Dr Michael Nugent

Principal Investigator

Dr Michael Nugent received his BSc in Polymer Technology from Athlone IT in 1994 and his MPhil from Bradford University in 1998. Following a period in industry he was appointed lecturer in Athlone IT where he did a PhD, part time which he obtained in 2007. His research areas are polymer modification and stimuli sensitive polymers. He is currently supervising three MSc. Students. He is involved in preparing confidential reports for industry on polymer processing and drug delivery systems. He obtained €25,000 for research project on biomedical applications of polyelectrolytes in 2000 as part of the funding for strand III research in Athlone Institute of Technology. He obtained €25,000 for Strand I: Postgraduate R&D Skills Development for ‘Drug Delivery from Stimuli-sensitive polymers’ in 2003. He obtained €9,000 for feasibility study on Pipe / Profile Product Development from Waste Plastics 2006 from Enterprise Ireland. He was successful in 2006 as the lead supervisor in the Strand I: Postgraduate R&D Skills Development for ‘Development of a novel hydrogel coating’ with a budget of €34,000. He is co-researcher on a 2007 strand 3 project in the ‘development of rapid tests for detecting pulmonary toxicity in novel polymeric micellar nanoparticles’ which has a €400,000 research budget. He was successful in 2007 as the lead supervisor in the Strand I: Postgraduate R&D Skills Development for ‘Development of a novel composite hydrogel drug delivery system ’ with a budget of €38,000.

List of Publications

Journal Publications

Luke M. Geever, Ciaran C. Cooney, John G. Lyons, James E. Kennedy, Michael J.D. Nugent, Sinead Devery, Clement L. Higginbotham (2008) Characterisation and controlled drug release from novel drug-loaded hydrogels European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, In Press doi: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2007.12.021

Luke M. Geever, Ciaran C. Cooney, Declan M. Devine, Sinead M. Devery, Michael JD Nugent, Clement L. Higginbotham (2008) Negative temperature sensitive hydrogels in controlled drug delivery Macromolecular Symposia, 266 (1), 53-58

Luke M. Geever, Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2007) The effects of salts and pH buffered solutions on the phase transition temperature and swelling of thermoresponsive pseudogels based on N-isopropylacrylamide Journal of Materials Science, 42 (23), 9845-9854

Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2007) Preparation of a novel freeze thawed Poly (vinyl alcohol) composite hydrogel for drug delivery applications European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 67 (2), 377-386

Luke M. Geever, César M. Mínguez, Declan M. Devine, Michael J.D. Nugent, James E. Kennedy, John G. Lyons, Austin Hanley, Sinead Devery, Paul T. Tomkins, Clement L. Higginbotham (2007) The synthesis, swelling behaviour and rheological properties of chemically crosslinked thermosensitive copolymers based on N-isopropylacrylamide Journal of Materials Science, 42 (12), 30 June, 4136-4148

Luke M. Geever, Declan M. Devine, Michael J.D. Nugent, James E. Kennedy, John G. Lyons, Austin Hanley, Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) Lower critical solution temperature control and swelling behaviour of physically crosslinked thermosensitive copolymers based on N-isopropylacrylamide European Polymer Journal, 42 (10), 2540-2548

Michael J.D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) Investigation of the influence of freeze-thaw processing on the properties of polyvinyl alcohol / polyacrylic acid complexes Journal of Materials Science, 41 (8), 2393-2404

Luke M. Geever, Declan M. Devine, Michael J.D. Nugent, James E. Kennedy, John G. Lyons and Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) The synthesis, characterisation, phase behaviour and swelling of temperature sensitive physically crosslinked poly (1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogels European Polymer Journal, 42, 69-80

Michael J.D. Nugent, Austin Hanley, Paul T. Tomkins and Clement L. Higginbotham (2005) Investigation of a novel freeze-thaw process for the production of drug delivery hydrogels Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 16 (12), 1149-1158

Michael J.D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2004) Biomedical polymer research at AIT The Irish Scientist, 12, 55

A. K. Taraiya, M. Nugent, J. Sweeney, P. D. Coates, I. M. Ward (2000), Development of continuous die drawing production process for engineered polymer cores for wire ropes Plastics, rubber and composites, 29 (1), 46-50

Patents

Michael J.D. Nugent, Clement L. Higginbotham (2008) Composite Gel-based Materials PCT/EP2008/052387 Filed on the 27th-February

Luke M. Geever, Michael J D Nugent, Clement L. Higginbotham (2008) Controlled Drug Delivery using Negative Temperature Sensitive Hydrogels Proceedings of the 8th World Biomaterials Congress, May 28-June 1, RAI Conference Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Michael McGann, Michael J D Nugent, Clement L. Higginbotham (2008) Development of a polyvinyl alcohol cryogel for use as a drug delivery device Proceedings of the 8th World Biomaterials Congress, May 28-June 1, RAI Conference Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Michael J. D. Nugent, Clement L. Higginbotham (2007), Development of Novel Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) Composite Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications Proceedings of the International Congress on Biohydrogels, November 14-17, Congress Centre “Principe di Piemonte”, Viareggio, Italy

