Dr. Abina Crean graduated with a degree in Pharmacy from Robert Gordon's University, Aberdeen, Scotland. She completed a PhD in Pharmaceutics in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin. Dr. Crean was employed as a formulation scientist with Elan Pharmaceutical Technologies between 1997 and 2001 and as a Process Development Pharmacist at Servier (Ireland) Industries between 2002 and 2003. She joined the School of Pharmacy in UCC in 2003 upon establishment, she has been actively involved in the development of its research facilities and curriculum. As PI, she established a pharmaceutical technology research group in UCC and supervised a range research projects in the areas of pharmaceutical manufacturing and formulation science. A key element of her research is active collaborative projects with a number of pharmaceutical companies both SME and large multi-nationals. She is a funded researcher in the SFI funded SSPC - Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Pharmaceutical Research Centre.

My research interests are focused on the development of high quality, effective medicines through thorough investigation and understanding of the properties and associated behaviour of constituent materials (both API and excipients). Examples of current research projects include Development of quality by design strategies to study the critical material attributes of pharmaceutical excipientsEnabling continuous pharmaceutical solid oral dosage from manufacture through identification, control and monitoring of critical material attributes Formulation and characterisation of microneedle drug and vaccine delivery systemsDevelopment of silica-based drug formulations to enhance the oral bioavailability of therapeutic compounds challenged by poor-water solubility Biophysical characterisation, processing and formulation of peptide, protein and vaccine materialsManipulation of commercial dosage forms for administration to elderly patients

Undergraduate teaching: Pharmacy degree course module coordinator for module Introduction to Pharmaceutics: Formulation Science and major contributor to modules Pharmaceutical Technology, Novel Drug Delivery Systems and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Postgraduate teaching: Director of PG Certificate in (Bio)Pharma MSc (Pharmaceutical Technology and Quality Systems) module coordinator for modules in; Pharmaceutical Manufacturing - API to Finished Product and Pharmaceutical Plant and Process: From Design through Validation. Masters in Applied Sciences (Biotechnology) a contributor to module Biopharmaceuticals; Formulation Design, Secondary Processing and Regulatory Compliance.