Group members
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Prof Aline F.
Miller
is a Professor of Biomolecular Engineering in the School of Chemical
Engineering and Analytical Science having joined the University of
Manchester in 2002. Prior to this she held a New Hall College Junior
Research Fellowship at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University
working with Professor Dame Athene Donald FRS. She is a chemist by
training (B.Sc. and Ph.D.) and during this time gained several awards,
including the Sir George Beilby Medal and the Hackman Research
Fellowship. She has also gained several awards while in Manchester
including the Exxon Mobil Teaching Fellowship in 2004 and in 2008 was
awarded The Royal Society of Chemistry MacroGroup UK Young Researchers
Medal and also The Institute of Physics, Polymer Physics Group Young
Researchers Lecture Award for her work on self-assembling materials.
More recently she won the 2014 Philip Leverhulme Prize for Engineering
and was shortlisted for the 2014 WISE Research Award. Aline was elected
fellow of the Royal Sociaty of Chemistry (RSC) in 2013 and fellow of
the Insitute of Physics (IoP) in 2016. In 2019 she became CEO of
Manchester BIOGEL
having taken a leave of absence from the University. |
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Prof Alberto
Saiani was awarded an European PhD in 1997 by the University
Louis
Pasteur, (Strasbourg, France). Following his PhD he held a number of
post-doctoral positions in Japan, at Osaka University for which he was
awarded a Japanese Society for Promotion of Science postdoctoral
fellowship (JSPS), the UK, at imperial College London and Belgium, at
Huntsman Polyurethanes. In 2000 he was appointed lecturer at the
University Blaise Pascal (Clermont-Ferrand, France) before joining in
2002 the University of Manchester. His research work spans a wide area
of experimental polymer and biopolymer science and focuses on
understanding and engineering materials across length scales from
molecular design all the way to bulk properties and includes
fundamental, industrial and translational research. In 2006 he was
awarded a 6-months industrial fellowship by the Royal Academy of
Engineers (RAEng) to work at AstraZeneca Macclesfield research site and
in 2013 he was awarded an 5-year EPSRC Research
Fellowship to pursue his work on peptide hydrogels which led to the
co-fouding in 2014 of Manchester BIOGEL. In 2016 he was elected Fellow
of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). |
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Dr Siyuan Dong
graduated from China Medical University in 2016 with a BSc in Clinical
Pharmacy. She then went to study at Queen's University of
Belfast and graduated with an Mphil in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in
December 2017. In September 2018, Siyuan joined our group to do a PhD
on designing and testing of self-assembling peptide systems for
targeted cancer drug delivery. Follwing her PhD she joined our group as
a PDRA to work on a drug delivery project to the eye.  |
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Xiaoxia Huang graduated
from Beijing University in 2014 with a BEng in Biomaterials. Following
her graduation she took on a research assistant position in a company
in Chengdu and work
on developing and characterizing coating materials for
pipelines. In 2016 she went to study at The University of Sheffield and
graduated with an MSc in Polymers for Advanced Technologies in January
2017. In September 2017, she joined our group to do a PhD on
designing multi-functional peptide hydrogels
for biosensing applications. |
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Cong Ding graduated
from Jinan University, China, in 2016 with a BSc in apply chemistry. In
2017 he came to the University of Manchester to do a MSc in polymer materials
science and engineering and did his research project in our group. In Spetember
2018 he joined the group to pursue a PhD focusing on peptide
self-assembly and gelation. |
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Nischal "Neesh" Rai graduated from the University of Warwick in 2015 with a BEng in Mechanical Engineering. In 2017 he joined the University of Manchester where he graduated with a MSc in Biomaterials. Subsequently he joined Prof. Julie Gough (Department of Materials) Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Group to pursue, in collaboration with our group and Manchester BIOGEL, a UKRMP2 PhD on designing a multi-layered composite tissue scaffold for the oesophagus. |
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Zixuan Liu graduated from Sichuan University, China, in 2017 with a BEng in chemical engineering and a BSc in biological science. In 2017 he moved to the University of Manchester obtaining to undertake a MSc in advanced chemical engineering. In January 2019, he joined the group to pursue a PhD focusing on the design double networks peptide self-assembly hydrogel for biomedical applications. |
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Andong Liu graduated from Central South University, China, in 2018 with a BEng in Bioengineering. In 2018 she moved to the University of Manchester obtaining to undertake a MSc in Biomaterials. In September 2019, she joined the group to pursue a PhD focusing on designing polymer-peptide copolymer hydrogels for biomedical application in collaboratio with Dr. Lu Shin Wong (Department of Chemistry). |
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Liam McMorrow obtained his medical degree from the University of Manchester and an MRes in Tissue Engineering for Regenerative Medicine in 2013. He is a surgeon having completed his foundation and core surgical training in Manchester and Newcastle before becoming a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 2016 and continues to practice as a Speciality Registrar in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery in Manchester. In 2019 he joined Dr. Adam Reid nerve regeneration group (Division of Cell Matrix Biology & Regenerative Medicine, Blond McIndoe Laboratories) to pursue in collaboration with our group and Manchester BIOGEL a UKRMP2 PhD focussed on engineering a nerve conduit composite for the repair of large gap peripheral nerve injuries. |
