In this session, CBT researchers discussed bone repair, gut inflammation, circulatory support, and awarded April’s HDR of the Month. The event was hosted by Dr Jacqui McGovern (right), Internal Engagement Lead.
Speakers: PhD Candidate, Prashant Chand, Dr Mohammad Mirkhalaf Valashani and Dr Nanthini Jayabalan
Dr Mohammad Mirkhalaf Valashani, opened the session by addressing the brittleness of bio-ceramics for applications in bone repair in his scientific talk.
We also heard Dr Nanthini Jayabalan, postdoctoral research fellow, talk about her research on Harnessing Microfluidic Technology to Investigate Gut Inflammation. This was followed by PhD Candidate, Prashant Chand, elaborating on his research project on Virtual Clinical Trial Framework for Evaluating Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices.
Congratulations to Minne Dekker, PhD Candidate, on receiving the April Outstanding HDR Award.
Read more about Minne Dekker here. Minne was nominated by Dr Jacqui McGovern and Brooke Lundon.
More information about the speakers:
Dr Mohammad Mirkhalaf Valashani, Brittleness of bio-ceramics for applications in bone repair
Mohammad earned his PhD from McGill University, his Master’s from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and his Bachelor’s from Isfahan University of Technology (IUT). He has held postdoctoral and research consultancy roles at the University of Sydney and the National Research Council of Canada. Mohammad has received several research fellowships and awards, including DECRA, NSERC (Canada) postdoctoral fellowship, FQRNT (Quebec) postdoctoral award, McGill Doctoral Award, and A*Star (Singapore) Master’s Award. His research is on tailoring the internal and surface structure of materials to improve their mechanical properties, tissue regeneration capacity, and tissue integration. He looks forward to discussing research with you.
Dr Nanthini Jayabalan, Harnessing Microfluidic Technology to Investigate Gut Inflammation
Nanthini is a postdoctoral research fellow at the MicroTissue Engineering Lab. Her research focuses on modelling gut inflammation and dynamic immune cell recruitment in a compartmentalised microfluidic device. This allows for the for the observation and understanding the behaviour of various immune cells in gut inflammation. She holds a MSc in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience from Universiti Sains Malaysia and PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from from The University of Queensland, where she delved into understanding the role of exosomes in regulating metabolic cross talk in inflammatory diseases utilising both in vitro and in vivo models.
Prashant Chand, PhD Candidate, Virtual Clinical Trial Framework for Evaluating Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices
Prashant is a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering working under the supervision of Professor Shaun Gregory. Prashant is a graduate Mechanical engineer who has research interests in the field of medical-wearable technology, Cardio-Respiratory engineering, and Artificial Intelligence. His doctoral research involves the introduction of an automated hybrid physiological control and safety system for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatments. His PhD involves developing a novel ECMO Assistant which will predict the onset of adverse events and raise an alarm to clinicians for early identification and intervention.