Romina’s paper on front cover of the journal Placenta.

Congratulations to Romina who’s paper has been put on the front cover of the most recent issue of Placenta. Her paper titled, ‘Three-dimensional modelling of human placental Terminal Villi” describes the reconstruction of placental villi geometries and modelling using multi physics simulation.

 

Congratulations Khaow!

Congratulations to Khaow on the successful  defence of his thesis on Corneal Tissue Engineering. OyenLab members would like to take this opportunity to wish him all the best for the future!

Under the microscope

A single primary trophoblast cell (HLA-G+) was stained while encapsulated within a microfluidic device. Trophoblast cells comprise the outer shell of the blastocyst, a cluster of cells which eventually develops into an embryo. Trophoblasts are the first cells to differentiate in the fertilized egg and play an important role in embryo implantation. Once implanted trophoblasts develop into the placenta, the interface between the fetus and the mother during pregnancy. Here the cell nucleus is stained in blue (DAPI stain) and the cytoskelaton in green (Actin stain).

2014 Biomaterials Society Young Investigator Award

Recently the group of Assistant Prof. Brendan Harley at the University of Illinois published a paper on collagen biomaterials with collaborative contributions regarding mechanical testing from the Oyenlab. Dr Harley with that paper then went on to win an award in the Young Investigator Category at the 2014 society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Congratulations to Brendan and everyone involved in the publication.

Au revoir

A temporary farewell to longtime member Oliver Armitage who has gone to work in the Biomimetic Materials Laboratory headed by Associate Prof. Francois Barthelat at McGill University. He will be gone for six months while he studies the microstructure of Antler at the Antler-Pedicle-Skin junction.

We have visitors

Annabelle Chan (above) from the biomedical engineering group at the University of Sydney is visiting us here in the Oyenlab for six months. She is working on developing a system to fabricate patient specific implants rapidly. Custom-made implants often result in shorter operative times, faster recoveries and lower rates of infection. Despite these inherent benefits, key remain challenges include commercial viability, delivery time frame and quality assurance of individually fabricated implants.

This project aims to develop a method of forming patient specific implants by shaping sterilised materials using anatomical templates. This fabrication system has been applied on cranioplasty implants and is now focusing on a tissue engineered replacement for the intervertebral disc. Annabelle’s project also aims to generate functional gradients during the shaping process to mimic the mechanical properties of the native intervertebral disc.

While with us in Cambridge she will be making use of our mechanical testing expertise to validate and guide the development of her implants.

Congrats to Jenna!

3rd year PhD student Jenna Shapiro was honoured last week, as a finalist in the SET for Britain poster competition at the Houses of Parliament in London. This makes two years in a row for the Oyen group, as 3rd year PhD student Khaow Tonsomboon was a finalist last year.

Cambridge Radio 105 Science Show

Michelle’s featured on the Cambridge Radio 105 Science Show, which can be heard here:

http://wordpress.rogerfrost.com/radio/podcast/bioengineering-research-in-cambridge-105science/

Topics covered include bone, hydrogels, and how engineering has an image problem in the UK.

Dept. of Engineering Photo Competition

For the second consecutive year, someone from the OyenLab has won a prize in the annual Cambridge University Engineering Dept. photo competition. Congratulations to Khaow for winning the Head of Dept. prize for his fantastic video. And although not one of the winning images, an entry by Jenna is being used to illustrate the competition on the University of Cambridge main website. Great job both of you!

Good luck, Ching!

Last night we said goodbye to group PhD student Ching Theng Koh, who successfully defended her thesis, “Fracture of Fibrous Tissue Membranes and Biomimetic Scaffolds,” and is headed back to Malaysia this evening to catch the tail end of the moon cake festival. Ching will be taking up an academic post at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn. We look forward to future collaborations with Ching in her new role!