CRMD had a very busy, productive summer while enjoying a well-deserved break.

The highlight was the Away Day held on 23 May. Its morning session was dedicated to the talks delivered by our PhD students. Our students impressed for their presentation skills and the quality of the work that also demonstrated the width and breath of our research; the talks ranged from molecular and cell biology to biomaterials sciences and patients’ perspectives. The afternoon session was dedicated to the discussion of two proposals in area of regenerative physiotherapy and nanomedicine.

Our members attending the Away Day and our PhD delivering their talks

 

Over the last three months, work was done behind the scenes to get ready for the start of the new 6-years UKRI EPSRC Investigator-led Award project on theranostic wound dressings that will kick off on 19 September. Dr Simon Otter has been leading the drafting of the ethical application forms and regular meetings have been held with the team at the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) to complete all the necessary documentation; the application will be submitted in the coming weeks to the relevant panels. Prof Santin was supported by members of the CRMD to complete the process of recruitment of two Research Fellows for this project who will start their new job on 3 October. They are: Dr Shirin SaberianPour, a scientist with a long-standing experience in molecular and cell biology as well as in clinical studies. Shirin will be responsible for the analysis of the wound exudate and wound dressing samples obtained from the clinical study. Mr Gianluca Melotto, University of Brighton graduate podiatrist, will be responsible for the collection and classification of exudates and retrieved wound dressings and will be a member of the team delivering the clinical assessment of patients. Shirin and Gianluca will work closely to guarantee the smooth handling and processing of samples and linking clinical observations to biochemical and cellular data. We will introduce them to all the CRMD members in the coming months. More exciting news about the initiatives taken for this project are taking shape and they will be announced in the next newsletter.

The CRMD welcome three new colleagues

  • Dr Letizia Gulino who will contribute to the project funded by the Orthopaedic Research UK (ORUK) on the isolation and characterisation of adult stromal cells from adipose tissue.
  • Dr Narjes Rashidi who is the new Shepperd Fellow focussing on an in vitro model of interverteabral disc.
  • Mr Alex Slater who will be a team member for the project in collaboration with Newcastle University and funded by the ORUK for the pre-clinical validation of new osteosarcoma-specific MRI contrast agents

A peer-reviewed paper was also published:

  • Orode UV Aniejurengho, Steve T Meikle, Matteo Santin. Poly(epsilon-lysine) dendrons and nucleic acids complexes for non-viral delivery of bacteriophage DNA into bacterial cells https://doi.org/10.1177/23977914221102291

Dr Susan Sandeman was an invited speaker and panel member at ‘MXenes: Addressing Global Challenges with Innovation’ conference, 1-3rd August 2022, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

Two of our members will be representing our CRMD at the next European Society for Biomaterials Conference, Bordeaux, France 4-8 September 2022. Grace Cooksley (PhD student) has an oral presentation (2- dimensional MXene Ti3C2Tx for improved wound healing and reduced tendency for posterior capsular opacification following cataract surgery). Emma Ward (Research fellow on Coopervision project) is presenting a poster (Electroactive MXene in accommodating lens design).

New state of the art equipment is now available to our researchers. In July, the new CEM Liberty Blue automated and microwave-powered peptide synthesiser was installed at the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering laboratory, School of Applied Sciences. A Low Field MRI system was purchased from Multiwave Imaging and arrived at CISC, Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Low field MRI has the potential of revolutionizing healthcare as it can dramatically increase the accessibility to medical imaging, and furthermore the scanners are significantly cheaper to purchase and to maintain than MRI scanners at higher fields. Their light weight makes them portable, and the flexible design of their magnets allows for their easy adaptation to scanning particular patient populations or specific body parts. The low magnetic field also removes many of the restrictions that prevent many patients from being scanned in MRI scanners, such as patients with metallic implants.

A video presenting our CRMD to a wider audience is under production and it will soon be posted on our website, blog page and YouTube channel.

the CRMD Management Board will soon hold their next periodic meeting to review the strategy and set the objectives and funding for the new financial year.

Finally, we wish well to our colleagues and CRMD Deputy Director Dr Simon Otter who will take a new job of Associate Professor at AECC University College Bournemouth. We are sorry to see Simon leaving our team, but we are delighted that he will remain as an associate member of our Centre and committed towards our research in the years to come.

 

On behalf of the Management Board Prof Matteo Santin, Director

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