Insigneo Newsletter - July 2024

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! 

Important step forward in stem cell therapy for rare bowel disease

Stem cell therapy could be used to treat sufferers of a rare bowel disease, a new study led by researchers at the University of Sheffield and University College London (UCL), has demonstrated.

Hirschsprung disease is a rare condition where some nerve cells are missing in the large intestine. This means the intestine cannot contract or move stool and therefore can become blocked. This can cause constipation and sometimes lead to a serious bowel infection called enterocolitis.  

Around 1 in 5,000 babies are born with Hirschsprung disease. The condition is usually picked up soon after birth and treated with surgery as soon as possible; however patients frequently suffer debilitating, lifelong symptoms, with multiple surgical procedures often required. 

For the first time, researchers have now used stem cell therapy in human tissue from people with Hirschsprung disease to generate nerve cell precursors, which then produce the missing nerves in the intestine after transplantation. This in turn should improve the intestine’s functionality. It is hoped the discovery could lead to improved symptoms and better outcomes for individuals with the disease.  

Insigneo member, Dr Anestis Tsakiridis, Principal Investigator from the University of Sheffield's School of Biosciences, said: “Our findings have laid the foundations for the future development of a cell therapy against Hirschsprung disease and we will continue our efforts to bring this to the clinic in the next few years.

“This has been a fantastic collaboration, led by two talented early career scientists, Dr Ben Jevans and Fay Cooper.” 

Making MND history

Insigneo Member Dr Isabel Christie, a neuroscientist from the University of Sheffield's gene Therapy Innovation and Manufacturing Centre spoke to Ellie Colton on BBC Radio Sheffield to discuss the link between MND and dementia. 

You can listen to their interview here: BBC Radio Sheffield - item starts (02:10:23) 

The University of Sheffield is internationally renowned for world-class neurodegenerative research. As well as developing effective disease-modifying therapies for motor neurone disease (MND) we’re also finding ways to improve the lives of patients living with MND. You can join the effort and see what we are doing: visit https://sheffield.ac.uk/future/mnd

Centre for Machine Intelligence recruiting Theme Leads and Fellows

The University of Sheffield's Centre for Machine Intelligence (CMI) is currently in the process of appointing Leads for its four interdisciplinary research themes. The Theme Leads will work across different faculties and institutes and will play a pivotal role in furthering the CMI's mission to foster outstanding interdisciplinary research in and/or on AI at Sheffield and beyond.  

The CMI is a strategic initiative dedicated to the transformation and acceleration of the University's research, innovation and teaching via Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

The CMI is one of the Insigneo Institute's strategic research partners within the University. There are considerable areas of cross-over between our Healthcare data/AI research theme and their AI-enabled research theme as we work towards common goals of applying AI tools to healthcare data.

The following positions are currently open to advert:

Research Theme Leads

• Senior Lecturer and Theme Lead in AI for Health
• Professor/Senior Lecturer and Theme Lead in AI for Materials

Academic Fellows​​​​​​

The CMI is currently in the process of appointing Fellows for three of its four interdisciplinary themes. Successful applicants will work closely with the AI theme lead for their area of specialisation.

The following positions are currently open to advert:

• Academic Fellow in AI (x3)

Inspirational women celebrated in University exhibition

Inspirational women who have blazed a trail for colleagues and students are being celebrated by the University of Sheffield in a portrait exhibition.

The University launched a special project entitled ‘Our People: Inspirational Women’, on International Women’s Day, aimed to showcase and celebrate women from across the organisation, and increase the number of women represented in portraits and photography around campus. 

Colleagues from across the University were invited to nominate the women who inspired them and share the academic and professional achievements and accolades as well as how they live the University’s values. 

We're very proud to see Insigneo Member Dr Alice Pyne, Senior Lecturer and UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, featured in the exhibition. You can view the digital exhibition and learn more about all of the incredible women featured here: https://sheffield.ac.uk/inclusion/gender/inspirational-women

Strong Insigneo representation at the ESBiomech 2024

It was great to see so many Insigneo members disseminating their research at the 29^th Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics which took place in Edinburgh, Scotland from 30 June to 3 July 2024.

