Brian J. Bellhouse (1 October 1936 – 12 June 2017) was a British academic, engineer, and entrepreneur, the inventor of PowderJect, a needle-free injection system for delivering medications and vaccines. He was also a professor at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Early life

Bellhouse received an

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, followed by a DPhil degree in

engineering science Engineering physics (EP), sometimes engineering science, is the field of study combining pure science disciplines (such as physics, mathematics, chemistry or biology) and engineering disciplines (computer, nuclear, electrical, aerospace, medica ...

in 1964.

Academic career

Bellhouse was appointed a lecturer and elected a tutorial fellow at Magdalen College in 1966. In 1998, he became a professor of engineering science, and established and supervised the Department of Engineering Science's Medical Engineering Unit at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. He retired in 2004 and was appointed an Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College.

PowderJect

In 1992, Bellhouse was at work on a "powdered injector to deliver genetic material into plant cells" when he wondered if he could use the same method on people. A few hours after injecting himself with finely ground salt, the skin began to bleed. As he explained, "Salt bursts the red blood cells. This proved that it had worked. And it was utterly painless. It felt like a puff of air". Bellhouse developed PowderJect, a needle-free and pain-free injection system which shoots fine powder into the skin at high speed, and his son-in-law Paul Drayson brought along the financing needed to turn it into a commercial reality. PowderJect Pharmaceuticals became a public company in 1997 with a £50 million market valuation. It was later sold to

Chiron Corporation Chiron Corporation ( ) was an American multinational biotechnology firm founded in 1981, based in Emeryville, California, that was acquired by Novartis on April 20, 2006. It had offices and facilities in eighteen countries on five continents. C ...

for £542 million, and has been called "one of the most successful companies ever to be spun out of Oxford niversity.

Philanthropy

With the profits he gained from the sale of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals, Bellhouse became a major donor to Oxford University, including a "substantial gift" towards the building of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and the endowment of the Oxford-Bellhouse Graduate Scholarship in Biomedical Engineering at

Magdalen College Magdalen College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and one of the strongest academically, se ...

Personal life

Bellhouse was the father-in-law of the Labour peer and former Minister of Science,

Paul Drayson, Baron Drayson Paul Rudd Drayson, Baron Drayson (born 5 March 1960) is a British businessman, amateur racing driver and Labour Party (UK), Labour politician. He was Minister of Science in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills until May 2010, whe ...

. He was born and resided in

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a town in the county of East Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The current town, which was founded in 1288, replaced an earli ...

, East Sussex.

Death

On 12 June 2017, Bellhouse, while out for a walk in a field that he owned, was trampled to death as he tried to save his dog from a stampeding herd of cows.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellhouse, Brian 1936 births 2017 deaths People from Winchelsea Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford English engineers English inventors English company founders Accidental deaths in England People from Guestling 20th-century English businesspeople