Insigneo Newsletter - September 2025

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! 

Potentially life-saving MRI breakthrough raises hopes for cost effective and more widely accessible lung scans

Revolutionary new technology could make MRI scanners cost effective, more widely available to local communities and help save lives, thanks to a pioneering collaboration between the University of Sheffield and GE HealthCare.

The Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner, developed in partnership with leading global medical technology company GE HealthCare, is designed to tackle respiratory conditions that impact the lives of millions and cost the NHS over £6 billion annually. Respiratory disease is the UK’s fourth biggest killer, yet among the most neglected conditions in terms of advanced diagnostics and effective treatments.

By revolutionising the diagnosis of lung conditions such as cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), lung cancer and asthma, the new technology could improve patient outcomes, make diagnosis more accessible and generate substantial savings for the NHS.

This innovative research programme received Government funding through EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships, jointly awarded by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) for academic-industrial collaborations. The Low-Field MRI scanner project was among 19 collaborative EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships awarded in 2023, with a collective value of £149 million across all partnerships.

The technology was officially unveiled at a ceremony at the University MRI unit at Royal Hallamshire Hospital, marking what is the first MHRA medical device trial sponsored by the University of Sheffield.

Digital twins to help reduce childhood fractures

The ChildBone project, led by the University’s Insigneo Institute in collaboration with Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, is developing digital twins of children’s thigh bone and ribs to revolutionise how children’s bones are studied. 

The initiative could help to reduce the number of childhood fractures – almost half a million a year in England alone – and advance our understanding of the structure and function of developing bones in children.

The models will be built by researchers in the University of Sheffield’s Insigneo Institute, who are experts in biomedical imaging, using CT and MRI images from patients at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. Staff at Sheffield Children’s will work with researchers to obtain and interpret the bone scans.

Following £1.2 million funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Sheffield researchers will use the digital twins to examine the effect of vitamin D on bone strength between the ages of 0-16 years.

Researchers will assess vitamin D levels across three sample groups, spanning a range from normal to very low. They will then compare the predicted bone strength, using the models, between the groups to identify any potential differences. The study aims to advance our understanding of skeletal development, determine the vitamin D level at which bone strength is affected, and generate a dataset for sharing with other institutions to support further studies.

Insigneo student membership

We are pleased to announce that we have opened our membership to undergraduate and postgraduate taught students at the University of Sheffield.  The membership will provide students with opportunities to learn about and get involved in Insigneo research through being a part of our network.

We'd like to give a very warm welcome to our new student members (please see the new member profiles below). We're delighted to report we already have over 30 student members including participants from our popular summer research programme and students from the Biomedical Engineering BEng/MEng and the Biomedical Engineering MSc taught programmes for which Insigneo members have been actively involved in developing and delivering the content.

A new revolution in child health is underway in Sheffield 

Sheffield Children’s is one step closer to opening the National Centre for Child Health Technology (NCCHT) – a world-class facility which will revolutionise healthcare for children and young people. 

For nearly 150 years, Sheffield Children’s has led the way in care, research, and innovation. The NCCHT will build on this legacy, bringing together experts from healthcare, academia, and industry to create cutting-edge healthcare solutions that improve young lives across the UK and beyond. 

To mark the latest milestone in the build, a steel signing ceremony took place at the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, delivered in partnership with Henry Boot Construction.  

Children and young people were the first to sign the steel frame, writing their hopes for the future of healthcare and symbolising the NCCHT’s mission: advancing healthcare for children, with children.

Insigneo Sano Modelathon - apply now

Sheffield/Krakow, 13 -16 January 2026
Applications open until 31 October
Decision: 15 November

Based on the concept of a hackathon, where different teams work on a challenging problem to ‘hack’ computer code, the Modelathon uses computational modelling and simulation rather than ‘hacking’.

At next year's event, teams will work simultaneously at the University of Sheffield's Insigneo Institute and at the Sano Centre for Computational Personalised​ Medicine in Kraków. The challenges will focus on the role of multiscale modelling (0D, 1D, 3D) in improving the management of ischaemic stroke. 

Yorkshire MedTech - translational funding call now open

Turn your MedTech research into impact with up to £120k in translational funding

 Ready to take your MedTech project beyond the lab? If you've already completed the foundational research, the Yorkshire MedTech Impact Accelerator is offering funding to help you explore the commercial potential of your work and translate it into a real-world solution. 

This is your chance to take the next step. We are offering:

• Project funding: Secure between £15k and £120k to advance your idea - from identifying market & clinical need for your technology, through to creating a prototype and proving the concept.  We have increased the level of funding on offer across our impact projects for this round.
• Innovation secondments: Accelerate knowledge sharing with a funded three-month secondment with an industry or clinical partner.  Rolling call now open.

Key deadlines for project funding:

• Expressions of Interest: Monday, 13 October 2025
• Full Application: Monday, 24 November 2025

This is a fantastic opportunity to bring your research to life. We welcome applications from across the university, especially from those we haven't engaged with before.  

Find out more and apply here

Congratulations to Insigneo member Farheen Ramzan who received the *Best Paper* Award (1 out of 8 candidates) at the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AIiH Conference, 2025), held at Jesus College, Cambridge. 

Insigneo Co-Director Professor Damien Lacroix, gave a keynote talk at the iSi Health 2025 Conference in Leuven on Friday, 12 September 2025.

iSi Health, the KU Leuven Institute of Physics-based Modeling for in silico Health,  leads innovative multi-disciplinary research initiatives at the intersection of medicine and computational modeling and simulations.

BioMedEng25

There was strong representation from Insigneo members at the BiomedEng25 conference which took place 4 - 5 September 2025 at the Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow with presentations from:

• George Allison 'Investigating the effect of marrow properties on bone strength in paediatric femora'
• Ilona Bognar '3D Tissue Engineered Models of Osteogenesis Imperfecta'
• Dr Vanessa Hearnden (pictured above) 'Integrating Women's Health into Biomedical Engineering Curricula'
• Dr Rachel Furmidge 'Tissue-engineered oral mucosal models and electrical impedance spectroscopy for rapid and early diagnosis of oral cancer'
• Daniel Nicoll 'Investigating stride variation in curvilinear walking gait across Parkinson’s disease and older adult cohorts in a supervised clinical test.

CESAER report: Supporting diverse and inclusive entrepreneurship

Insigneo member Mahnaz Arvenah has contributed to a CESAER report highlighting the vital role that universities of science and technology play in closing the gender innovation gap. Read the report.

ESB 2025

Congratulations to Insigneo member Jake Edmans, who has been awarded the Journal of Nanobiotechnology @BMC Best Oral Presentation Award for his talk on  “pH-responsive polymersomes via polymerization-induced self-assembly in aqueous media: synthesis, loading and potential biological applications" at the 34th Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials, ESB 2025, which took place 7-11 September in Torino, Italy.

Also at ESB 2025, Professor Helen Colley gave a keynote talk on 'Electrospun Mucoadhesive Patches for Advanced Drug Delivery' and Professor Paul Hatton gave a talk on 'The Incorporation of Natural Antifungal Compounds into Biomaterials to Prevent Candida Albicans Infection'.

Klaudia Slowik from Helen Colley's group gave an oral presentation entitled 'Controlled transmucosal delivery of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs for alveolar osteitis' and Insigneo members Rebecca Hanson and Amy Morgan from Dr Ílida Ortega Asencio's group in the Dental School also presented posters.

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).

The Insigneo ECR Committee
(Malwina Matella, Neil Stewart, Juntong Lai, Hazem Toutounji, 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 

My research focuses on investigating the role of advanced functional lung MRI techniques and their applications in improving radiotherapy treatment planning within the POLARIS group, under the supervision of Dr Bilal Tahir, Professor Jim Wild, and Professor Matthew Hatton.

Before starting my PhD, I earned my Master's degree in Cancer Biology and Radiotherapy Physics from the University of Manchester (2019) and a Bachelor's degree in Diagnostic Radiology from King Abdul-Aziz University (2013). 

Dr Budharaju Harshavardhan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Chemical, Materials & Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. His research spans biofabrication, biomaterials, and regenerative medicine, with a focus on engineering functional tissue constructs and scaffold systems that can be applied to both therapeutic repair and pre-clinical drug testing.

He completed his PhD in Bioengineering at SASTRA Deemed University, India, where he developed protein–in–polysaccharide bioinks for skeletal muscle and cardiac tissue regeneration. His doctoral work explored novel strategies for volumetric muscle loss repair and cryopreservation of engineered tissues, providing a foundation for scalable and clinically relevant biofabrication approaches.

At Sheffield, Dr Harsha’s work focuses on thermoplastic-based additive manufacturing and precision scaffold design for tissue regeneration. He has expertise in mammalian cell culture, hydrogel and bioink development, rheological and mechanical characterisation, scaffold fabrication, bioprinting, and advanced imaging techniques. He has also worked extensively with in vitro and in vivo models, integrating biological evaluation with materials development to strengthen translational potential.

His current research interests include the development of bioinks and biomaterials with antimicrobial and conductive properties for next-generation regenerative therapies, the cryopreservation of engineered tissues to enable on-demand therapeutic use, and the creation of bioprinted infection and disease models for predictive drug testing and personalised medicine. He is also exploring the integration of 3D and 4D biofabrication with dynamic cues such as mechanical and electrical stimulation to promote tissue maturation.

Dr Harsha is keen to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects that integrate biofabrication with materials science, tissue engineering, and clinical research to accelerate the translation of innovative biomaterials and engineered tissue models into healthcare applications.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budharaju-harshavardhan-ph-d-088bb4289/

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=lF1KYKoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&authuser=1&sortby=pubdate

As a student, I have continued to deepen my knowledge in computer science and carried out projects related to computer vision and machine learning. My interest lies in computer vision and machine learning, particularly in applying deep learning models to image and video datasets to analyse results that could potentially enhance everyday life.

This summer, I engaged in a research project with the Insigneo Research Institute, which provided me with an excellent opportunity to apply computer vision techniques to a practical biomedical problem. This experience not only strengthened my critical thinking and creativity in research but also helped me learn how to present results based on multiple hypotheses. Furthermore, it improved my communication skills.

I strongly value the impact of research on improving quality of life, not only for myself but for others as well. I am deeply motivated to contribute to humanity by driving new discoveries and innovations through practical work in the field. 

Lastly, I desire to play an active role in creating real change through research in computer vision and machine learning.

My interest in this field was first sparked by an ingestible origami robot developed at Sheffield to navigate the stomach wall, which inspired my curiosity in how engineering can be translated into novel medical devices. My experiences have led me to be fascinated by the intersection of AI-driven computational methods and the data-driven design of biological systems and medical devices to develop impactful healthcare solutions.

Beyond my studies, I have gained practical experience in both healthcare and technology. During a six-week internship at a pharmaceutical company, I assisted with laboratory techniques including HPLC, SDS-PAGE, Western blotting, and IEF to test raw materials and finished products, while strictly following GMP standards and observing large-scale production processes. At Sheffield, I contribute to the Sheffield Bionics project, researching power management and sensor systems for a transhumeral prosthetic arm, and I am currently learning circuit design in KiCad to support component integration.

Over the summer, I conducted a literature study on visualising porosity and protein encapsulation in 3D-printed silk scaffolds using Ptycho-tomography, deepening my interest in biomaterials and imaging. Additionally, I explored healthcare datasets through NHS DigData, analysing prescribing patterns and presenting insights for public health applications. I am currently exploring the use of machine learning to analyse clinical data and identify trends that can inform healthcare decisions.

Alongside these technical experiences, I serve as a Faculty Representative and have been selected for the University Senate, gaining early experience in cross-faculty collaboration, communication, and project coordination. As a new student member of Insigneo, I am excited to engage with ongoing research, contribute where I can, and further develop my skills in data-driven healthcare and computational approaches to support impactful medical innovations.

I have undertaken an Insigneo Placement, where I developed electrical models of cancerous and non-cancerous cells to support early diagnosis of oral cancer. Previously, I completed a SURE Placement in the Pyne Lab, using deep learning models to analyse DNA conformations in AFM images and investigate how protein binding influences their structure.

Beyond research, I am involved in a student-led project on creating enhanced hearing aids, where I lead the Software Team in applying AI algorithms for improved noise filtration.

Looking ahead, I aim to pursue further studies in Computational and Molecular Biology, with a focus on genetic engineering and therapeutics development. I am passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration and building more affordable and accessible medicine.

Her research lies at the intersection of healthcare innovation, the circular economy, and manufacturing systems, with a particular focus on simulation and data-driven approaches to sustainability.

As part of the Digitally Enabled Circular Healthcare Innovation (DECHI) programme, Dr Mejia contributes to Workstream 2: Sensorisation, Simulation Models and Optimisation for Circular MedTech. This workstream addresses the challenge of limited and fragmented data on the use, condition, and flow of in-service medical technologies. By combining sensorisation, simulation, and optimisation approaches, WS2 develops scenarios that test how different levels of data availability can improve decision-making on circular economy interventions. Dr Mejia’s role focuses on building simulation models — from baseline to sensorised environments — to evaluate how data streams from real-world use cases can inform evidence-based strategies for improving the sustainability of MedTech devices.

Her broader research supports the development of sustainable technologies by integrating digital tools that enable in-process monitoring, real-time simulation, and the embedding of circular economy principles into advanced manufacturing systems. She also collaborates with industrial partners to improve efficiency and quality in areas such as aerostructures and high-rate production.

Dr Mejia has contributed to major research initiatives, including ATI projects such as DELTA and DAWN, and the EPSRC Circular 4.0 programme, focusing on data analytics, monitoring algorithms, and sustainable manufacturing strategies. Her expertise spans time-series data analysis, failure modes modelling, and the development of simulation frameworks.

She holds a PhD in Electronic Engineering from the Industrial University of Santander, Colombia, where her research optimised compressive sensor systems. Her work has been published in internationally recognised journals, and she actively collaborates with academic and industrial partners to advance digital manufacturing research.

She welcomes collaboration on projects related to circular healthcare innovation, digital technologies in medicine, and circular economy strategies for MedTech.

I am an Academic Fellow in AI for Health at the Centre for Machine Intelligence, University of Sheffield, where I work at the intersection of machine learning, dynamical systems theory, and signal processing. My research focuses on machine learning and mathematical modelling for prediction and mechanistically understanding physiology—particularly in applications involving neuromuscular control and wearable medical technologies.

I have a Ph.D. in Mathematics (Applied) from the University of Exeter, where I created mathematical and AI models to understand Parkinson's gait and predict motor abnormalities. My experience spans both academia and industry, including research at the University of Manchester and TCS Innovation Labs, where I worked on distribution shift problems in machine learning, human-in-the-loop methods, and dynamical systems modelling with applications in human motor control and cardiovascular pathologies.

I investigate uncertainty-aware, interpretable machine learning methods grounded in mechanistic understanding, with a focus on data from wearable sensors and physiological time series. My goal is to create robust AI systems that are clinically meaningful and deployable. I'm particularly interested in developing methods to address healthcare AI challenges such as distribution shifts (changes in data between training and deployment). and incorporating human-in-the-loop techniques. 

I welcome collaborations with researchers and clinicians in the fields of AI for health, dynamical systems, physiological modelling, signal processing, and digital health tools. If your work aligns with these themes, let's connect.

I am part of the Bioengineering Society committee, where I manage the funding and help arrange events. I am also Operations Team Lead of the iForge where I organise the rota and assist users with equipment and projects in the makerspace. Alongside these, I have been involved in Project Echo, a student-led medical device project developing an accessible hearing aid. 

This summer, I completed a Sheffield undergraduate research experience project with Dr Pinaki Bhattacharya on bone-implant contact modelling, specifically examining pedicle screws. I worked with a 1D MATLAB spring model to investigate the effects of parameters such as contact stiffness, mesh size, multigrid levels and cycle types on the root mean squared error and solution times. I also carried out image segmentation using ParaView to visualise the bone-implant interface. This experience has been incredibly rewarding,  giving me the opportunity to see how the concepts from my lectures are applied to real-world biomechanics problems and the impact that this research can have.

Caroline was at the University of Sheffield, School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, from 2014 – 2024, undertaking her PhD with Professor John Haycock and Professor Frederik Claeyssens in nerve tissue engineering.

She has undertaken various postdoctoral positions in the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering group, working in nerve tissue engineering, cartilage regeneration and vascular tissue engineering. She has worked at Materials Science, School of Dentistry and in the medical school, and has won several awards for her work in Biomaterials and Tissue engineering, such as the United Kingdom Society for Biomaterial (UKSB) Larry Hench Early Investigator Award (2023) and the Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (TCES) Robert Brown Early-Stage Investigator Award in 2024.

Caroline has returned to Sheffield after a brief stint at the University of Leeds, undergoing a lectureship maternity cover. She is currently working with Professor Alexander Rothman (Insigneo Research Theme Director for Smart devices and sensors) in the School of Medicine and Population Health as a research associate in cardiovascular devices. She will be investigating glucose-fuelled ultra-low power implantable bioelectronics and other cardiovascular devices in porcine models.

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

25 November
Insigneo General Assembly and ECR Forum - Save the date!

2026

15-16 January
Insigneo/Sano Modelathon: Computational modelling to improve management of ischaemic stroke, Sheffield/Kraków 

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

Other events

18 November
4^th Healthy Lifespan Institute (HELSI) Annual Meeting

2026

29-30 June
Human + machine: clinician-led AI for tomorrow's healthcare - 2nd Annual Global AI Conference 2026 - super early bird deadline 22 September

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

Publications

Advancing synthetic bone tissue engineering materials: Nano-scale investigation into transitional Interface in carbon dots/ polymer composites (Journal of Colloid and Interface Science) W. Gao, Z. Cheng, D. A. Gregory, A. J. Knight, A. I. Tartakovskii, C. Rodenburg, N. T. H. Farr, F. Claeyssens 

The effect of liquid platelet-rich fibrin on oral cells and tissue engineered oral mucosa models in vitro (Scientific Reports) K. Rattanawonsakul, G. Seleiro, V. Workman, F. Claeyssens, R. Bolt, P. Seemaung, V. Hearnden

Elucidating the high compliance mechanism by which the urinary bladder fills under low pressures (Scientific Reports) F. Azari, A. M. Robertson, Y. Tobe, P. N. Watton, L. A. Birder, N. Yoshimura, K. Matsuoka, C. Hardin, S. Watkins 

Predicting the heterogeneous chemo-mechano-biological degeneration of cartilage using 3-D biphasic finite elements (Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine) M. M. Rahman, P. N. Watton, C. P. Neu, D. M. Pierce

Melt electrowritten medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoate cardiac patches for Post-MI cardiac regeneration (Materials Today Bio) Q. A. Majid, P. Pandey, M. Bellahcene, C. L. Grigsby, M. M. Stevens, V. Talman, D. J. Stuckey, S. E. Harding, I. Roy, G. Földes

Editorial for “MRI Assessment of Lung Water Density in Individuals Previously Infected With COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study” (Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging) L. C. Saunders, A. A. R. Thompson, J. M. Wild

Can we tell where our bodies end and the external world begins? Evidence for precise three-dimensional internal body models (Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences) C. R. Blaise, H. C. Clark, H. P. Saal

Hierarchical Gaussian processes for characterizing gait variability in multiple sclerosis (Data-Centric Engineering) A. Stihi, C. Mazzà, E. Cross, T. J. Rogers

Secondary Electron Hyperspectral Imaging of Carbons: New Insights and Good Practice Guide (Advanced Science) J. F. Nohl, N. T. H. Farr, M. R. Acocella, A. J. Knight, G. M. Hughes, J. Zhang, S. Robertson, S. Micklethwaite, S. Murphy, T. Motlová, C. Walker, A. I. Tartakovskii, F. Mika, Z. Pokorná, S. Tear, A. Pratt, N. L. Ford, N. Hondow, M. A. E. Jepson, L. S. Mihaylova, N. Reeves-McLaren, S. A. Cussen, C. Rodenburg

A finite element study of the effect of cross-link stabilisation in a lumbar spine tumour model (Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine)J. Lai, J. Tomlinson, L. Breakwell, D. Lacroix

Biomechanical evaluation of temporomandibular joint implants and periprosthetic bone under unilateral and bilateral clenching (Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine) R. Ghosh, G. Chandra, V. Verma, K. Kaur, A. Roychoudhury, S.Mukherjee, A. Chawla, K. Mukherjee

Donor embryonic stem cells displace host cells of 8-cell-stage chimeras to the extra-embryonic lineages by spatial crowding and FGF4 signalling (Development (Cambridge)) S. E. Strawbridge, A. K. Schrattel, P. Humphreys, K. A. Jones, J. Artus, A.-K. Hadjantonakis, A. G. Fletcher, J. Nichols