• George Allison presented on 'Pythonic CT2S an automated pythonic approach to CT2S'.
• Vee San Cheong chaired two sessions and presented on' Volume, shape and density distribution in 120 paired 3D-DXA and CT models across age and ethnicities'.
• Suzie Coldman presented on 'Segmentation of the placenta for investigating placental abnormalities'.
• Saira Farage-O'Reilly presented on 'Multiple myeloma decreases the local stiffness of the anterior and posterior distal femur of a murine model' and attended under the ESB Travel Award.
• Rajdeep Ghosh gave a poster presentation on 'Applicability of full-cortical vertebral model in performing comparative studies on spine insertions'.
• Fiona Gibson presented on 'Patient specific mechanobiological model of bone adaption in vertebrae with multiple myeloma'.
• Juntong Lai presented on 'Mathematical modelling of the inflammatory process and obesity in osteoarthritis'.
• Stamatina Moraiti presented on 'Rigid registration protocol influences the assessment of 3D geometric variations in the mouse tibia'
• Areli Munive Olarte presented on 'Design of an in vitro model to recapitulate the bone microenvironment'.
• Saleh Pouresmaeeli presented on 'An efficient in silico tool to predict bone mechanical outcomes in clinical trials'.

Professor Gwen Reilly chaired the session on Biomaterials II: Polymers, gels and cells.

Also presenting on the day were two visiting researchers who have participated in Insigneo research projects:

• Giulia Cavazzoni, Università di Bologna -  'Intervertebral disc degeneration affects the volumetric strain of human metastatic vertebrae'
• Margherita Pasini, Università di Bologna - 'Effects of intervertebral disc degeneration on the deformation of human metastatic spine segments' and attended under the ESB Travel Award.

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

Professor Enrico Dall'Ara elected President of the European Society of Biomechanics

Congratulations to Professor Enrico Dall'Ara, Insigneo Research Theme Director for Computational Modelling in Medicine, who was elected President of the European Society of Biomechanics (ESB) at their annual Congress in Edinburgh earlier this month. Enrico will serve as President for the next two years.

The ESB is the largest Biomechanics society in Europe with over 1500 members and aims to encourage research, disseminate knowledge and promote progress in Biomechanics.

Professor Syed Ali Khurram appointed as the University of Sheffield's new Dean of Clinical Dentistry

Congratulations to Insigneo Member, Professor Ali Khurram, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, who has been appointed as the new Dean of the School of Clinical Dentistry at the University of Sheffield's Faculty of Health.

Read more here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/dentalschool/news/professor-ali-khurram-appointed-new-dean-school-clinical-dentistry

Institute of Physics Best PhD Thesis in Medical Physics award for Dr Joshua Astley

His pioneering research at the POLARIS Lung Imaging Centre, University of Sheffield, focused on using advanced deep learning methods to enhance structural and functional lung imaging, facilitating improved diagnosis and treatment of respiratory conditions. Dr Astley is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the POLARIS research group, continuing his groundbreaking work in lung image analysis.

You can read about the Institute of Physics Medical Physics Group PhD Prize here: https://www.iop.org/physics-community/special-interest-groups/medical-physics-group/phd-prize

Bone Research Society New Investigator Award for Fiona Gibson

Clinical Medicine PGR Symposium Talk Prizes

Many congratulations Insigneo members Jemima Pilgrim-Morris and Nada Ghorab on their Clinical Medicine PGR Symposium Talk Prizes. Jemima won first prize and Nada won third prize.

We would like to introduce some of our new members who have joined the Insigneo Institute recently and previous member Dr Vee San Cheong who has returned to the Insigneo Insitute as a Lecturer in Biomechanics. 

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

I completed my PhD at King's College London focusing on characterising hiPSC spheroids using high content analysis with an interest in dissecting the effects of biochemical cues and physical confinement on a 3D hiPSC.

 My current research at Barbaric group focuses on investigating the role of mechanosensing at cell-ECM adhesions in the hPSC variant versus wild-type.

Before joining the University of Sheffield, I was a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of Glasgow.

My research interests focus on two interrelated aspects:

(1) To understand how humans perceive and use non-verbal social signals (e.g.,
facial expressions, gaze and body movements) in daily interactions.
(2) To use this knowledge to improve the design of social robots by equipping them
with psychologically valid social signals (e.g., humanlike and realistic facial and body movements).

I am especially passionate about developing methods and tools to assist in everyday communication, particularly in situations where language barriers pose challenges, such as in intercultural interactions and healthcare settings with diverse patient populations.

For more details on my research, please see my website: https://chaonachen.wordpress.com/

Apart from my research, I enjoy hiking, painting, and practising kendo (martial art).
As a newcomer to Sheffield, I'm excited to meet new people and explore the area.
Please get in touch!