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Laurence Tan graduated from the University of Manchester with a Masters in Pharmacy in 2018. His final Masters project focused on developing local therapies for endometriosis. Following graduation, Laurence undertook his Pre-registration training year at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to qualify as a GPhC registered pharmacist and continues to practice as a clinical pharmacist at Manchester University NHS foundation trust. In 2019, he joined Prof. Kay Marshall’s research group (Division of Pharmacy and Optometry) to work, in collaboration with the group and Manchester BIOGEL, on a PhD project focusing on the development of peptide hydrogel based therapies for endometrial disorders. |
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Albert Ginjaume graduated
from UCH-CEU University (Spain) in 2018 with a BSc in Veterinary
medicine. In 2018 he moved to the Queen Mary University of London where
he graduated with an MSc in Regenerative Medicine and Tissue
Engineering. He subsequently joined the University of Manchester and
our group to pursue a UKRMP2 / Manchester BIOGEL PhD focused
on the development of
peptide-based bioinks for 3D bioprinting applications in collaboration
with Dr. Suelen Barg (Department of Materials) and Prof. Judith Hoyland
(Division of Cell Matrix Biology & Regenerative
Medicine). |
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Katharine King graduated
from Aberystwyth University with a degree in Veterinary Bioscience
before going on to complete a MSc in Clinical Pharmacology at the
University of Glasgow. In Glasgow she had the opportunity to undertake
a research project looking into novel cardiovascular gene therapies in
the BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre. Subsequently She worked
at the University of Liverpool on clinical studies in the areas of
pharmacogenomics, cancer immunotherapy, alcohol related brain injury
and Covid-19 before joining in 2020 the University of Manchester and
Drs Elizabeth Cartwright and Delvac Oceandy groups in the Division of
Cardiovascular Sciences being awarded a BHF Accelerator Award PhD
Scholarship to work in collaboration with our group on the development
of injectable iPSC-cardiomyocyte/ peptide hydrogels for cardiac repair. |
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Niall Mahon graduated
from the University of Surrey in 2020 with a Master of Physics degree.
During his integrated masters research project he developed a latex
based photonic crystal tissue culture platform for cardiomyocytes. He
subsequently was awarded a DTA Scholarship from the University of
Manchester, Department of materials to join our group and work in
collaboration with Drs Elena Bichenkova (Pharmacy) and Olga Tsigkou
(Materials) on the designing of functional 3D self-assemble peptide
hydrogels for early detection of cancer co-sponsored by MERCADO, the
University of Manchester International Alliance for Cancer Early
Detection (ACED) CRUK award. |
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Lauren Churchill graduated from Keele University in 2022 with a Master in Science in Biochemistry. In 2020, she worked at the Alderley Park Lighthouse lab, part of the government’s Covid-19 PCR testing programme in response to the pandemic. In July 2022 she joined the group to pursue a PhD focused on the application of peptide hydrogels for ocular drug delivery, in collaboration with NanOptima. |
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Stefano Pretto graduated from University College Cork, Ireland, in 2020 with a BSc in Biochemistry. In the same year, he relocated to UK to work as a Cell and Gene Therapy Scientist and focus on the manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccine. In early 2022, he obtained a new position as a Process Development Associate and worked on new plasmid platforms for multi serotype AVVs used on pre-clinical and clinical studies. In September 2022, he joined our group to pursue a PhD in the optimization of hydrogel for the manufacture of 3D organoids model for drug discovery in collaboration with Manchester BIOGEL and the National Physical Laboratory. |
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Chao-Yu Yang graduated from the National Taiwan University with a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Chemistry (in 2016) and a master's degree in Bio-Industrial Mechatronics Engineering (in 2019). She also studied intermolecular interactions and integrated embedded systems. During 2019-2022, she was a research assistant working on deep learning at the Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica in Taiwan. In September 2022, she joined our group to pursue a Ph.D. on modeling the self-assembly pathway of amphipathic peptides. |
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Junzheng Wen graduated from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2022 with a BEng in Materials Engineering. In 2021, he worked at the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) as an intern on protein quality evaluation for meat alternatives. In September 2022, he joined our group to pursue a PhD focused on the development of hydrogel scaffold for in-vitro cardiac models, in collaboration with Prof. Bernard Keavney group from the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Manchester. |
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Qixun Chu graduated from the University of Science and Technology in Beijing with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering. He then did a MSc in the same field at the University of Manchester. Following his master He joined our group in January 2023 to pursue a PhD on developing novel peptide-based bioinks for 3D bioprinting. |
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Nastaran Zoghi
received her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, Biomaterials,
from Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran in 2017. Continuing her
education, she pursued a MSc in the same field at Tarbiat Modares
University, Iran, which she completed in 2020. In January 2023,
she embarked on a PhD journey in our group focusing on Design and
synthesis of novel biodegradable peptide-based elastomers for
biomedical applications in collaboration with Dr. Lee Fielding at the
Department of Materials. |
For past group members see the Alumni page
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