Partnerships

The Biological Systems Engineering Laboratory collaborates closely with many academic and industrial groups at Imperial College London and around the world. These collaborations are essential for creating a multi-disciplinary research environment.

Academic Collaborations

• In the area of stem cells and tissue engineering, BSEL has essentially merged with the Centre for Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine (TERM) at Imperial. TERM is headed by Prof. Dame J. Polak who is a world-leading expert on translational research on embryonic stem cells and regenerative medicine, alongside Dr. A. Bishop who is leading the work on pneumocyte development. BSEL and TERM collaborate on stem cell bioprocessing in order to develop culture protocols, methodologies, and systems for the production of clinically-relevant numbers terminally differentiated cells for bone, cartilage, heart, and lung tissue engineering applications.
• In the area of on-line, real-time, in-situ monitoring, BSEL is collaborating with Dr. E. Drakakis (Department of Bioengineering), who has expertise on electronics and is leading the research on data acquisition and processing. Furthermore, BSEL is collaborating with Prof. T. Cass who is a world-leading expert on biosensors. In addition, BSEL is a constituent component of the newly formed Institute of Biomedical Engineering.
• In the area of biomaterials, BSEL is collaborating with Dr. A. Bismarck (Department of Chemical Engineering) on the design, fabrication, characterisation, and modification of scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.
• BSEL has strong collaborative links with academics active in modelling. In particular, through collaboration with Dr. Y. Xu (Department of Chemical Engineering), we are currently modelling the flow and mass transport properties of simulated micro-gravity bioreactors and are designing three-dimensional perfusion culture systems for bone marrow. In addition, in collaboration with Dr. F. Stepanek (Department of Chemical Engineering) we are developing models for 3-D tissue growth.
• Furthermore, BSEL is collaborating with Dr. Judit Nagy of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering on the area os "stem cell proteomics".
• Collaborative links with Prof. P. Luckham (Department of Chemical Engineering) are allowing us to study cell adhesion of stem, progenitor, and mature cells on 3-D scaffolds using a combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM) with fluorescence microscopy (FM). In addition, BSEL has also links with Prof. Sergei Kazarian (Department of Chemical Engineering) who is providing us with his expertise on FTIR imaging, as well as Dr. Daryl Williams and Dr. Jerry Heng who provide their expertise on the mechanical properties of the tissue engineered within our bioreactors.
• Finally, BSEL is collaborating with Prof. A. Livingston (Department of Chemical Engineering) in providing the modern molecular biology techniques in studying microbial population dynamics for waste-water applications, an area where Prof. Livingston is a world-leading expert, as well as their recent collaboration on developing membrane bioreactors for the production of blood.

International Collaborations

• BSEL is actively collaborating with the Bioprocessing Technology Institute (A-Star) in Singapore on mammalian cell culture and stem cell bioprocessing.
• BSEL also collaborates with the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Industrial Collaborations

• BSEL is actively collaborating with Novathera, an Imperial College London spin-off compa ny specialising on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.