Insigneo Newsletter - July 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! 

Insigneo Showcase 2025

The Insigneo Showcase 2025 took place at the University of Sheffield's The Wave building on 4 July 2025 and was attended by over 200 guests from across academia, healthcare and industry.

Professor Tracey Moore Vice President and Head of the Faculty of Health, University of Sheffield welcomed guests and spoke about Insigneo’s growth and strengths in setting the agenda for transformational medical technology research in Sheffield. She also highlighted the institute’s impact on the NHS and alignment with the newly released NHS 10-year plan with science and technology set to play a key role in the resurrection of the NHS.

Insigneo Co-Directors Professors Jim Wild and Damien Lacroix thanked the Insigneo membership for their strong engagement and contribution to raising the profile of the institute and celebrated the high quality of the research being generated.

Insigneo Institute & Yorkshire Medtech Industry Day: Shaping the Future of Health Technologies

The Insigneo Institute, working in close collaboration with the Yorkshire MedTech Place-based Impact Accelerator, held an exciting Industry Day on the 3rd July, preceding the annual Insigneo Showcase on 4th July. 

This event shone a spotlight on established MedTech collaborations between Yorkshire-based academics and major industrial partners, including GE Healthcare, DAISER, Abbott and Paxman. The event also showcased some of South Yorkshire's outstanding innovation assets, including the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and National Centre for Child Health Technology – both unique facilities offering state-of-the-art R&D support.  

The event also highlighted the range of support on offer for the next generation of translational research projects, through the Yorkshire MedTech Place-based Impact Accelerator, funded by EPSRC and jointly led by the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds. 

Sheffield cardiologists celebrate double award success

Insigneo Research Theme Director for Smart devices and sensors, Professor Alex Rothman, and Insigneo member Dr Dan Taylor, from the School of Medicine and Population Health, have been recognised nationally for their pioneering heart disease research.

Dr João Periquito awarded first prize in University of Sheffield's Open Research Prize 2025

Congratulations to Insigneo member, Dr João Periquito, on winning one of two first prizes in the Open Research Prize 2025 in the Staff category - individual prizes for his work on co-founding the Open Source Imaging Initiative (OSI²) e.V.

Insigneo Commercialisation Journey success for Dr Caroline Harrison and Professor Cheryl Miller

Insigneo Institute Entrepreneurs, Dr Caroline Harrison, Professor Cheryl Miller and team have reached the next stage of our commercialisation programme with their novel synthetic bone graft business, aimed at tackling antimicrobial resistance.

InOsteon is a revolutionary new range of synthetic bone grafts designed to prevent bacterial infections and enhance bone healing without using antibiotics. In bone trauma cases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat, complicating treatment and increasing the risk of persistent infection, non-union, and amputation.

These technologies have been co-developed with surgeons and patients to deliver an injectable, non-setting, mouldable and convenient solution, helping both clinicians and patients get the best possible care.

The entrepreneurial team are part of the Insigneo Commercialisation Journey for Medical Technologies and have recently completed large verification studies. Stage 3 of the programme will take them through the design of their new business.

Ipsita Roy delivered a Plenary Talk at CFF2025, held at the Department of Chemistry, University of Pisa, on 8 July 2025.

Title of the Talk: Natural Polymers of Bacterial Origin and their Biomedical Applications.

Congratulations to Insigneo member Nada Ghorab who passed her PhD viva with minor corrections. 

Her thesis describes novel methodology that integrates x-ray angiography with optical coherence tomography (OCT) and intracoronary physiology (FFR and MVR) in a single system. It’s cutting-edge work that brings the best anatomical and best physiology assessments together in the cardiac Cath Lab for treating people with coronary artery disease. Her work was sponsored by the EPSRC and done within the mathematical modelling in medicine research group.

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.

Insigneo ECR workshop - make your own zine

The ECR Insigneo committee would like to invite you to a networking workshop event where we will learn how to create a template for a zine, use crafting supplies to prepare an educational pamphlet of our own research and get the creative energy flowing while hanging out with fellow ECRs.

The event will take place on 16 September,  2-4.30pm in Pam Liversidge Building, Design Studio 01 - D06.

Zines are small, handmade and non-commercial booklets created for various purposes such as self-expression, low budget art popularisation, or information and education. ‘Zine’ (pronounced ‘zeen’) comes from the word ‘fanzine’ – fan magazine. In the educational and scientific context, zines could be a suitable medium for scientific outreach events, an addition to your poster presentation or just a fun activity for a networking event. Such an exercise can also be a great way of research communication, reflecting on how to share your complex scientific work in an accessible way. 

