Hosted by the Bristol BioDesign Institute
Dr Ravinash Krishna Kumar, Lecturer in Medical Technology in the School of Engineering and Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London, and Dr James Armstrong, Research Fellow in the Bristol Medical School (Translational Health Sciences) at University of Bristol.
Dr Ravinash Krishna Kumar: 3D Printing Synthetic Tissues and Microbial Communities
Networks of water-in-oil droplets, connected by interface bilayers, have become a powerful tool to study lipid bilayers and membrane proteins in real-time. By using a 3D printer to pattern these droplet interface bilayers, we show these systems can also be used to 1) replicate tissue properties and be used to interact collectively with microbes; and 2) be used to pattern microbial cells to understand how the structure of a microbial community determines its fate.
Dr James Armstrong: Controlling the Assembly of Biomaterials and Engineered Tissues
James' research is focused on developing new bioengineering technologies that can provide control over the assembly of biomaterials and tissues. He will first describe a new multimaterial 3D bioprinting method for generating vascularized networks with complex 3D morphology, and then discuss recent advances in using ultrasound standing waves to rapidly and remotely pattern living cells into tuneable geometric arrays. He will explore how this can be used to fabricate biomaterials patterned with cells that can then be engineered into anisotropic tissues, such as skeletal muscle, cartilage, and cardiac tissue. He will conclude with another acoustic technology: the use of ultrasound to trigger molecular processes, such as enzyme catalysis and enzymatic hydrogelation. He will explore the design of this modular system and discuss how ultrasound has a unique set of properties that opens new biomedical opportunities.