Staff profile

Her work won the JRI-IMechE Best Medical Engineering PhD runners’ up prize.

She then spent time as a postdoctoral research associate at UCL/Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, University of Sheffield and Singapore-ETH Centre (ETH Singapore). She designed experiments and developed several novel algorithms for bone adaptation in response to biomaterials, mechanical loading and pharmacological treatment, and predicting fracture risk, before moving back to Sheffield to take up a lecturership.

Her research interests include understanding how bone adapts to different stimuli (or fails otherwise), modelling the process of bone remodelling, and improving the design of orthopaedic implants to delay and, hopefully, one day prevent the failure of implants in patients.

Full profile

Guided by Professor Venet Osmani and George Panoutsos, my work aims to create effective methods that encourage children to adopt and sustain healthy habits through innovative technological solutions.

My academic background includes an MSc in Computer Engineering-AI from Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran, where I focused on “Text to Image Synthesis using Generative Adversarial Networks”. Following my master’s degree, I expanded my expertise by researching Human Action Recognition, applying AI technologies to develop solutions for real-world problems such as detecting falls in adults and recognizing human movements.

I joined the University of Sheffield in December 2012 as a Lecturer in Reproductive and Developmental Medicine and then Senior Lecturer in Jan 2020.

My research group are interested in understanding how molecular signals in the ovary (i) coordinate the development of oocytes for ovulation and (ii) produce steroid hormones for other reproductive processes. For this, we use various ex vivo organ and follicle culture models, combined with gene expression and microscopic imaging outputs. Our research is motivated by its translational potential within the clinical context of infertility and disorders that affect oocyte and follicle development such as endometriosis, premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Over the past few years we have identified and mapped expression of several key proteins in histological sections of ovaries using immunofluorescence/ high-resolution confocal microscopy. We are interested in exploring this in more detail and are keen to speak with anyone who might be interested in developing mathematical models to help uncover relationships between these proteins and oocyte growth.

I'm interested in the role of the endometrium, particularly around the time of embryo implantation, in determining pregnancy outcomes.

I’m using two and three-dimensional in vitro approaches alongside tissue studies to explore the role of factors such as senescence & inflammatory changes as well as dietary contributions and pharmaceutical exposures on endometrial function and in reproductive dysfunction. These studies will improve our understanding of endometrial interactions with the embryo, establishment of the placenta and short- and long-term implications of pre-pregnancy and early pregnancy events on offspring and maternal health.

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

We will share a link to our Online Training Opportunities document here each month.

Insigneo events

We're taking a break over the summer but we will be annoucing a new programme of seminars and workshops for autumn.

Week commencing 16 September
Sano training on computational medicine

There will be an opportunity for Insigneo members to join seminars and workshops on various aspects of computational medicine that are taking place during the week commencing  16  September while the Insigneo Institute hosts 1st and 2nd year PhD students from the Sano Centre for Computational Medicine (Krakow, Poland).   Sessions open to Insigneo members will include:

• Introduction to VR 
• Exascale computing  
• Uncertainty quantification
• Governance and ethical use of data
• Using medical data: challenges and opportunities
• Regulatory aspects
• Model verification, validation and ASME VV40

2 October
Insigneo Seminar: Professor Rebecca Shipley OBE & Professor Simon Walker Samuel, UCL

24 October
Insigneo Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Cell Engineering theme seminar

11 December
Insigneo General Assembly - save the date!

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

Other events

3 September
Avicenna Day (AAD) 2024

4 - 9 September
VPH2024 

9 - 10 September
BORS Conference 2024, Sheffield

9 - 13 September
OpenFest2024

11 - 13 September
8th International Symposium on Academic Makerspaces (ISAM) 2024, Sheffield

2025

24-25 March
Physics of Life conference  - save the date!

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

Vacancies

• Research Associate in Preclinical Musculoskeletal Imaging and Biomechanics (closing date: 12/08/24)
• Senior Lecturer and Theme Lead in AI for Health (closing date: 08/08/24)
• Academic Fellow in AI (x3) (closing date: 08/08/24)

Publications

Systematic review and meta-analysis of Murray’s law in the coronary arterial circulation (American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology) D. J. Taylor, H. Saxton, I. Halliday, T. Newman, D. R. Hose, G. S. Kassab, J. P. Gunn, P. D. Morris