In case of any questions or suggestions please email Malwina (m.matella@sheffield.ac.uk).

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 

Her work supports the development of sustainable medical technologies by integrating socio-technical systems thinking with participatory research and policy engagement. With a strong track record of collaboration with policymakers, patient organisations, industry partners, and the NHS, she contributes to shaping inclusive, sustainable, and future-oriented healthcare systems. 

Dr Ding specialises in mixed-methods research, combining statistical analysis, simulation modelling, surveys, and in-depth qualitative interviews. Her work integrates empirical evidence with system-level insights to inform decision-making in healthcare policy and innovation. She has contributed to several high-impact policy initiatives, including research briefings for the UK Parliament Office of Science and Technology (POST) on '3D Bioprinting in Medicine' and 'Orphan Drugs', as well as a World Health Organization (WHO) report on 'Non-Price Innovation Policy Instruments for Medical Innovation'.

Her current research at the Centre for Circular Economy at the University of Exeter focuses on accelerating the transition to a net zero healthcare system through circular innovation. As part of the Digitally Enabled Circular Healthcare Innovation (DECHI) programme, she leads Workstream 1, which develops a taxonomy-led, data-driven methodology to assess the circularity potential of medical devices. This includes analysing environmental, economic, and social impacts across diverse product use cases, building stock-flow models, and applying advanced modelling to address data gaps.

Dr Ding’s earlier work in pharmaceutical innovation examined the global dynamics of orphan drug development. She has developed comprehensive datasets to map trends in drug approvals and availability and investigated the UK orphan drug patient access. Her research also investigates the role of AI in drug repurposing and its broader implications for the healthcare innovation ecosystem. Previously, she assessed platform cost models for 3D-printed pharmaceuticals, evaluating their economic feasibility and the regulatory challenges facing their adoption in industry. 

She welcomes collaboration on projects related to circular healthcare innovation, digital technologies in medicine, and the economic, social, and environmental evaluation of emerging technologies.

I have been involved with the University of Sheffield community since 2019. After completing my Master’s degree last year, I decided to pursue a research career. Having always a passion for humanitarian initiatives, this project in healthcare seems like a perfect match. My research explores the potential of combining biomedical signals, such as PPG and ECG with advanced AI algorithms to enable non-invasive, real-time blood glucose quantification. These signals can be collected in a user-friendly way through wearable devices, making the approach both practical and accessible.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kacper-sikorski/

Dee Webster is a Clinical Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (SLT), splitting her time between a Stroke Clinical Lead SLT role in Sheffield Teaching Hospitals' Community Stroke Team and as a University Teacher at the University of Sheffield, teaching across degree, masters and degree apprenticeship Speech and Language Therapy programmes in the School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery.

Dee has worked as a NHS Speech and Language Therapist for over twenty years and has a keen interest in embedding research into practice. This has included serving on the British Aphasiology Society committee and working on research into healthcare technology for people with aphasia. She is currently part of a collaboration with Sheffield Hallam and Nottingham University colleagues as aphasia expert investigating the application of AI in supporting people with aphasia.

Dee particularly enjoys working together with experts by experience and recently worked with collaborators internationally to publish a textbook Aphasia in Clinical Practice sharing the perspectives and expertise of those affected by stroke and aphasia.

I hope to explore collaborative opportunities within stroke research and support innovation into clinical practice.

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

8 September
Sano training on computational medicine - save the date!

The Insigneo Institute will be hosting a Sano Centre training event at the University of Sheffield during the week commencing  8 September 2025. 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. 

