South Africa, in collaboration with MeyerZall Laboratories Pty. Ltd. (RSA), to investigate EmzaloidTM Technology as a mucosal vaccine delivery system.
In September 2004 Marisa was appointed as a Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the University of Portsmouth and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics in September 2005. Apart from her responsibilities as Deputy Head, Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, lecturing and course design related to the MPharm degree of the University of Portsmouth, she is also involved in several post graduate research projects either as principal investigator or co-supervisor and has is also serving on University committees since 2010.
Qualifications
BPharm, MSc, PhD
Research Interests
Marisa has a broad research interest which includes:
- Clinical Pharmaceutics: a strong collaboration has been established with Southampton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (UHS) and more specifically Southampton Pharmacy Research Centre (SPRC).
- Chitosan derivatives as absorption enhancers for peptide drug delivery.
- Mucosal vaccine delivery.
- The use of carbon nanotubes in drug delivery.
- The application of electro-spraying and –spinning in drug delivery.
To view more specific details of the research done in collaboration with SPRC please see the Clinical Pharmaceutics Group page.
Research Collaborators
Andy Fox – Director, SPRC, UHS, Southampton.
Caroline Cole - SPRC, UHS, Southampton.
Dr Amanda Bevan - SPRC, UHS, Southampton.
Dr Gary Connett – UHS, Southampton.
Dr Zeeshan Ahmad – Leicester School of Pharmacy, De Montford University, Leicester.
Dr Dimitris Fatouros - School of Pharmacy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Prof. AF Kotzé – Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, North-West University, South Africa.
External Funding/Research Grants
| October 2011 | Chemical And Physical Compatibility Of Continuous Intravenous Drug Infusion Combinations Used In Paediatric Intensive Care awarded by the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacist Group with Andy Fox and Caroline Cole (University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. - £41,003 |
| October 2009 | Nebulisation of IV drugs grant awarded by Charlotte Francis May Foundation with A Bevan and G Connett (University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust - £3,700 |
PhD students and postdoctoral Researchers at Portsmouth University
- DICKSON, L. Chemical And Physical Compatibility Of Continuous Intravenous Drug Infusion Combinations Used In Paediatric Intensive Care. Postdoctoral Researcher, Oct 2012 – October 2013.
- NAZAR, H. Thermosensitive hydrogels for nasal delivery. PhD student, Feb 2008 – Feb 2012, awarded.
- SMITH, A. Smart nano-structures for novel drug delivery systems. PhD student, October 2011 - present
Teaching and pastoral care responsibilities
- Deputy Head, Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Year 3 tutor for the MPharm pathway
- TurningPoint Audience Response System coordinator
- Industrial Pharmacy liaison
- Teaching contribution on the following unit which includes lectures, workshops, tutorials and laboratory classes:
- Introduction to Formulation (current)
- Pharmaceutical Formulation (current)
- Pharmaceutical Formulation and Quality Assurance (from 2014)
- Design and Advanced Delivery of Drugs (current)
- Design and Advanced Delivery of Drugs in new MPharm degree (from 2015)
- IPL for year 1
- Supervisor of MPharm final year projects
- Personal tutor for MPharm tutees level 4 to level 7
Internal University Committees
Faculty
- Member of academic council – from October 2012
University
- Academic Staff Representative on the Student’s and General Affairs Committee of the Board of Governors
Recent Publications
More recent publications
Publications before 2006
Van der Merwe SM, Verhoef JC, Kotze AF & Junginger HE, Chitosan and trimethylated chitosan as polymeric absorption enhancers for improved mucosal delivery of peptide drugs, European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 5, 225-235, 2004.
Van der Merwe SM, Verhoef JC, Kotze AF & Junginger HE, N-trimethyl chitosan chloride (TMC) as absorption enhancer in oral peptide drug delivery. Development and characterisation of minitablet and granule formulations, European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 5, 85–91, 2004.