SHYMKENT – A Kazakh biochemist from the University of Warwick, the UK, has invented a highly unique device for testing drugs at cheaper cost, more quickly, efficiently, and accurately.
“My application seemed interesting to Dr. Stefan Bon at the University of Warwick. Following a successful interview, he offered me the opportunity of becoming a PhD student within his group,” Dr. Gabit Nurumbetov told Coventry Telegraph while remembering his PhD scholarship interview back in 2010.
His new invention is an improved, miniaturized, and multiplexed version of a Franz cell – an In vitro device commonly used to test transdermal drugs.
Nurumbetov diffusion cell tests the release of drug from a transdermal patch in a fraction of the time it takes when using standard equipment.
The Kazakh invention facilitates testing as much as 108 formulations of a drug per day, in comparison to only 12 per day for traditional Franz cells.
This new diffusion cell, which is patented by Medherant, is made of chemically resistant engineering strong plastic, such as that used on Formula 1 cars.
“I made the first drawings. I shared my thoughts with my boss, who is a chief researcher. He approved it. We ordered the necessary things and we made the device. We compared it with the original and we have a 100% correlation which means there is no difference, but it’s much more productive,” said the youth doctor hailing from the Central Asian Muslim country of Kazakhstan.
Nurumbetov now works for Medherant Ltd, a spin-out of the University of Warwick which produces next-generation drug delivery patches since 2015.
Promising Motherland
The biochemist, a native of Shymkent city in the south of Kazakhstan, graduated in 2009 from the Kazakh-British Technical University in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty.
In 2010, Nurumbetov joined the University of Warwick as a PhD student to study polymer chemistry under the supervision of Professor Bon.
After successfully receiving his PhD certificate, the Kazakh scientist was employed as a researcher in Professor David Haddleton’s group, working on improving polymerization performance for industrial partners.
“Being a member of the Bon Lab for three years and the Haddleton Group as a postdoctoral researcher for two-and-a-half years, I had a chance to broaden my knowledge and learn how to apply it to real-life applications,” expressed the humble inventor who sees his future in his motherland Kazakhstan and plans to return after gaining sufficient experience to actively promote the development of the pharmaceutical industry in his Muslim country.
In acknowledgment of Nurumbetov’s achievement, Medherant CEO, Nigel Davis, told Kazakh-TV.kz: “Gabit is a very bright scientist and engineer. He’s always solving problems and inventing things coming up with better ways of doing something. We wish Gabit will go on and develop new inventions.”