Welcome to the Centre for Cell Engineering

The Centre for Cell Engineering is a collaboration between biologists, physical scientists, engineers and clinicians with the aim of understanding the cell / material interface and the micro / nano scale and then building improved and new medical devices. Original established in 1997 as a collaboration between Adam Curtis (Professor of Cell Biology) and Chris Wilkinson (James Watt chair of electronic engineering) a new generation of cell engineers lead by Dr Mathis Riehle are now rapidly expanding our understanding of the cell / material interface and possibilities therein.

Academic Principle Investigators. Click on links for information on grants, students, publications and how to contact.
	Dr Mathis Riehle (Director of the Centre for Cell Engineering, Reader in Cell Engineering) has been the Director of the Centre for Cell Engineering since 2004. He did his PhD in Biology at the J W Goethe University Frankfurt in the group for Cinematic Cell Research with Prof. Bereiter-Hahn, followed by postdoctoral work in the interdisciplinary group of Prof. Adam Curtis and Prof Chris Wilkinson, which in 1997 became the Centre for Cell Engineering. In 2000 he took on a lectureship in Cell Engineering at the University of Glasgow and became Reader in 2006He works in close collaboration with colleagues in Medicine, Biology, Engineering, Immunology and Chemistry in Glasgow, the UK and Europe. A theme that underpins most of the ongoing work in his group is: how can materials and scaffolds be best designed to effectively
	Dr Catherine Berry (Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkins Fellow) moved to Glasgow after completing a PhD on tissue engineering at Queen Mary, University of London in 2001. She started on EU grant magnanomed before becoming a Dorothy Hodgkins Fellow in 2005. Her research interest focuses on therapeutic use of nanoparticles - particularly nuclear targeting and cancer.
	Dr Matthew Dalby (Reader in Cell Engineering) started life in Glasgow as a PDRA on the EU grant Nanomed after completing a PhD in biomedical materials at Queen Mary, University of London in 2000. In 2003 he became a BBSRC David Phillips Fellow and a lecturer in 2008. His research focuses on cell interactions at the nanoscale with particular interest with influencing mesenchymal stem cell differentiation. He is academic secretary of the Glasgow Orthopaedic Research Initiative (GLORI).
	Dr Nikolaj Gadegaard (Senior Lecturer in Bioengineering) became a Lecturer after completing a Royal Society of Edinburgh Personal Fellowship. He came to Glasgow in 2001 as a PDRA on the EU grant nanomed before being awarded his personal fellowship in 2003. He specialises in micro and nanoscale surfaces using tools such as photo and electron beam lithography, dry etch, nanoimprint lithography and injection moulding.

In addition to increasing understanding of fundamental biology to new nano and micro materials the Centre aims to translate cutting-edge science to clinic. We thus work closely with plastic surgeon Mr Andrew Hart and orthopaedic surgeon Mr Dominic Meek. In orthopaedics Dalby and Meek have established the Glasgow Orthopaedic Research Initiative (GLORI) to consolidate and accelerate orthopaedic research in Glasgow and to help trainee surgeons experience basic research.

Clinical Principle Investigators.
	Prof Andrew Hart BSc, MD, PhD, FRCS, (Plast) Stephen Forrest Professor of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, The University of Glasgow.  His research interests include include peripheral nerve injury, neuroprotection and tissue engineering / regenerative medicine, including application in adult & obstetric brachial plexus injury, microsurgery reconstruction including novel free / pedicled flaps, perforator flaps, breast reconstruction by autologous latissimus dorsi flap reconstruction, and free functional muscle transfer, Flap reconstruction of the axilla after hidradenitis and complex hand & upper limb reconstruction. He is deputy editor of JPRAS, a member of BAPRAS and BSSH and holds an honorary position at Umeå University, Sweden.
	Mr R.M. Dominic Meek FRCS, MD, (Consultant, in Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow). He undertook a fellowship in adult reconstruction of the hip and knee at the department of lower limb arthroplasty, Vancouver General Hospital. He was awarded the British and American Hip Societies Travelling Fellow in 2005 and the ABC Fellowship in 2008. His research interests are in the basic science of wear particles particularly metal CoCr particles and implant fixation and bone regeneration. Member of BOA, BHS and BORS. He is clinical secretary of GLORI.

We currently have a mix of basic science and clinical researchers in the Centre. These experienced researchers are critical to driving the focus of our main research themes.

