Biomaterials are used to interface with living systems while bioimaging is used to understand living structures and processes. We are interested in developing new regenerative biomaterials and new imaging modalities. Previous work includes:
Ultrasound-triggered Enzyme Catalysis and Enzymatic Hydrogelation
This study was led by Dr Valeria Nele during her PhD at Imperial College. We used ultrasound to controllably permeabilize liposomes, releasing calcium ions that could then activate an enzyme (transglutaminase) to catalyze the gelation of fibrinogen (Advanced Materials 2020). This is linked to my research activity in ultrasound manipulation.
Regulation of Stem Cells using Silicon Nanoneedle Arrays
This study was led by Dr Hyejeong Seong during her postdoc at Imperial College London. We showed that nondegradable nanoneedle arrays could be used for the long-term culture of stem cells, and that tip sharpness could be used to regulate stem cell alignment, nuclear impingement, and gene expression (ACS Nano 2020).
Immunogold FIB-SEM
This study was led by Dr Sahana Gopal during her PhD at Imperial College London. We developed a technique for using immunogold labelling in combination with focussed ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), which we used to visualize protein expression and cell ultrastructure in 3D (Advanced Materials 2019).
Raman Imaging of Zebrafish
This study was led by Dr Hakon Hogset during his PhD at Imperial College London. We developed a method of using confocal Raman spectroscopic imaging (cRSI) to generate biomolecular maps of living zebrafish embryos (Nature Communications 2020).
Casting Hydrogels with Bio-instructive Gradients
This study was led by Dr Chunching Li during his PhD at Imperial College London. We developed a new method to programme gradients of slow-releasing osteogenic morphogens into cellularized hydrogels, which generated integrated osteochondral tissue constructs (Advanced Materials 2019). This is linked to my research activity in tissue engineering.
If you are interested in these topics, you can find more information in these recent reviews (Science Translational Medicine 2020, Trends in Biotechnology 2020, Advanced Functional Materials 2020, and Advanced Functional Materials 2020).