Dr Wael Kafienah
B.Sc., Ph.D.
Current positions
Associate Professor in Regenerative Medicine
School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Contact
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Research interests
Background
Dr Wael Kafienah leads a team focused on understanding the molecular biology of stem cells for applications in skeletal tissue engineering. He has many years of experience in the UK and US developing methods for cartilage tissue engineering using stem cells. That work lead to significant public (see BBC news story “New hope for arthritis sufferers”) and scientific interest (Arthritis and Rheumatism Journal) and earned him the prestigious Garrod Prize 2008 awarded by the British Society of Rheumatology. The team is building on this work by investigating the more versatile pluripotent stem cells. Dr Kafienah holds 3 patents that resulted recently in a University of Bristol spin-out company (Azellon Cell Therapeutics). He was an executive committee member of the British Society for Matrix Biology.
Specific research interests
- Pharmacological regulation of adult and pluripotent stem cells for cartilage repair and heart disease
- Cartilage tissue engineering using pluripotent stem cells
- Novel biomaterials for tissue engineering and drug delivery
- Endogenous repair of damaged cartilage
- Bacterial-stem cell interactions in osteomyelitis
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
A preclinical model for the treatment of osteoarthritis using chondrogenic human induced pluripotent stem cells
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Cellular and Molecular MedicineDates
01/01/2017 to 31/08/2017
Thesis supervisions
Stem Cell Membrane Re-Engineering for Adhesion to the Extracellular Matrix
Supervisors
Studies in chondrogenic cellular reprogramming
Supervisors
Investigation of the metabolism of ecdysteroids and their human physiological effects
Supervisors
Novel immunoassay for human erythropoietin using camelid antibodies
Supervisors
Strategies for improving the chondrogenic differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells for cartilage therapy
Supervisors
The role of transforming growth factor beta superfamily in chondrogenic stem cells
Supervisors
Interaction between immune cells phenotype and the microbiome in B cells immunodeficiency diseases
Supervisors
Investigation of the molecular mechanisms of human mesenchymal stem cells and S. aureus interactions in osteomyelitis
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
27/06/2022Intravascular administration of soluble SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein triggers non-infective heart and lung inflammation and vascular pericytes rarefaction in healthy mice
European Heart Journal Supplements
An artificial membrane binding protein-polymer surfactant nanocomplex facilitates stem cell adhesion to the cartilage extracellular matrix
Biomaterials
Chondroinduction of Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Cellulose-Silk Composite nanofibrous Substrates
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Bioreactor manufactured cartilage grafts repair acute and chronic osteochondral defects in large animal studies
Cell Proliferation
Effects of Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields on Chondrocytes in Short-Term Cultures
Cyprus Journal of Medical Sciences
Related people
Professor Stephen Mann
Professor of Chemistry
School of Chemistry
Professor Adam Perriman
Professor of Bioengineering
School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Dr Avinash Patil
Research Fellow
School of Chemistry
Professor Fabrizio Scarpa
Professor of Smart Materials & Structures
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering
Dr Graham Day
Honorary Research Associate
School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine