Professor Ipsita Roy
PhD, MSc, BSc
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Professor of Biomaterials
Deputy School Director of Research and Innovation
CDT Co-Director Advanced Biomedical Materials
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+44 114 222 5962
Full contact details
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
91直播
S1 3JD
- Profile
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Previously to joining the Department of Material Science and Engineering as Professor of Biomaterials, I was Professor at the School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London. I am also Visiting Professor at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London.
I was awarded the prestigious Inlaks Scholarship and the Overseas Research Students Award to study for my PhD at the University of Cambridge. During my time at Cambridge, I was awarded the Churchill College Scholarship, the Lundgren Scholarship, Leche Trust Scholarship and the Cambridge University Philosophical Society Fellowship Award.
My PhD at the Department of Biochemistry was on a B12-dependent enzyme, methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. My postdoctoral work was at the University of Minnesota, USA, at the Bioprocess Technology Institute, where I worked on fatty acid biosynthesis.
Subsequently, I taught at the Indian Institute of Technology, India, for four years as an Assistant Professor. During this time I worked actively on the production of biodegradable polymers from Streptomyces.
I was at the University of Westminster from 2000 until August 2019, where I was the Research Director of the School of Life Sciences and led the Applied Biotechnology Research Group.
I have published over 100 papers in high 鈥業mpact Factor鈥 journals such as Biomaterials, Biomacromolecules, Journal of Royal Society Interface, Acta Biomaterialia and ACS Applied Materials Interfaces, and have presented my work at numerous international conferences.
- Research interests
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Natural Polymers of bacterial origin and their use in medical and environmentally friendly applications.
Her group is currently focussed on the production of novel Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a group of FDA-approved natural polymers and their characterisation. She has pioneered the production of PHAs from Gram positive bacteria which lack immunogenic properties and hence are excellent materials for medical applications. Her group is involved in the application of PHAs in the area of hard tissue engineering, soft tissue engineering, wound healing, drug delivery and medical device development. She has also initiated work with bacterial cellulose and 纬-polyglutamic acid, as natural polymers for biomedical applications. PHAs are also environmentally friendly polymers that are biodegradable both in the soil and in the sea. She has recently initiated work related to this aspect of PHAs.
Her work has been funded by the EPSRC, BHF, EU, DuPont, 3D BIONET (MRC), CYCLOPS (EPSRC) and WESTFOCUS, London. Professor Roy has been the scientific coordinator of two large EU projects REBIOSTENT, worth 4.9 million Euros with 14 consortium members and HYMEDPOLY, worth 3.5 million Euros with 12 consortium members. She was also the work package leader of another large EU FP7 project, NEURIMP, worth 4.4 million Euros with 8 consortium members.
Currently, she is work package leader in the H2020: BBI/JU project POLYBIOSKIN worth 3 million Euros with 12 consortium members. All four projects involve the use of PHAs for medical applications, drug eluting biodegradable stents, nerve guidance conduits, antibacterial polymers and wound healing. She is co-PI in the BHF funded Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine Centre led by Imperial College London. She has received EPSRC funding for the development of smart wound healing patches (CYCLOPS) and drug eluting biodegradable stents.
She was awarded the ICURe, Innovation to Commercialisation, grant worth 拢34,905 from Innovate UK for exploring the commercial potential of Biobased Plastics for Medical Applications. She has an ongoing UKERI project on the development of a 3D disease model for cancer. She has been awarded a H2020: BBI/JU grant, ECOAT, where for the first time she will be exploring the green and environmentally friendly aspect of the PHAs and bacterial cellulose for the development of eco-sustainable multifunctional bio-based coatings with enhanced performance and end of life options. This project is worth 4.6 million and includes 16 partners.
Finally, her most recent grant is from the 3D BIONET and involves the development of 3D cardiac tissue model and includes mathematical modelling in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Imperial College London.
- Publications
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Books
Journal articles
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
Preprints
- Research group
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Research Associates:
PhD students:
- Isabel Orlando (submitted) Novel hydrogel-based hybrid antibacterial polymers for wound healing applications (University of Westminster)
- Sheila Piarali (submitted) Novel Antibacterial Agents for Innovative Antibacterial Polymers (University of Westminster)
- Alexandra Paxinou (in progress) Novel Antibacterial Polymers of Natural Origin (University of Westminster)
- Elena Marcello (in progress) PHA based Antibacterial Polymers for Tissue Engineering (University of Westminster)
- Qasim Majid (in progress) PHA based regeneration of cardiac tissue (Second Supervisor, in collaboration with Professor Sian Harding, Imperial College London)
- Maria Leite (in progress) The Biology of the surface of Mars (Second Supervisor, in collaboration with Professor Lewis Dartnell, University of Westminster)
- Rebecca Barthenilla Garcia (in progress) Production of PHAs using sustainable biomass (Second Supervisor, in collaboration with Professor Lewis Dartnell, University of Westminster)
- Anabelle Fricker (University of 91直播)
- Emmanuel Asare (University of 91直播)
- Teaching interests
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- Organic Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Biomaterials
- Bioengineering
- Tissue Engineering
- Regenerative Medicine
- Biotechnology
- Drug Delivery
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Editor of the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (JCTB)
- Previously special editor of two In Focus Issues of JCTB on Biodegradable polymers and Controlled Drug Delivery
- Grant reviewing panels for:
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Austrian Science Fund (Fonds zur F枚rderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, FWF), Austria
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- European Social Fund
- MUIR
- Best Chemistry Undergraduate Student Award, St. Stephen's College, 1984, 1985, 1986
- Professor Seshadri Prize for being the best candidate in the BSc (Hons) Chemistry, University of Delhi, 1986
- Best Biotechnology Masters Student Award, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1988
- Overseas Research Studentship from the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals, UK, 1989-1991
- The Inlaks Scholarship, India, for doctoral studies at Cambridge, 1989-1990
- Churchill College Scholarship, University of Cambridge, UK, 1991
- Lundgren Scholarship, University of Cambridge, UK, 1992
- Leche Trust Scholarship, London, UK, 1992
- Cambridge University Philosophical Society Fellowship Award, Cambridge, UK, 1992
- Nominated member of the New York Academy of Sciences in recognition of research activities, 1997
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