Dr Sean Mcginty
- Reader (Biomedical Engineering)
- Senior Senate Assessors for Student Conduct (Academic Services) (Academic Services)
telephone:
01413308588
email:
Sean.Mcginty@glasgow.ac.uk
Biography
I obtained a BSc in Mathematics & Physics from the University of Strathclyde, before completing a PhD in Applied Mathematics. Following some short postdoctoral positions, I moved into the industry, working in the Renewable Energy Sector, where my role involved forecasting the energy output of wind farms at the pre-construction stage. After two enjoyable years in industry, I returned to academia as Research Associate in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at the University of Strathclyde. Following this, I became Knowledge Exchange Associate in the Department, with the remit of helping Mathematics & Statistics colleagues to better engage with industry and other stakeholders.
I was appointed Lecturer at University of Glasgow in 2015, within the Division of Biomedical Engineering, where my mathematical modelling research is being applied to problems in biology and health. During this time, I became a Fellow of The Institute of Mathematics & its Applications (FIMA designation) and a Chartered Mathematician (CMath designation).
From 2016-2024, I was the Director of CMALS (Centre for Mathematics applied to the Life Sciences), a Scottish centre whose mission is to promote interdisciplinary research and scholarship in Mathematical Biology.
In 2020 I was promoted to Senior Lecturer and subsequently promoted to Reader the following year in 2021.
From 2019-2021, I served on the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences Strategic Advisory Team (SAT) and I have taken part in several EPSRC Mathematical Sciences Funding Prioritisation Panels. Further afield, I play a role in the strategic development of a number of other organisations related to Mathematical Sciences, including the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry (ECMI), where I lead a special interest group.
Since 2022, I have been the School lead for Impact Culture and in 2023, I took up a key leadership role as Senior Senate Assessor for Student Conduct.
Research interests
MaCBE: Mathematical and Computational Biomedical Engineering
I lead a group focussed on developing mathematical and computational tools to help understand biological processes, disease and treatment, in collaboration with leading experimental groups, clinical centres and industry. Our present research lies at the interface of computational modelling, healthcare and machine learning/AI. I have expertise in mathematical modelling of biological systems broadly within the application areas of drug discovery and drug delivery.
I am perhaps best known for my mathematical modelling of percutaneous coronary intervention (with stents and balloons) and have recently been recognised for my pioneering work in this area through the award of the Prof Tom Gibson Memorial prize. Highlights include the development of a novel drug-eluting stent in collaboration with industry and the NHS, the first predictive model of in vivo drug-eluting stent performance, as well as the first continuum computational model of restenosis subject to drug delivery from stents. My work in this area has culminated in the recent award of a major EPSRC grant enabling the creation of The EPSRC Centre for Future PCI Planning.
Some other interests include mathematical modelling of sonoporation using liquid-crystalline shelled microbubbles and theoretical modelling of phase separation in amorphous solid dispersions, using principles from thermodynamics and multi-component diffusion. I have expertise in modelling flow and mass transport in a number of biological applications, including cardiovascular medical implant design and optimization, and in the areas of drug delivery and drug discovery, physiological flows and bioreactor cell culture systems.
As well as the development of appropriate numerical methods, an important feature of my work is the use of analytical techniques (e.g. non-dimensionalisation, asymptotics and sensitivity analysis) to provide added value and to simplify the models whilst still capturing the important features.
Recent Highlights
- Award of The Professor Tom Gibson Memorial Prize for pineering work in the area of mathematical modleling of PCI procedures and devices
- Our paper "Constrained Bayesian optimization with a cardiovascular application" appears in Proceedings of The Royal Society A
- Our paper "An intricate interplay between stent drug dose and release rate dictates arterial restenosis" appears in J. Control. Release.
- Our paper on drug-coated balloons Mathematical modelling of endovascular drug delivery: Balloons versus stents - ScienceDirect appears in Int. J. Pharma.
- Our paper in Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances features in an Editor's choice collection focussing on recent breakthroughs in nanobiotechnology.
- our paper "Biomimetic Nanotherapies: Red Blood Cell Based Core-Shell Structured Nanocomplexes for Atherosclerosis Management" is published in Advanced Science
Professional activities
I am a former member of both the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences Strategic Advisory team (SAT) and the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences Early Career Forum, and a fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (FIMA designation). I also hold the CMath designation and am a member of the European Society of Biomechanics.
From 2016-2024, I was the Director of CMALS (Centre for Mathematics applied to the Life Sciences), a Scottish centre whose mission is to promote interdisciplinary research and scholarship in Mathematical Biology.
