Speakers

Walkiria has over 25 years of experience in academia and is currently Professor of Pharmaceutics at the Leicester School of Pharmacy, De Montfort University. She has led the creation of the first MSc in Pharmaceutical Quality by Design (QbD), in collaboration with partners from the pharmaceutical industry and related supply chain. Her expertise is in the areas of polymer science and technology, advanced techniques for materials’ characterisation, pharmaceutical Quality by Design, continuous processes for early phase product development and manufacture using in-line monitoring process technology and design of experiments. She was responsible for the development and implementation of innovative teaching and research initiatives for the MSc in QbD programme. These include a new e-learning platform and a new state-of-the-art "hands-on training facility" based on continuous manufacture and QbD practices. She has collaborative projects with national and international universities and works in close collaboration with industry.

Kendal G. Pitt, Ph.D (London University), B.Pharm (University of Nottingham) has worked in the Pharmaceutical Industry for over 30 years, most recently as Senior Technical Director, Solid Dosage Forms, Global Supply Chain at GlaxoSmithKline based at Ware, UK. Currently he is an Honorary Professor at Leicester School of Pharmacy, De Montfort University and a visiting Professor at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde. He is a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (FRPharmS), Associate Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers (AFIChemE), and a Fellow of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FAPS). In addition, he has worked at the Wellcome Foundation Ltd., Roche Pharmaceuticals and for Merck. He has headed groups in both the United States and Great Britain and has led project teams responsible for the successful filing and launch of both tablets, capsules and freeze-dried oral dosage forms. Primary research interests are in powder compaction, powder flow and granulation process optimisation, including the use of compaction simulators in tablet and capsule product development. He has additionally published in the areas of formulation and design for nasal delivery of pharmaceuticals and on statistical design of experiments, and has authored chapters on pharmaceutical formulation, on tabletting, and on mechanical strength testing.

Gavin Reynolds is a Senior Principal Scientist in Process Engineering and Digital, based within Pharmaceutical Technology and Development at AstraZeneca, Macclesfield and is also a Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. His interests include applying mechanistic modelling and simulation to pharmaceutical processes and driving the implementation of digital twins. He is a Fellow of the IChemE and has authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications.

Since joining I Holland in 2004 Rob has been instrumental in the development of I Holland’s PharmaCote® range of surface treatments and coatings for tablet compression tooling designed to improve properties such as wear resistance, corrosion resistance and antistick characteristics. He was also part of the Eurostandard steering committee and responsible for I Holland’s registration to ISO 9001:2015. Rob holds multiple patents linked to solid dose manufacture. Rob also co-ordinates I Holland’s close collaboration with various respected academic research bodies.

Thorsten has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for some 30 years, mainly in the formulation R&D centres of different pharmaceutical companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim. He is a process engineer with a focus on pharmaceutical technology. His main profession lies in the formulation development, process optimization, and up-scaling of solid oral dosage forms. Since 2005, Thorsten is Manager of the European Pharma Application Lab for BASF, based at headquarters, Ludwigshafen, Germany. In his current position, he supports customers in Europe, CIS Countries, Middle East, and Africa in the field of product applications, feasibility studies, formulation development, process optimization, and scale-up. His field of expertise comprises the development of nasal sprays, syrups, and solid oral dosage forms, including orally disintegrating, modified release, and film coated dosage forms. Furthermore, he intensively worked in the field of solubility enhancement via hot-melt-extrusion. Thorsten has written several publications, articles and book chapters and holds different patents in the field of pharmaceutical technology.

Nils Rottmann studied Pharmaceutical Technology and Quality Management at the University of Applied Science in Lippe & Hoexter. He gained first practical experience during an apprenticeship as a pharmaceutical production worker at Baxter Oncology between 1999 and 2002. After his studies, he joined BASF in 2007 as project engineer in the Global Research and Formulation Group. Since 2009 he is part of the Technical Service team of BASF SE in Ludwigshafen/Germany.

Since 2020 Dr. Friederike Gütter is Process Expert at the KORSCH Innovation Centre Lab in Berlin, helping customers with tablet formulation development and tabletting process related inquiries. After studying pharmacy at TU-Braunschweig, she completed her PhD in pharmaceutical technology at the CAU Kiel in 2018. Afterwards, she intensified her knowledge in solid dosage forms as project manager at the contract manufacturer Rottendorf Pharma GmbH, Ennigerloh.

Bruno Leclercq is a senior pharmacist working in business development at MEDELPHARM, headquartered in Lyon, France, an international company dedicated to a continuous search for innovative solutions in powder compression and processing technologies in order to create the ultimate tool for scientists in R&D. Bruno is an experienced pharmaceutical technical Manager with extensive knowledge in solid form technology and processes. He can look back to more than 15 years of International experience in meeting, advising and solving customers’ formulations and production problems in Europe, SEA and the US.

Troels is specialist in advanced manufacturing equipment for high-quality pharmaceutical process development and production solutions. He has published researcher focused on investigating physical pharmaceutical material interactions in both batch and continuous processes to identify critical parameters and process environment differences. He is experienced in developing empirical and mechanistic models for process stability and quality studies using in-line NIR analysis as a PAT.As an industrial PhD candidate at Novo Nordisk, he worked on both in- and off-line chemical analysis using near infrared spectroscopy for analytical method development. His post-graduate research included facilitating tech transfer between batch and continuous processes using mathematical modelling, such as MATLAB, to determine residence time distributions.

Martin Hofsaess studied pharmacy at the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. After obtaining his license as a pharmacist in 2016, he did his PhD studies in pharmaceutical technology at the lab of Prof. Dr. Jennifer Dressman. He joined BASF’s Development Pharma Solutions R&D team in 2020 and currently holds a position as R&D scientist for digital formulation development. The focus of his work is developing new features for BASF Pharma Solutions virtual formulation assistant ZoomLab®.

Richard brings over two decades of hands-on experience in tablet tool manufacturing to his role as Design Office Manager at I Holland. He began his career with the company in 2000 as an apprentice, gaining in-depth knowledge across every stage of the manufacturing process. In 2008, Richard transitioned to the design office, where his technical expertise and leadership earned him a promotion to his current position in 2015. Today, Richard not only leads I Holland’s design team but also plays a pivotal role in the Customer Support Group, providing expert guidance on a wide range of tablet tooling challenges and solutions.

Oli began his journey with I Holland in 2007, starting in the factory, where he gained invaluable hands-on experience in tool manufacturing and production processes. In 2020, he transitioned to the design team, applying his extensive manufacturing expertise. His practical knowledge and dedication led him to join the Customer Support Group, where he provides expert technical support and training across a variety of issues. He also plays a key role in I Holland's interactive tablet design service and actively participates in customer seminars, showcasing his commitment to excellence and customer collaboration.

Dr Chantal Mustoe has been a Research Fellow at the CMAC Medicines Manufacturing Research Centre at the University of Strathclyde since 2021. With almost ten years research experience in chemistry, machine learning, and automation in chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC), she has worked in a variety of interdisciplinary environments across industry, academia and government. As part of CMAC's Digital CMC Centre for Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI), she is currently responsible for developing training in digital tools for industry, academic and regulatory stakeholders.

Matheus de Castro holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil). He gained several years of industry experience at Sanofi, where he managed the manufacturing of solid, semisolid, and liquid dosage forms. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, with a focus on modelling amorphous solid dispersions. In parallel, he works as a Research Assistant within CMAC’s Digital CMC initiative, contributing to the Centre for Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI).