Insigneo Newsletter - May 2026

Welcome to our monthly Insigneo newsletter!  

Our monthly e-newsletter keeps you up to date with events, funding, success stories and information. We hope you will find it useful! 

Insigneo Showcase -
full programme available

We are delighted to invite you to the Insigneo Institute's Annual Showcase event, which will be held on 18 June 2026.

If you have not already done so, please register to reserve your place before 4 June 2026. The event is free of charge but places are limited and available on a first come, first served basis. 

This full day event is an opportunity for our members, funding agencies, regulatory agencies, industrial colleagues, and other academic groups in the UK to meet and see first-hand the innovative research produced by our Institute.

The day will feature:

• Plenary talks from Professor Keith Jackson, The Master Cutler and Dr Jonathan Morris, Mayo Clinic
• Sessions on the following cross-theme topics: 
  - Discovery/Methodology - the fundamentals of science and methods of research
  - Clinical Translation - translating research into clinical practice
  - Industry and Innovation - working with industry, developing partnerships, innovative technology and devices
  - Child Health Technology
• ECR flash talks
• Poster exhibition
• Networking opportunities with industry, funders, academics and clinicians.

Please visit the webpage to view the programme: 
https://sheffield.ac.uk/insigneo/overview/events/insigneo-showcase-2026#programme

We look forward to welcoming you on 18 June 2026.

Register your place at the Big Walk 2026

Sign up to take on the Big Walk 2026. Every pound you raise will directly fund life-changing research into childhood lung disease. Sign up before Friday 29 May 2026 to secure your place.

UK-wide nucleic acid network launches to
connect research, industry and innovation

The University of Sheffield is part of a new national network led by the University of Portsmouth which has launched to accelerate innovation across nucleic acids, bringing together researchers, industry partners and policymakers from across the UK.

Supported by over £900,000 in combined funding, including £650,000 from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and £267,000 in partner contributions, the initiative will create a coordinated, cross-disciplinary community focused on advancing nucleic acid research and innovation.

The network is co-led by Insigneo member Professor Alice Pyne from the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering.

Sano Centre visit the Insigneo Institute

Image courtesy of Sano Centre

During a recent visit to the Insigneo Institute, a Sano delegation – Katarzyna Nicholson, Magdalena Otta, Tomasz Gubała, Dominik Stosik and Dominik Czaplicki – presented a prototype angiography simulator and virtual coronary assessment tools developed at the Sano Centre.

The team demonstrated the simulator to Professor Paul Morris, gathering feedback on hardware, haptic realism and visualisation that confirmed its strong potential for medical education. Together with Dr Andrew Narracott and Dr Ning Ma, they also discussed AI applications, patient‑specific digital twins and health data access within initiatives such as Data Connect and the local AI community in Sheffield.

In talks with Alex Wilkinson and Jonathan Taylor, the focus was on how to bring Sano solutions into practice at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and their Sheffield 3D Lab – from pilot projects to full‑scale deployment. 

Innovation across borders: Yorkshire MedTech champions regional strengths on China mission

Insigneo member  Professor Paul Hatton joined a core 23-member delegation to forge vital new corridors of innovation between the North of England and some of Asia’s most dynamic economic hubs.  The itinerary spanned five cities, taking the delegation into the heart of Hong Kong, Chengdu, and the bustling innovation districts of the Greater Bay Area, including Guangzhou.

The mission united senior regional leadership, including South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, and the Master Cutler, alongside key civic and corporate partners. Together, they presented a formidable case to international investors.

University of Sheffield’s life sciences innovation celebrated at prestigious awards

The University of Sheffield’s world-leading research and its role in championing innovation across the UK’s life sciences sector have been recognised at a prestigious awards ceremony.

GE Healthcare and the University’s POLARIS Group, part of the Insigneo Institute, were shortlisted in a similarly strong field for their long-standing partnership, which focuses on developing more affordable and accessible MRI scanners. 

New researcher persona launch: Meet the ‘Project Architect’ – a persona that leads ambitious, multi-partner research

The White Rose University Consortium has developed a series of personas designed to reveal something about you as a researcher and help you explore their range of free resources tailored to your needs.

Professor Gwen Reilly visits Sano Centre

Insigneo member, Professor Gwen Reilly from the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, recently visited the Sano Centre and gave a seminar on 'Multiscale models for musculoskeletal disease: how can we better combine in vitro and in silico approaches?' She demonstrated how the combination of biology, engineering, and computational modelling is transforming research on bone and joint diseases. A multiscale approach and mechanobiology play a key role, explaining how cells respond to physical forces and influence bone remodelling.  

Advanced biomaterials, 3D printing, and computer simulations enable the creation of realistic tissue models, support therapy testing, and drive the development of personalised treatments. 

You can now watch the talk online and dive deeper into how these methods are changing our understanding of bone health in practice in the seminar recording on the Sano YouTube channel. 

PhD success

Congratulations to Insigneo members Turki Alnasser and Amy Simmons from the School of Medicine & Population Health on passing their PhD vivas!  Amy was awarded an Insigneo EPSRC PhD studentship working with Dr Neil Stewart and Professor Jim Wild in the Polaris group.

Pint of Science

Insigneo members Sarah Harris, Jacob Wilkinson, Malwina Matella, Rachel Furmidge, Mary Paterson, Prof Matt Carre, Dr Sam Davison,  Alekhya Mandali and Scott Parker all gave talks at this year's Pint of Science event.  Did you catch any of them?

Insigneo Early Career Researcher community

Our Early Career Researcher ECR group is open to all Insigneo Members who are PhD students, postdocs, fellows, lecturers and those who self-define as an ECR.

Find out more and join

If you are not already a member of the Insigneo Institute and would like to join you can read more about the benefits and apply here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/insigneo/membership. 

ECR fellowship/grant writing Workshop

We run regular ECR fellowship/grant writing workshops (every ~2 months).

The aim is to allow ECRs to discuss with their peers any fellowship/ grant applications they might be preparing and to receive feedback in an informal setting. During each session we have one to two members presenting their work, followed by a round table discussion. This group is reserved for Insigneo ECR members who are seriously considering or are in the process of writing their first grant or applying for a fellowship. Please contact Damien Lacroix (d.lacroix@sheffield.ac.uk) or Neil Stewart (neil.stewart@sheffield.ac.uk) to express your interest in participating.

Opportunity for an ECR to join our committee as the lead for social events!

In this role, you will play a key part in fostering community connections by organizing engaging social and networking events.

If you’re passionate about building a vibrant community and have creative ideas for bringing people together, we’d love to have you on board.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us by emailing Sarah Black (sarah.black@sheffield.ac.uk).

If you have any queries, please contact m.matella@sheffield.ac.uk or sarah.black@sheffield.ac.uk 

The Insigneo ECR Committee
(Malwina Matella, Neil Stewart, Juntong Lai, Hazem Toutounji, Sarah Needleman, Silvia Dirstaru, Sarah Black, Sarah Hollely, chaired by: Damien Lacroix)

We would like to introduce some of our new members who have joined the Insigneo Institute recently. 

Find out more about Insigneo membership and our members here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/insigneo/membership 

I am currently researching novel digital biomarkers for tracking disease progression in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), using wearable devices and AI. 

The dataset I'm studying was generated by the longitudinal, multi-site Mobilise-D Clinical Validation Study (https://mobilise-d.eu/), consisting of raw wearable sensor data, aggregate digital mobility outcomes and associated clinical outcomes for 602 people with MS across a two-year period. My current research focus is on automated feature extraction from raw sensor data using CNN and Foundation models.

Outside of the University, I co-founded Sheffield Pattern Club (https://patternclub.org/sheffield/), an organisation running events about algorithmic patterns in art and music.

Hi, I’m Eishaan — a Consultant Paediatric ENT Surgeon at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, with a subspecialty interest in rhinology and chemosensory (smell/taste) disorders in children.  Alongside my clinical work, I co-direct the Sheffield cheMosensory Exploration Laboratory (SMEL), which I’m developing as the UK’s first dedicated paediatric chemosensory research hub.

My research sits at the intersection of sensory development, nose and neurological problems, and child nutritional health. I’m particularly interested in how smell and taste dysfunction manifests in children from a neurodevelopmental and nutritional preferences perspective, and its treatment options. I’m also Chief Investigator for a pilot school-based smell screening study which I hope will lay the groundwork for population-level chemosensory surveillance in children.

On the more translational side, I’m co-supervising a PhD at AFIC at Sheffield Hallam looking at matching food preferences with chemosensory profiles of children, and collaborating on novel odorant delivery modalities for smell testing.

I’m excited to bring an additional clinical/chemosensory lens to the Institute’s expertise in virtual physiological modelling, and to explore how computational tools can help us better understand sensory pathways and their real-world clinical consequences.

My research interests lie in deep learning, computer vision, and computational pathology. My current work focuses on AI-based digital biomarker discovery, particularly within the tumour microenvironment, and computational multimodal analysis across various cancer types.

I joined the University of Sheffield in 2016 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Sheffield Myeloma Research Team, Department of Oncology and Metabolism, working with Dr Andrew Chantry and Dr Michelle Lawson. In July 2019, I joined Professor Thomas Helleday’s team as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Project Leader using novel inhibitors to target the cancer-specific enzyme MTHFD2. 

Since July 2020, I have led the Cancer and Bone (CAB) Lab, developing new drugs to treat cancer with a focus on incurable cancers in bone, particularly myeloma and bone metastatic breast and prostate cancer. In 2024, I was awarded a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award and Yorkshire Cancer Research Pioneers Advanced Fellowship, and am currently a Senior Research Fellow in the Division of Clinical Medicine.

My team are investigating how the bone microenvironment regulates cancer dormancy, and developing novel strategies to kill dormant cancer cells to improve survival, and possibly cure, these cancers. We use a mix of 2D and 3D in vitro models, animal models (mice and zebrafish) and patient samples to study the cancer-bone-immune microenvironment and test therapies, alongside multi-omic approaches. We are always happy to collaborate with other groups interested in using our models, engineering new models together, or applying computational approaches for data analysis (imaging and omics).

He then joined the research staff of Duke University’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, where he evaluated the efficacy of novel immunotherapy combinations in mouse models of glioblastoma. In 2023, Scott began his graduate study in the Pierobon Laboratory, then part of George Mason University’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, and earned a Master of Science in Biology in 2025.

Scott  is now a PhD student in the Pierobon lab at the University of Sheffield, and is investigating the mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis in vivo.   

My research programme focuses on the molecular mechanisms that shape tumour progression and therapeutic resistance, with the aim of identifying vulnerabilities that can be used to improve treatment options for patients with advanced and hard‑to‑treat malignancies. I integrate mechanistic cancer biology, functional proteomics, and multi‑omic approaches to define how oncogenic signalling networks malfunction and how these alterations can be used to inform therapeutic strategies.

A consistent feature of my programme is its translational orientation. Findings generated in the laboratory are evaluated in clinical settings through biomarker‑driven patient stratification, functional profiling of patient samples, and studies that connect molecular mechanisms with therapeutic response. This approach has supported clinical investigations across several cancer types and has contributed to work on treatment resistance, adaptive signalling, and precision‑guided therapy selection.

My research focuses on the development and optimisation of different hydrogel systems for plasma triggered small molecule drug delivery.

My past experience includes completing a MSci in Chemistry at the University of Birmingham, during which I completed a Year in Industry at Lubrizol and a Master's project focused on the synthesis of broad spectrum antivirals. Alongside my PhD, I am also a member of the Chemistry PGR Representatives, the RSC Local Section Committee and the Florey Institute Student Committee.

I also enjoy being part of a choir, crocheting, and going on long walks in the Peak District during my free time. 

Do you have news to share with us?

If you would like us to include information and/or events to this newsletter please email: info@insigneo.org (the newsletter will be issued during the 2nd week of the month, excluding January and August). 

Insigneo members - please let us know when your students are graduating so that we can celebrate their success!

Please ensure that you submit items for inclusion with a minimum of one week's notice.

Guest Lectures, Conferences & Seminars

Please see our useful resource detailing Training and Development Opportunities relevant to Insigneo research themes, including events, conferences and seminars from the University and across a huge range of institutions and organisations. Please note that some are internal to the University of Sheffield.

Insigneo events

5 June
Insigneo cross-theme workshop on preclinical New-Alternative Methods (NAMs)

18 June 2026
Insigneo Showcase 2026

A selection of Insigneo seminar recordings are available to view on our YouTube channel.

Other events

26 June
Healthy Lifespan Institute (HELSI) Annual Meeting - view the programme.

29-30 June
Human + machine: clinician-led AI for tomorrow's healthcare - 2nd Annual Global AI Conference 2026 

2 July
Health Research from Home grant writing retreat

6 - 8 July
EIT2026 – 26th International Conference on Biomedical Applications of Electrical Impedance Tomography

1 - 4 September
VPH 2026

15 - 16 October
Inaugural National Paediatric Translational Research Conference - abstract deadline: 30 April 2026!

For a full list of upcoming events visit: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/insigneo/overview/events

Publications

Optimisation of electrospinning parameters to successfully obtain high ratios of medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoate in electrospun fibres with drug loading for wound healing applications (Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine ) R. A. Macartney, A. T. R. Fricker, G. U. N. Tajalla, A. M. Smith, S. Kishida, S. Fedele, I. Roy, J. C. Knowles

Nonanoic acid-containing polymethyl methacrylate denture base inhibits Candida albicans growth and biofilm formation (Journal of Dentistry) A. Zanki, 
F. S. Alhedyan, P. V. Hatton, D. J. Wood, C. Murdoch

A biocompatible and flexible medium chain length PHA, P(3HB-co-20mol%3HHx) for neural tissue engineering (Journal of Biotechnology) L. Santolin, C. S. Taylor, B. Weiske, D.A. Gregory, E. Asare, A. Fricker, A. Mele, J. W. Haycock, S. L. Riedel, I. Roy

Role of beta-adrenergic modulation of action potential duration in arrhythmogenesis in Long QT Syndrome Type 1 & 2 (Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical) Z. Lima, R. A. Chauhana, B. Roper-Jones, E. Allen, J. Mitcheson, R. H. Clayton, K. E. Brack, G. A. Ng

Biomechanical Assessment of Femur Fracture Fixation Using Modified Locking Compression Plate Made of Biodegradable and Non-Biodegradable Materials Under Physiological Loading During Healing Phases  (Journal of Biomedical Materials Research - Part B Applied Biomaterials) G. Chandra, R. Ghosh, V. Verma

A critical comparison of polypropylene and polyurethane sling materials after implantation in a suburethral sheep model (Biomaterials) A. J Bullock, D. A. Gregory, R. Seyam, F. Al-Mohanna, O. Alsulaiman, V. L. Workman, C. Rodenburg, W. Altaweel, C. R. Chapple, S. MacNeil

Advances in 3D Bioprinting of Functional Skeletal Muscle Constructs: Focus on Preclinical Models and Evaluation Strategies (ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering) H. Budharaju, P. Kumar S K, M. Rajendran, M. Sivasubramanian, S. Sethuraman, D. Sundaramurthi

A Novel Ensemble Machine Learning Approach for Interpretable Modeling, Feature Extraction and Selection With Applications to Medical and Biomedical Signals and Data (Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience) B. Sun, H.-L. Wei

Expiratory lung MRI: a simple, sensitive method to quantify and visualise regional gas trapping in cystic fibrosis (Journal of Cystic Fibrosis) A. V. Simmons, L. J. Smith,  Z. Somerville, H. Faulke, W. Clark, D. Hughes, I. Aldag, N. West,  A. M. Biancardi, J. M. Wild, N.J Stewart

Interpretable Multimodal Learning for Cardiovascular Hemodynamics Assessment (IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging) P. C. Tripathi,
S. Tabakhi, M. N. I. Suvon, L. Schöb, S. Alabed, A. J. Swift, S. Zhou, H. Lu

How physiotherapists personalize airway clearance in children with primary ciliary dyskinesia (Physiotherapy Theory and Practice) L. Schofield, S. J. Singh, S. Shanks, J. M. Wild, D. Hind

Is Isolated Inferior Rectus Weakness a Strong Indicator for Myasthenia Gravis (Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience) E. Butterworth, J. Choi, M. Rhodes, J. Simmons