I am the director of the European Special Interest Group entitled "Implantable Devices and Drug Delivery Systems," which is supported by the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry (ECMI). Additionally, I recently acted as Guest Editor on the Feb 2016 Annals of Biomedical Engineering Special Issue "Medical Stents: State of the Art and Future Directions".
I am on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmacology, Mathematical Biosciences & Engineering and Frontiers in Medical Technology.
Research Impact, Knowledge Exchange and Public Engagement
I have a track record of collaborating with companies and clinicians to ensure that my work remains relevant and is driven by need. In addition, I engage with the general public to inspire the next generation of scientists and to showcase the value of my work. For example, I have given a talk in the Glasgow Pint of Science festival, have produced several images demonstrating the impact of our work, for public exhibition. Morover, In 2024 I organsied a College-wide Images of Impact Competition and Exhibition for display at the EXPLORATHON and Glasgow Doors Open festivals.
PhD Opportunities
I am very keen to hear from excellent students who wish to study for a PhD with me. Enquiries are warmly welcomed, although prospective students should investigate potential funding and/or scholarships (if required) before getting in touch.
Grants
• EPSRC (2024-2028), Centre for Future PCI Planning, EP/Z531182/1 (PI)
• Biosensors International (2021-2023), In silico assessment of DCB technology (PI)
• EPSRC (2020-2024), The SofTMech Statistical Emulation and Translation Hub (SofTMechSET), EP/T017899/1 (CI)
• EPSRC (2019-2023), SofTMech with MIT and POLIMI (SofTMechMP), EP/S030875/1 (CI)
• Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Studentship (2018-2022) (PI)
• The Carnegie Trust (2018), Mathematical modelling of sonoporation for a liquid crystal shell microbubble, (PI)
• Royal Society Newton Mobility Grant (2018-2020), Towards Next Generation Stenting - The Evaluation and Study On The Mechanical Behaviour of Novel Shape Memory Polymer Stents, (CI)
• EPSRC GCF ISF (2016-2017), Improved modelling for the design of optimized next generation drug-eluting stents, (PI)
• The Dr Hadwen Trust (2016), In-silico characterisation of the Kirkstall QV900 in-vitro system for advanced cell culture, (PI)
• NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Research Endowment Fund (2016-2017), Investigating the potential of mathematical modelling for the analysis of congenital heart disease, (PI)
• EU COST Action TD1409 MI-NET (2015-2016), Mathematical modelling training week with industry, (PI)
• EPSRC IAA (2016), Understanding the potential benefits of using bispecific versus monospecific antibodies (with Glaxosmithkline), (PI)
• EPSRC IAA (2016), Modelling drug penetration in 3D hepatocyte spheroids (with AstraZeneca), (PI)
• EPSRC POEMS Network Funding (2015), Computational modelling in healthcare: Making confident predictions in a world of error and uncertainty, (PI)
• EPSRC IAA New Company Engagement (2014-2015), Simulating complex flow and absorption in quasi-vivo cell culture systems (with Kirkstall Ltd.), (PI)
• Royal Society (2014-2016), Modelling drug release from polymer-free drug-eluting stents, (PI)
Supervision
PhD Students (as primary supervisor)
- Marcia McSwegan
- Rafic Ramses
- Silvia Renon
- Sarah Eccles
- Orla Conlon
- Lucia Dal Ferro
PhD Students (as joint supervisor)
- Parna Mandal (Jointly supervised with Prof Nigel Mottram)
- Sathish Kumar (Jointly supervised with Prof Nick Hill)
- Shitang Huang (Jointly supervised with Dr Ankush Aggarwal)
Former students and PDRAs
- Dr Danyang Wang
- Dr Rachel Lucena
- Bryan Scullion
- Dr James Cowley
- Dr David King
- Dr Lauren Hyndman
- Scott Black
- Dr Alistair McQueen
- Dr Andre Fensterseifer Schmidt
- Huang, Shiting
Computational modelling of changes in the right ventricular function following lung resection - Mandal, Parna
Mathematical modelling for optimising antibiotic release from medical implants to counteract biofilm formation - Renon, Silvia
A novel hybrid DCB + DES strategy for the treatment of coronary artery disease
Teaching
Current Courses
- ENG1063: Engineering Mathematics 1
- ENG4085: Integrated Systems Design Project 4 (ISDP4)
- ENG2098: Engineering in Biology 2
Additional information