Welcome!
A big CeMi welcome to our newest members of the team, Hussain, Rosalia & Udesh! Hussain and Udesh are joining the HEALIKICK project and Rosalia is working with Prof Dalby on an MRC project. Read below for some background on the new team members….
Dr Udesh Dhawan
I developed an early interest in genetics when I was studying Mendel’s laws of inheritance in high school. Following this interest, I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Nanotechnology and Master’s degree in NanoBiotechnology during which I used nanofabrication tools to develop biosensing platforms. My combined interest in Molecular biology and Nanofabrication helped me to land a PhD position in Taiwan, where I engineered nanotopographies to study cell-material interactions at the nanoscale and designed material geometries for improved cardiac and bone implant function. During this time, I also developed an interest in cancer biology. After winning Academia Sinica Postdoctoral Fellowship, I joined Dr. Hsiao-hua Yu’s lab at the Institute of Chemistry in Academia Sinica, Taiwan. During the initial postdoctoral years, I worked on engineering organic nanostructures to study the role of mechanobiology in physical cancer microenvironment-guided cancer metastasis via Epithelial-Mesenchymal transition and my research has provided evidence that biophysical stimulation by cancer microenvironment precedes biochemical regulation. The later part of my postdoctoral work in Taiwan focused on highlighting how cell nanoenvironment regulates opening and closing of ion channels to regulate protein translocation which cancer cells often exploit to activate downstream signaling pathways.
I have joined CeMi as a Research Associate with Professor Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez to develop novel platforms that will facilitate minimal growth factor inputs for maximal osteogenic output.
Besides listening to orchestra, I enjoy coffee brewing and tasting. I also enjoy watching European football. I occasionally post on Instagram and can be followed @theamateurpostdoc.
Dr Rosalia Cuahtecontzi Delint
I studied a BSc in Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering at Universidad de las Americas Puebla in my home country, Mexico. I then moved to the UK where I completed my doctoral project at the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials at the University of Bristol and focused on the improvement of stem cell therapies for cartilage repair. During this time, I developed an adhesive artificial membrane binding protein (AMBP) to modify the membrane of human mesenchymal stem cells to enhance their adhesion to natural extracellular matrix.
My current project at CeMi, in collaboration with the University of Bristol, involves the study of titanium orthopaedic implants with cell instructive nano-topographies. These implants are designed to simultaneously prevent microbial infection and promote osseointegration.
When I am not in the lab, I enjoy baking, boardgames and yoga.
Dr Hussain Jaffery
Hussain has a multidisciplinary research background, having worked on cancer metastasis models in flies, nitrogen metabolism in fungi, structural virology, microfluidics, synthetic biology, osteoimmunology, bone biology, gut mucosal immunology, and chondrocyte chronobiology. In past year, his focus has been on cells of the mesenchymal lineage, where he his concentrating his current efforts, as part of the HEALIKICK team.