University Pharmacy School opens £3.3 million teaching facility

The University of Aston has celebrated the opening of its £3.3 million pharmacy teaching laboratories comprising accessible facilities, a new asepsis suite and technician prep room.

Capable of accommodating 83 students at a time, the new facility was launched by guest of honour Professor Tony Hickey, professor emeritus of pharmacoengineering and molecular pharmaceutics of the Eshelman School of Pharmacy. An Aston University alumnus, Professor Hickey conducts a multidisciplinary research programme in pulmonary drug and vaccine delivery.

Designed with inclusivity in mind, the laboratories have height-adjustable benches, rise-and-fall sinks and an audiovisual system that works with hearing aids and is noise cancelling. Sound baffles on the ceiling act to dampen the high noise levels common in busy laboratories and large visual screens which can also link to optical magnification equipment have been provided for teaching presentations. Real-time transcription software provides lecture subtitles on the screens.

The fully working asepsis suite will also allow MSc, MPharm and Overseas Pharmacy Assessment Programme (OSPAP) students to prepare drugs such as chemotherapy drugs and cytotoxic drugs, as well as new drugs for trials, and manipulate formulations.

All parties, including the laboratory technicians who will help to run the laboratories, were involved in designing the laboratories, ensuring operator comfort.

The Office for Students (OfS), which is the independent regulator of higher education in England, provided funding for the laboratories.

“It was a great honour to open such an outstanding facility and to see both the impact it will make on pharmacists and the investment that the University has made in their future,” said Professor Hickey.

Professor Liz Moores, deputy dean of the College of Health and Life Sciences, said: “We are delighted with the new labs and grateful to the Office for Students for their funding. The labs will enable staff to provide an enhanced educational experience to students in a more comfortable, modern and inclusive environment.

Dr Joe Bush added: “We are the only pharmacy school in the UK to hold a prestigious Regius Chair in Pharmacy, awarded by the monarch, and have strong established links with the pharmaceutical industry. The innovative and high-impact research that takes places within the school is fed into our programmes of study, ensuing our students have access to the latest trends and thinking in the field.”

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