Postdoctoral Researchers / Clinical Fellows.
	Frank Gesellchen got his PhD from the Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg working on protein kinase A and cAMP signalling at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ). He moved on to the University of Kassel, Germany, continuing research into cAMP signalling and protein kinases and was involved in assay development (AlphaScreen, Surface Plasmon Resonance) for nationally and EU funded projects. In 2008 he moved to Glasgow University as a PDRA at the Institute of Neuroscience & Molecular Pharmacology on a BHF funded project, investigating the role of Phosphodiesterase 2 in heart disease. He joined the Centre for Cell Engineering in 2011, working on a collaborative project with the Division of Electronics & Nanoscale Engineering, developing an acoustic tweezing device for cell and tissue manipulation.
	Dr Laura McNamara completed her PhD on the molecular and cellular basis of topography-induced mechanotransduction in the Centre for Cell Engineering.  As a PDRA in CCE, she is involved in characterising mesenchymal stem cell responses to defined multi-level titanium topographies for orthopaedic applications.  Laura is currently a Postdoctoral Representative for the Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (TCES).
	Dr Habib Nikukar studied medicine and then pediatric subspecialty in the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, from 1986 to 1997. He then worked as a pediatrician (1997-2009) in Yazd as a member of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences. His clinical duties were prevention, diagnosis and treatment of internal medical diseases in the pediatric age group. At the same time he worked for the University as a researcher and trainer of medical and paramedical staff and students. Due to his interest in the basic sciences especially, molecular and cellular biology, he moved to the CCE to undertake a PhD. His project focuses on finding the possible effects of nanoscale mechanical stimulation on the behaviors of mesenchymal stem cells for differentiation etc.
	Dr P. Monica Tsimbouri obtained her PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Glasgow studying the Epstein Barr virus Nuclear Antigen 1 (EBNA1) effects on cellular gene expression.   She worked on different projects (lymphatic and skin cancer models) studying different aspects of EBV-induced tumourigenesis. She was also awarded a 2 year fellowship from Lady Tata Memorial Trust to work on the involvement of Recombination Activating genes (Rag) in EBV-induced tumourigenesis. She then moved to CCE on to a project involving the culture of primary adult human bone marrow stem cells onto different topographical surfaces in the absence of growth factors aiming to investigate the effects of nanotopography on MSC morphology and phenotype canonical and functional pathways and nuclear organisation. Her future interests involve the use of topographical cues to manipulate cancer cell phenotype/survival."
‎	Andrew Wilkinson graduated from medicine in 2001. Training in Orthopaedics and trauma in the West of Scotland region he has developed an interest in ceramics.  These are excellent materials for the bearing surfaces of joints but have proven difficult to integrate into bone.  The main focus of his Joint Axction funded MD research is the potential influence of microtopography in these materials to improve adherence to bone.

We currently have three honorary senior research fellows in the Centre. Adam and Chris established the Centre for Cell Engineering and whilst they have now passed charge to Mathis, they are both highly active in mentoring, advising, supervising and bench research. Jon joined us in 2006 collaborating with Mathis on developing the understanding of the importance of biomimetic structures and now runs a thriving tree-frog research group in the Centre.

Emeritus Senior Research Fellows.
	Dr Jon Barnes joined the staff of the Zoology Department of Glasgow University in 1966, retiring as Reader in 2006. He is now an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Cell Engineering, Glasgow University.  His research combines an interest in neuroethology (the ways in which the behaviours of simple animals are controlled by their nervous systems) and biomechanics. In this latter area, his research has been concerned with the mechanisms of wet adhesion utilised by tree frogs. These are being studied at all levels between the behavioural and the cellular, including biomimetic implications.
	Professor Adam Curtis FRSE, FBSE, FIMM, FIBiol, FBSE, CBiol is emeritus Professor of Cell Biology and is currently a honorary senior research fellow in the Centre. Along with Chris Wilkinson he founded the Centre for Cell Engineering in 1997. Adam took the post of professor at Glasgow in 1967 and as well as developing a multidisciplinary micro / nanomaterials research centre has been active within the wider context of the scientific community and has been president of the Society for Experimental Biology (1991-1993) and the Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (2001-2003). Adam is also a chartered biologist and chartered scientist and has been an enthusiastic advocate of Scottish science and is thus a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He continues his research on cell interaction at the nanoscale.

As a Centre investigating materials for next-generation medicine we rely heavily on collaboration with biologists, engineers, chemists, physicists and materials scientists.