Rate My Professor Sarah Hook

Sarah Hook is Professor of Biopharmaceutics in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago, where she also serves as Manager of the Research Infrastructure Centre. She earned her PhD from the University of Otago in 1995, with a thesis titled Cervine Interleukin-4. After completing her doctorate, she joined the staff at the University of Otago, progressing through the ranks to become a full professor in 2019. Her career at Otago spans over two decades, with employment records indicating her professorial role from 2001 to the present in the School of Pharmacy.

Professor Hook's research focuses on biopharmaceutics, particularly the development and application of novel therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines, alongside advanced drug delivery systems. Her interests include stimuli-responsive polymeric particles for hydrogen sulfide generation, site-specific antimicrobial prodrugs, bioorthogonal fluorescence assays for bacterial drug uptake, hydrogen sulfide-responsive nanospheres, EGFR-targeted prodrug activation, bacteria biohybrid oral vaccines for colorectal cancer, self-immolative block copolymers, vaccine implants, liposomes for cytoplasmic vaccine delivery, alkene-azide click-and-release strategies, lipid-encapsulated oral peptide vaccines, peptide hydrogels, and microcontainers for oral vaccines. Key publications include 'Site-Specific Antimicrobial Activity of a Dual-Responsive Ciprofloxacin Prodrug' (2024), 'Lipid-encapsulated oral therapeutic peptide vaccines reduce tumour growth in an orthotopic mouse model of colorectal cancer' (2020), 'Comparative study of liposomes, transfersomes, ethosomes and cubosomes for transcutaneous delivery' (2012, cited 154 times), 'Bacteria biohybrid oral vaccines for colorectal cancer treatment reduce tumor growth and increase immune infiltration' (2021), and contributions as editor to the book 'Subunit Vaccine Delivery' (2015). Her work has accumulated over 5,000 citations on Google Scholar. Professor Hook has secured major funding, including a Health Research Council Explorer Grant in 2017 for faster detection of antibiotic resistance, recent HRC grants for vaccine innovation with Dr. Amber Young, Smart Ideas funding, and a School of Pharmacy Research Award in 2016. Her contributions extend to supervising PhD students and public outreach, such as lectures on vaccine impacts.