15 September
Insigneo Smart Devices and Sensors workshop

25 November
Insigneo General Assembly - Save the date!

2026

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

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

Other events

4 - 5 September
BioMedEng25, Glasgow

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

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

Publications

The effect of non-local coupling of fibroblasts on pacing dynamics in a 2D tissue: a simulation study (Scientific Reports) S. Sridhar, R. H. Clayton

Deep learning-based electrical impedance spectroscopy analysis for malignant and potentially malignant oral disorder detection (Scientific Reports) Z. Lin, Z.-Q. Lang, L. Guo, D. C. Walker, M. Matella, M. Wang, C. Murdoch 

Abstract rule learning promotes cognitive flexibility in complex environments across species (Nature Communications) F. Bähner, T. Popov, N. Boehme, S. Hermann, T. Merten, H. Zingone, G. Koppe, A. Meyer-Lindenberg, H. Toutounji, D. Durstewitz

Intervertebral disc degeneration increases surface strain on metastatic vertebrae in compression and flexion but not in torsion (Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials) M. Pasini, G. Cavazzoni, E. Dall’Ara,  S. L. Gould, C. Le Maitre, L. Cristofolini, M. Palanca

MorphoSeg: An uncertainty-aware deep learning method for biomedical segmentation of complex cellular morphologies (Neurocomputing) T. Zhang, 
H. J. McCourty, B. M. Sanchez-Tafolla, A. Nikolaev, L. S. Mihaylova

Biosynthesis, characterisation and biocompatibility of a unique and elastomeric medium chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates for kidney glomerular tissue engineering (Materials Today Bio) S. M. D. S. Mohamed, J. Tuffin, 
J. Watson, A. Mele, A. Fricker, D. A. Gregory, E. Elghazy, M. A. Saleem, S. C. Satchell, 
G. I. Welsh, I. Roy

You are what you breathe? Metabolites may begin to explain the link between air pollution and bone damage (Journal of Bone and Mineral Research) S. W. Verbruggen

pH-Responsive Diblock Copolymer Vesicles via Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly in Aqueous Media: Synthesis, Loading, and Potential Biological Applications (ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces) J. G. Edmans, A. El-Howati, K. M. Slowik, H. E. Colley, C. Murdoch, P. V. Hatton, S. P. Armes

Lipid-Hybrid Multicompartment Membrane Systems for Controlled, Compartmentalized Encapsulant Release (Advanced Materials Interfaces) T. Inaba, R. J. Archer, D. A. Gregory, S.-I. M. Nomura

Mathematical modelling of inflammatory process and obesity in osteoarthritis (PLOS ONE) V. L. Workman, A.‑V. Giblin, N. H. Green, S. MacNeil, V. Hearnden

A Tissue-Engineered Model of T-Cell–Mediated Oral Mucosal Inflammatory Disease (Journal of Investigative Dermatology) A. El-Howati, J. G. Edmans, M. E. Santocildes-Romero, L. S. Madsen, C. Murdoch, H. E. Colley

The impact of experimental designs & system sloppiness on the personalisation process: A cardiovascular perspective (PLOS ONE) H. Saxton, D. J. Taylor, G. Faulkner, I. Halliday, T. Newman, T. Schenkel, P.D. Morris, R. H. Clayton, X. Xu

A Green Method for Bacterial Cellulose Electrospinning Using 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Acetate and γ-Valerolactone (Polymers) E. Vasili, B. Azimi, M. P. Raut, D. A. Gregory, A. Mele, B. Liu, K. Römhild, M. Krieg, F. Claeyssens, P. Cinelli, I. Roy, M. Seggiani, S. Danti

Lung parenchymal and cardiac appearances on computed tomography pulmonary angiography impact survival in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: results from the ASPIRE Registry (ERJ Open Research) L. Abdulaal, A. Maiter, K. Dwivedi, M. J. Sharkey, S. Alabed, D. Alkhanfar, A. Rothman, S. Rajaram, R. Condliffe,  D. G. Kiely, A. J. Swift

Virtual physiological analysis of non-culprit disease in patients with STEMI and multivessel disease: A substudy of the COMPLETE trial (European Heart Journal Open) G. J. Williams, D. J. Taylor, A. Al Baraikan, H. Haley, M.Ghobrial, M. Knight, K. Anigboro, V. Rammohan, R. Gosling, T. Newman, M. Mills, R. Hose, D. A. Wood, J. A. Cairns, C. Ramasundarahettige, R. Khatun, H. Nguyen, S. R. Mehta, R. F. Storey, J. P. Gunn, P. D. Morris

Endothelial c-REL orchestrates atherosclerosis at regions of disturbed flow through crosstalk with TXNIP-p38 and non-canonical NF-κB pathways (Cardiovascular Research) B. Tardajos Ayllon, N. Bowden, C. Souilhol, H. Darwish, S. Tian, C. Duckworth, D. M. Pritchard, S. Xu, J. Sayers, S. Francis, J. Serbanovic-Canic, F. Oakley, P. C. Evans