The Perinatal Pharmacology Group

The perinatal period represents a critical developmental window during which the health and wellbeing of future generations is laid down. Led by Dr Adeniyi Olagunju, research within the Perinatal Pharmacology Group is focused on broadening our understanding of drug safety and efficacy during pregnancy and lactation. Working across three domains (human-relevant in vitro modelling, in silico modelling and clinical research), our goal is to generate actionable knowledge that will facilitate early recommendations for safe use of long-acting medicines during the perinatal period.

Georgia Duffy

Georgia obtained both a BSc (hons) in Pharmacology and a Master of Research in Biomedical Sciences and Translational Medicine (Women’s and Children’s Health) from the University of Liverpool. She is now undertaking her PhD within CELT as a member of the Perinatal Pharmacology Group. She is working on the Long-acting Antipsychotics for Mental Ill-health in Pregnancy and Postpartum (LAMP) study (ClinicalTrials.Gov ID: NCT05766007). The overarching aim of the multi-centre cohort study is to advance our understanding of the pharmacology of long-acting antipsychotics during pregnancy and lactation. 

Mark Ryan

Mark is a Scientific Data Curator within the Perinatal Pharmacology Group. He is working on new open access initiatives aimed at facilitating access to the clinical development landscape of long-acting therapeutics, and the pharmacokinetic data of therapeutics in human pregnancy. Through these initiatives, we will support the curation of data generated from research within our group, and by collaborators and other scientists in globally representative, open access databases. Mark holds a BSc in Biochemistry and a Master of Research in Advanced Biological Sciences from the University of Liverpool. He previously worked in industry as a biocurator.

Elly (Mariella) Monyo

Mariella obtained her BSc in Physiology & Pharmacology with a minor in Toxicology at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. She is currently doing her MSc in Pharmacology and Toxicology here at the University of Liverpool. In her research project, she will explore differences in fetal exposure resulting from maternal administration of immediate-acting oral versus long-acting injectable formulation of a selected antipsychotic drug.

Philip Bediako-Kakari

Philip obtained a BSc in Pharmacology and is now enrolled on the MSc Pharmacology and Toxicology programme here at the University of Liverpool. His research project will investigate differences in fetal exposure resulting from maternal administration of immediate-acting oral versus long-acting injectable formulation of a selected antipsychotic drug. He is passionate about the in silico modelling components of the project.

Former group members

Srivarshini Chenumalla

Srivarshini has a background in biotechnology with both BSc and MSc degrees from the Osmania University College for Women, Hyderabad, and considerable wet lab experience. She completed the MSc Bioinformatics course here in 2023 to broaden her knowledge and acquire new computational skills applicable to drug development. Combining her previous experiences and new knowledge from the bioinformatics course, she used in silico models to explore maternal and fetal exposure to antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy.

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