Research Team
Investigators
Prof. Jonathan Rossiter
Professor of Robotics and head of the Soft Robotics group at Bristol Robotics Laboratory. Soft robotics is the research and development of novel compliant technologies for robotic systems, medical applications and engineering. These include core technologies such as smart materials and artificial muscles, smart mechanisms and structures, autonomous soft robots, smart skins and tactile interaction devices. In my robotic actuator and artificial muscle research I have been developing new polymer-composite actuators involving principles of buckling and bi-stability and robots which are inspired by bio-mimetic study of swimming organisms, including bacteria and fish.
Dr. Neil Barua
Consultant Neurosurgeon specialising in neuro-oncology surgery (surgery for brain tumours) and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). Specialist interests include awake craniotomy, robot-assisted surgery and drug delivery to the brain.
Prof. Martin Birchall
Professor of Laryngology and a Consultant in ENT Surgery at the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital. I am one the leading academic Otolaryngologists in the world as measured by the impact of my papers. A specialist in disorders of voice, swallowing and breathing, I have pioneered the use of stem cells and tissue engineering in surgery.
Prof. Ashley Blom
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Bristol Medical School (THS), Bristol Population Health Science Institute, Bristol Medical School (THS), Musculoskeletal Research Unit, Orthopaedic Surgery. Head of Orthopaedics for the Bristol University and as such heads teaching and research. He is interested in improving the patients experience of joint replacement including decreasing pain and minimising complications, mainly hip and knee. He leads a government contract to analyse the data on all the joint replacements done in the UK.
M.D. Marcus Brooks
Consultant Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon. Council member Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Member NHS England Vascular Clinical Reference Group. Specialist interest in the endovascular management of aortic (including complex endovascular) and venous disease. Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, an elected council member of Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland, a member of the NHS England Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for Vascular Surgery. He is also a member of the European Society of Vascular Surgery and the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland.
Dr. Andrew Conn
Research interests on the application of biological inspiration to solve challenging engineering problems, the integration of elasticity and compliance into systems such robots is central to this, driven by the potential for great improvements in human-robot interaction, prosthetic devices and robot mobility in unstructured environments. Development of soft actuation technologies such as electro-active polymers, which possess actuation characteristics comparable to biological muscle. Recent research highlights have included advancements in elastomeric actuator fabrication techniques, scalable multiple degrees of freedom actuators, soft worm-like robots and the development of artificial chromatophores for soft visual displays.
Prof. Marcus Drake
Professor of Physiological Urology at the University of Bristol and a visiting Professor at the University of the West of England. He trained at both Cambridge and Oxford. He is a member of the European Guidelines panel for urinary tract symptoms in men. He is former Chairman of International Continence Society Standardisation Committee. Research Interests: Physiology of lower urinary tract. Clinical diagnostics of lower urinary tract dysfunction (Urodynamics). Neuro-urology. Clinical management of lower urinary tract symptoms and incontinence
Prof. Charl Faul
Leader of a multi-disciplinary materials Chemistry Research Group, exploring the design principles and applications of novel functional materials. Strong focus on the design, synthesis and application of electroactive aniline-based oligomers and related porous conjugated materials for gas capture and wider energy related applications.
Dr. Emily J Henderson
Academic consultant geriatrician with research interests in movement disorders, falls and cognition. She runs a translational programme of research in the Ageing and Movement Research Group (ARMG) at the University of Bristol that spans basic science through to clinical trials, healthcare service innovation and education. This >£5million portfolio seeks to improve quality of life for older people and those with neurodegenerative conditions through clinical trials, service innovation and pedagogical research.
Prof. Robert Hinchliffe
Professor of Vascular Surgery at the University of Bristol, Bristol Surgical Trials Centre and Bristol NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. He is Honorary Consultant Vascular Surgeon in the Bristol, Bath, Weston Vascular Network. He is an academic vascular surgeon with an interest in diabetes-related complications of the lower limb and minimally invasive vascular surgery. His research interest is in clinical trials, the development of new technologies in surgery and their application to drive evidence-based practice for patients with vascular disease.
Prof. Richard Huxtable
Research primarily concerns legal and ethical issues in end-of-life decision-making, surgery and paediatrics. He is the author of Law, Ethics and Compromise at the Limits of Life: To Treat or Not to Treat? (Routledge-Cavendish, 2012), Euthanasia, Ethics and the Law: From Conflict to Compromise (Routledge-Cavendish, 2007) and (with Dickenson & Parker) The Cambridge Medical Ethics Workbook (CUP, 2nd edn, 2010), plus numerous articles and chapters. His research has been funded by organisations including the Wellcome Trust and the European Commission and he has given invited presentations at the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal College of Surgeons, as well as conferences worldwide
Dr. Avril McCarthy
MedTech Lead at NIHR Devices for Dignity HTC, with responsibility for all MedTech aspects of the portfolio of projects. Avril is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield. Passionate about developing new medical devices that benefit patients and the NHS. As MedTech Lead for the NIHR Devices for Dignity Healthcare Technology Co-operative, I am fortunate to have experienced a wide and varied range of opportunities for collaborative working with industry, academic colleagues, and product users.