Luke Geever, Declan Devine, Michael Nugent, Clement L. Higginbotham (2007) Temperature sensitive poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) based gels for controlled drug delivery Proceedings of the 21st European Conference on Biomaterials, September 09 –13, Brighton, UK

Michael McGann, Clement L. Higginbotham, Michael Nugent, (2007) Development of novel hydrogels for drug delivery devices Proceedings of the 21st European Conference on Biomaterials, September 09 –13, Brighton, UK

Marta Carsi, Ricardo Diaz Calleja, Michael Nugent, Clement L. Higginbotham, Julio Guzman, Evaristo Riande (2007) Physicochemical characterisation of novel poly (2-ethoxyethylmethacrylate-co-2, 3 dihydroxypropylmethacrylate) membranes Proceedings of the 21st European Conference on Biomaterials, September 09 –13, Brighton, UK

Luke M. Geever, Declan M. Devine, Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2007) Controlled drug delivery using negative temperature sensitive hydrogels Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Frontiers in Biomedical polymers (FBPS 07), June 24 -27, Het Pand, Ghent, Belgium

Michael J. McGann, Michael J. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2007) Development of novel hydrogels for drug delivery devices Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Frontiers in Biomedical polymers (FBPS 07), June 24 -27, Het Pand, Ghent, Belgium

Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) Development of novel cryogels for biomedical applications Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Biomaterials, September 27 – October 01, Cite des Congres, Nantes, France

James E. Kennedy, Finbar B. Dolan, and Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) Investigation of the topography and swelling behaviour of UV polymerized thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) by the addition of various monomeric side groups for use as a stent drug eluting delivery system for cardiovascular conditions Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Biomaterials, September 27 – October 01, Cite des Congres, Nantes, France Oilbhe Lawlor, Dominik Kirf, John G. Lyons, Sinead M. Devery, Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) Physical characterization and toxicological evaluation of novel nanoclay filled polymer drug delivery vehicles Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Biomaterials, September 27 – October 01, Cite des Congres, Nantes, France

Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) Development of novel cryogels for biomedical applications Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Biomaterials for Drug Delivery and Regenerative Medicine, page 165, 11-16 June, Hotel La Residenza, Capri, Italy

Luke M. Geever, Declan M. Devine, Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) The synthesis, characterisation and drug release profile of temperature sensitive physically crosslinked N-isopropylacrylamide based hydrogels Proceedings of the Materials Congress, April 5-7, Carlton House Terrace, London, UK

Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2006) Investigation of a novel bi layer polyvinyl alcohol and poly acrylic acid cryogel for use in wound dressing applications Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Materials, Energy and Design (MED 06), Page 87, March 14-17, Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street, Dublin, Ireland

Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2005) Investigation of a novel freeze-thaw process for the production of drug delivery hydrogels Proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Biomaterials, September 11 – 15, Sorrento Palace Hotel, Sorrento, Italy

Luke Geever, Declan M. Devine, Michael J.D. Nugent, and Clement L Higginbotham (2005) Physically crosslinked temperature sensitive hydrogels for controlled release drug delivery Proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Biomaterials, September 11 – 15, Sorrento Palace Hotel, Sorrento, Italy

Luke M. Geever, Declan M. Devine, Michael J.D Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2005) The synthesis, characterisation and thermoreversible gelation of temperature sensitive physically crosslinked N-isopropylacrylamide based copolymers Proceedings of the Conference on Drug Delivery and Diffusion through Polymers, June 21, Institute of Physics, London, UK

Michael J.D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2004) Study of pH and temperature-sensitive polyvinylalcohol/ polyacrylic acid hydrogels Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Polymers in Medicine and Surgery, September 6-8, Robinson College, Cambridge

Luke M. Geever, Declan M. Devine, Michael J.D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2004) The synthesis, characterisation and swelling of temperature sensitive physically crosslinked N-isopropylacrylamide hydrogel copolymers Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Polymers in Medicine and Surgery, September 6-8, Robinson College, Cambridge

Clement L. Higginbotham, Declan M. Devine, Luke M. Geever, James E. Kennedy, Paul F. McDonald, Sean J. G. Lyons and Michael J.D. Nugent (2004) Investigation of polymer systems for biomedical applications Nanofabrication Symposium, March 10-12, Dundalk.

Clement L. Higginbotham, Declan M. Devine, Luke Geever, James E. Kennedy, Paul F. McDonald, John G. Lyons and Michael J.D. Nugent (2004) Characterisation of polymer systems for drug delivery applications Nanofabrication Symposium, March 10-12, Dundalk.

Declan M. Devine, Luke Geever, Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2004) Synthesis, characterisation and swelling studies of a temperature sensitive NVP based copolymer for drug delivery applications Materials Congress, March 30-April 1, London

Michael J. D. Nugent and Clement L. Higginbotham (2004) Characterisation of pH and thermo-responsive polyvinylalcohol and polyacrylic acid blends using rotational rheometry Materials Congress, March 30-April 1, London

Clement L. Higginbotham, Michael Nugent and Jacqueline Corkish (2002) Synthesis and characterisation of novel polyelectrolytes Materials Congress, April 9-11, London