astronomy

Helen Burt

Helen Burt is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Helen Burt rather than just read about it. In short: Helen M. Burt is a British-Canadian pharmaceutical scientist who is the Angiotech Professor of Drug Delivery at the University of British Columbia.

Key takeaways

Helen Burt belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Helen Burt to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Helen Burt from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Helen M. Burt is a British-Canadian pharmaceutical scientist who is the Angiotech Professor of Drug Delivery at the University of British Columbia. She serves as Associate Vice President of Research and Innovation at UBC. Her research considers novel therapeutics based on nanotechnology, including drug delivery systems for the treatment of bladder cancer and coronary artery disease.

Early life and education Burt is from Manchester in the United Kingdom. During a high school trip to a local hospital, she was first introduced to pharmacy. Burt was an undergraduate student at the University of Bath, where she specialised in pharmacy. She moved to Canada to complete her graduate research as a doctoral student at the University of British Columbia, where she studied anisotropy and defects on dissolution of crystals.

Research and career Burt joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia in 1980. Her research involves the use of nanotechnology for drug delivery. She has demonstrated that systems can provide targeted relief to different parts of the body, and release specific amounts of drug and controlled rates. In particular, Burt has studied nanocrystalline cellulose, a molecular substrate that has large surfaces areas and negative surface charges. Nanocrystalline cellulose can withstand binding of high quantities of drugs, and contain hydroxyl groups that can be used for surface modification. The hydroxyl groups can be used to selective load and release treatments, including ant-infective agents in wound dressings. Burt worked alongside Sitka Biopharma on STK-01, a polymer nanoparticle based drug-delivery system that can be used to treat bladder cancer. The drug, which delivers targeted chemotherapy (Docetaxel) to non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, entered clinical trials in 2017. Burt co-founded the Centre for Drug Research and Development in 2004. The centre later became adMare BioInnovations, which allows biomedical scientists to translate their research into industry. In 2011, Burt was made Associate Vice President of Research and Innovation.

Awards and honours 2006 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Synergy Award for Innovation 2009 Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences Award of Leadership in Canadian Pharmaceutical Sciences 2009 University of British Columbia Killam Faculty Research Award for Science 2020 Order of Canada

Selected publications

Kevin Letchford; Helen Burt (23 November 2006). "A review of the formation and classification of amphiphilic block copolymer nanoparticulate structures: micelles, nanospheres, nanocapsules and polymersomes". European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. 65 (3): 259–269. doi:10.1016/j.ejpb.2006.11.009. ISSN 0939-6411. PMID 17196803. Wikidata Q36695819. John K. Jackson; Kevin Letchford; Benjamin Z. Wasserman; Lucy Ye; Wadood Y. Hamad; Helen M Burt (10 February 2011). "The use of nanocrystalline cellulose for the binding and controlled release of drugs". International Journal of Nanomedicine. 6: 321–330. doi:10.2147/ijn.s16749. ISSN 1176-9114. PMC 3044185. PMID 21383857. Wikidata Q39579655. R. T. Liggins; W. L. Hunter; H. M. Burt (1 December 1997). "Solid-state characterization of paclitaxel". Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 86 (12): 1458–1463. doi:10.1021/js9605226. ISSN 0022-3549. PMID 9423162. Wikidata Q74017423.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Helen Burt

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Helen Burt claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Helen Burt before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Helen Burt ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Helen Burt

In research: Helen Burt appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Helen Burt in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Helen Burt is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Alumni of the University of Bath, British nanotechnologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Helen Burt outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Helen Burt in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Helen Burt means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Helen Burt out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Helen Burt in simple terms?

Helen M. Burt is a British-Canadian pharmaceutical scientist who is the Angiotech Professor of Drug Delivery at the University of British Columbia.

Why does Helen Burt matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Helen Burt?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Helen Burt.