Photosensitisers in Biomedicine
03 June 2009
Dr Mark Wainwright, Reader in Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in LJMU’s School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, has recently published a book entitled Photosensitisers in Biomedicine.
The book, published by Wiley (ISBN: 978-0-470-74494-9), offers a clear and comprehensive coverage of the many different photosensitiser types, including information on their applications which now extend beyond anticancer therapy.
Photosensitisers are light-absorbing compounds which use the absorbed light energy either to react with their environment. The book covers evenly both the different types of photosensitisers available and the applications of these, which now extend well beyond anticancer therapy. The photoantimicrobial application is of particular interest in 2009, given the increase, not only in microbial disease, but in the microbial resistance to conventional drugs which is circumvented by photoantimicrobial action. The application of photoantimicrobials in biological fluids (eg blood fractions) is also of considerable importance in the current era of HIV.
Dr Wainwright is a medicinal chemist who has worked in the field of photosensitising drug design and development since 1987. He is widely published in the area, particularly from the angle of infection control. He formed the University spin-out drug discovery company, Pharmalucia, in 2008.