Dr. Nazia Mehrban
Assistant Professor of Biotechnology working at the interface between biology, chemistry, and engineering. We focus on fundamental underpinning work towards designing, manufacturing, and characterising bespoke biomaterials for unmet clinical needs. Our research crosses the boundary between natural and synthetic materials and uses a bottom-up design approach. The innovative and bespoke ‘smart’ materials we manufacture are chemically and physically tuneable allowing control of cellular behaviour towards various applications including tissue repair & regeneration, extracellular matrix reconstruction and integrative materials for implantable devices.
Dr. Fabio Parmeggiani
Research interests focused on new hybrid computational and experimental methods focused on modular systems based on designed repeat proteins for spatial control of protein structures and their applications as tools to study and influence cell behaviour.
Prof. Adam Perriman
Professor of Bioengineering at the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Perriman Research Group, and Director of the Bristol Centre for Bioprinting. He is also the founder of the cell therapy technology company CytoSeek. Pioneering research on the construction and study of novel synthetic biomolecular systems, and his research interests span the fields of synthetic biology, biophysics and tissue engineering.
Prof. Fabrizio Scarpa
Research interests are in the field of auxetics - negative Poisson's ratio and negative stiffness materials. Design, model and manufacture auxetic foams, composites and cellular structures for structural integrity, vibration damping, vibroacoustiics and multifunctional applications. Developing predictive micromechanical and structural models for energy dissipation performance in composite and polymeric structures.
Prof. Molly Stevens
Professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine in the Department of Materials and the Department of Bioengineering, and the Research Director for Biomedical Material Sciences at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Research in The Stevens Group uses innovative bioengineering approaches to pursue their vision of solving key problems in regenerative medicine and biosensing. Their research spans drug delivery, bioactive materials, tissue engineering, biosensing, materials characterisation, soft robotics and the interface between living and non-living matter, and is underpinned by collaborations with data scientists and molecular dynamics experts.
Prof. Bo Su
The Biomaterials Engineering Group (bioMEG) mainly works in the area of materials processing and surface engineering for biomedical applications. Our focus is on both basic research in scientific understanding of materials fabrication processing and applied research in materials solutions for clinical needs. The broad and multidisciplinary research is aimed at developing novel materials and surfaces for dental and orthopaedic implants, tissue engineering scaffolds and medical devices.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Ben Baker
A background in self-healing supramolecular polymeric systems, low molecular weight gelators for water purification and drug delivery and experiment design investigating polymeric self-assembly systems. Ben’s current research activities within UoB include porous materials for CO2 capture and reduction, polymeric systems for water purification and antimicrobial/viral polymeric motifs.
Within the emPOWER team Ben’s research will focus on copolymers for actuator applications, based in the Faul (Chemistry) Research Group at University of Bristol.
Dr. Sebastien Callens
Sebastien has an MSc in Aerospace Engineering and a PhD in Biomaterials and Tissue Biomechanics (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands). His previous research was focussed on designing porous biomaterials for bone tissue engineering applications, cell-geometry interactions, and 3D/4D printing technologies.
Within the emPOWER team, his research will focus on cell-material interfaces, particularly within the context of interface tissue engineering and mineralization. He will be based in The Stevens Group at Imperial College London.
Dr. Martina Cihova
Martina is based in the The Stevens Group at Imperial College London. A biomaterial scientist with a fascination for material-cell and material-tissue interfaces, and a passion for high-resolution multiscale and multimodal microscopy to understand the mutual interaction between materials and biological matter. Specific interests are in mineralized and inorganic-solid‒liquid interfaces, material evolutions, and musculoskeletal tissue engineering and implants.
Dr. Martin Garrad
Martin is based in the Soft Robotics group at Bristol Robotics Laboratory with research interest in developing intelligent soft material robots that are more capable than their rigid cousins. He is particularly interested in making robots that can safely and usefully interact with people, in new approaches to controlling soft material robots, and in new technologies for actuation in soft material systems. Martin has a background in Physics and Computer Science and completed his PhD in Soft Robotics at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in 2019.
Dr. Mari-Rose Kennedy
Mari-Rose is a Research Associate in Engineering Ethics based at the Centre for Ethics in Medicine at Bristol Medical School. Mari’s background is in psychology, qualitative research and bioethics. Her research interests include research ethics and integrity, and the ethical dimensions of the development and implementation of new technology. She has investigated the ethical use of data, informed consent and privacy and previously worked on smart technology projects: SPHERE and the Assisted Living Project. As part of Prof. Huxtable's strand in the emPOWER project, Mari will conduct a literature review to investigate the ethical dimensions of artificial muscles.
Dr. Christian Romero
With more than 10 years of experience in industry, Christian further developed his research skills with his PhD in flexible energy storage materials for soft robotics. His current research within the Bristol Robotics Laboratory includes flexible and stretchable materials for implantable devices, polymer-based soft actuators for wearables and engineered devices for mimicking human muscles and physical actuation.
Within the emPOWER project team Christian will develop soft metamaterials for non-implantable soft robotics towards the early stages of fully implantable technologies.
Dr. Mohammad Naghavi Zadeh
Background in mechanical engineering and aerospace structures, with a PhD in design and analysis of morphing skins for aircraft. Previous research focussed on the design and analysis of mechanical metamaterials with tunable Poisson's ratio for application in morphing sandwich skins. Subsequently developed an interest in the application of metamaterials capabilities to biomechanical engineering.
In the emPOWER project, Mohammad will utilise the tailorable properties of metamaterials to develop artificial muscles that emulate the mechanical behaviour of human muscles. He will be based in the Soft Robotics group at Bristol Robotics Laboratory.
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