Tissue Engineering

Dr Iain Dunlop's uses methods from nanotechnology and surface chemistry to address questions in cell biology. In vivo, cells determine their behaviour largely by reacting to their environments; in particular, they respond to specific signals that are located on surfaces that they come into contact with. Such signals are hugely important in ensuring each cell plays its role within multicellular organisms. However, because biological surfaces are complex, it can be difficult to know exactly which features are significant.

Molly Stevens is currently Professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine and the Research Director for Biomedical Material Sciences in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. She joined Imperial in 2004 after a Postdoctoral training in the field of tissue engineering with Professor Robert Langer in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). . Research in regenerative medicine within her group includes the directed differentiation of stem cells, the design of novel bioactive scaffolds and new approaches towards tissue regeneration.

The Jones groups's research interests are highly multidisciplinary but revolve around the development of nanostructured bioactive porous scaffolds for tissue engineering, including macroporous and nanoporous bioactive glasses and novel nanocomposite materials. The cellular response to macro and nano structure is vitally important and materials characterization is a key area. At the atomic scale, cutting edge characterization techniques are employed, such as neutron diffraction and synchrotron source X-rays.

Prof Szita’s research interests focus on the translation of bioprocessing concepts into microfluidic systems (or Lab-on-a-chip systems). He has particular expertise in the use of advanced microfabrication techniques for polymers (rapid prototyping), glass and silicon.