Dr Emma McErlean is a Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), specialising in non-viral gene delivery methods. Her research focuses on peptide-based delivery systems for both ex vivo adoptive cellular therapies and in vivo tissue targeting, integrating expertise in nanomedicine, drug delivery, biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals. She is co-inventor of a patented novel peptide, CHAT, designed for enhanced in vivo gene delivery.

After graduating from QUB with First Class Honours in Pharmacy in 2013, Dr McErlean worked as a registered pharmacist before completing a PhD in novel cell-penetrating peptides for gene therapy in 2018. She subsequently held a postdoctoral fellowship at QUB, developing an mRNA vaccine in a microneedle patch for castrate-resistant prostate cancer, combining nanoparticle formulation, targeted delivery, and bioinformatic patient stratification.

Dr McErlean’s current research is centred on designing safe, efficient non-viral peptide vectors for nucleic acid delivery, with applications in scalable immune cell engineering and in vivo tissue-targeted therapies. She has published in leading journals, presented at national and international conferences, and serves on the executive board of the ISGCT. She is also a member of the ESGCT, European Society for Biomaterials, and the European Association for Cancer Research.