• The new laboratory has been designed with accessibility in mind
• Funding to build the laboratory and associated asepsis suite came from the Office for Students
• Up to 83 students can be accommodated in the new teaching laboratory, which was officially opened by distinguished alumnus Professor Tony Hickey.

Aston University Pharmacy School officially opened its new £3.3m pharmacy teaching laboratories on 24 September 2024.

The state-of-the-art main teaching laboratory has accessible facilities and is capable of accommodating 83 students at a time. There is also a new asepsis suite and technician prep room. The much-upgraded facilities will set the standard for all future new laboratories in the College of Health and Life Sciences.

Professor Tony Hickey, professor emeritus of pharmacoengineering and molecular pharmaceutics of the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, was the guest of honour at the opening ceremony on 24 September 2024. Professor Hickey is an Aston University alumnus, having obtained PhD and DSc degrees in pharmaceutical sciences from the University. He conducts a multidisciplinary research programme in pulmonary drug and vaccine delivery.

Professor Hickey cut the ribbon to officially open the new facilities and gave a short presentation on the importance of educational background, and his research.

Aston University’s 2030 strategy includes a focus on inclusion, and the new laboratories have been designed with inclusivity in mind, with the provision of height-adjustable benches, fume hoods and safety cabinets suitable for students in wheelchairs. Rise-and-fall sinks have also been fitted.

The audiovisual system works with hearing aids and is noise cancelling. There has also been consideration of acoustics for the comfort of all students with sound baffles on the ceiling, due to the high noise levels common in busy laboratories. Large visual screens have been provided for teaching presentations, which can also link to optical magnification equipment. This will allow students to see demonstrations clearly, and particularly helpful for students with certain visual impairments. Real-time transcription software provides lecture subtitles on the screens.

Postgraduate students are also catered for. The fully working asepsis suite will 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.

There is a dedicated space for lab-based research projects, equipped with a suite of new equipment for pharmaceutical characterisation. This is extremely important to prepare pharmacy students for industry, and give them experience in pharmaceutical science and drug delivery.

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.

Professor Hickey said at the event:

“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.”

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. We welcome everyone to study at Aston University and have tried to design the labs to be accessible to students with disabilities and neurodivergence, as well as having the highest standards of safety. Getting this right for everyone will be an ongoing process, listening to student feedback as we go, but it’s a process we are committed to.

Dr Joe Bush, head of Aston Pharmacy School, says:

“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. The new laboratory facilities further our aim of providing the best educational experience to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, while enabling all of our students to use our cutting-edge laboratory equipment in comfortable, inclusive, sector-leading facilities.”