Mr Sinbad Sweeney

Sinbad Sweeney is a PhD research student in the Lung Cell Biology group, within the Pharmacology and Toxicology Section at the National Heart and Lung Institute.

Sinbad graduated from Athlone Institute of Technology, Ireland in 2006 with a BSc (Hons) in Toxicology. Having always had a keen interest in the interaction between chemicals and human physiology, he went on to study the sources and movement of chemical contaminants in the environment with relevance to assessing potential human exposure. To this extent, he was awarded a NERC studentship to undertake an MSc in Environmental Analysis and Assessment at the Royal Holloway, University of London. During this time he also collaborated with the Environmental Research Group at Kings College London where he wrote his thesis on the measurement of elemental carbon pollution in London. Graduating with his MSc in 2008, he then worked as an environmental consultant with a London based firm.

In 2009, Sinbad began his current PhD research in nanotoxicology under the supervision of Professor Terry Tetley and Dr Andrew Thorley. His work, funded by Unilever, focuses on identifying the cellular reactivity of engineered nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes. With the exponential growth of nanoscience and nanotechnology, a vast and diverse range of applications for nanoparticles are constantly being found, with thousands of various formats available. Many sectors such as pharmaceutical, electronics, construction, cosmetics, agriculture and food (to name just a few) already utilise nanoparticles in their products. Human exposure to these engineered nanoparticles could therefore occur through product manufacture, storage and use, wear and tear/abrasion and recycling/disposal. Utilising a unique model of the respiratory alveolar unit, combining primary (patient derived) and continuous cell types, Sinbad hopes to establish the physicochemical properties that may be important in determining the biological activity of engineered nanoparticles on human pulmonary alveolar epithelium and macrophages.