Events
SEMS PDRA-PhD seminars: Dr. Azadeh Rezaei and Dr. Roberto Leonardo Diaz
Date: Tuesday 6 February 2024 12:00 - 12:30
Location: SEMS Seminar Room, 3rd floor, Engineering Building
Title:
Advancing in vitro models for bone diseases and tailoring personalised treatments to restore bone formation
About the Speaker:
An aging population means an increasing need for biomaterials that can stimulate bone regeneration in patients with impaired bone healing. Dr Azadeh Rezaei’s research is focusing on the in vitro modelling of bone diseases using primary bone cells. Her work involves testing the effects of different treatments on bone nodule formation followed by a multidisciplinary characterisation approach and comparing bone nodules to native bone. One of her most recent achievements is the modelling of impaired bone healing in diabetic patients. This model has been instrumental in understanding the disease’s impact on bone health. Furthermore, she has successfully shown restoring bone formation in hyperglycaemic environment using Hypoxia-Inducible Factor (HIF) stabilising chemicals. Her innovative approach has the potential to improve treatment methods for patients with bone diseases, particularly those with diabetes. Certainly, these in vitro models are not only innovative but also ethically considerate. They play a crucial role in understanding the underlying cellular mechanisms of bone diseases. By targeting the right pathways in vitro, these models provide invaluable insights that can be applied in vivo and in subsequent clinical work. This approach significantly reduces the reliance on animal models, thereby saving countless animals from being used in experimental procedures.
Keywords: Bone tissue engineering, In vitro model, Bioactive glasses, Hyperglycaemia
https://www.sems.qmul.ac.uk/staff/a.rezaei
Title:
Investigation into the Effect of Vibration on Uncemented Ceramic Liners in THR Revision Surgery
About the Speaker:
Dr Roberto Leonardo Diaz obtained PhD at the University of Manchester in 2020 by investigating "The performance evaluation of surgical techniques for treatment of scapholunate instability in a type II wrist". This research was completed using computational models of the human wrist, simulating diverse loading conditions and range of motion for a comprehensive understanding of ligament repair techniques.
After obtaining PhD, Dr Roberto Leonardo Diaz worked as PDRA in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Dr Roberto Leonardo Diaz was responsible to the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago for implementing clinical biomechanics projects on spine fusion, pedicle screws, osteochondritis dissecans on the knee, and kinematics of shoulder and knee due to ligament deficiency. Also, Dr Roberto Leonardo Diaz worked on characterising human tissues and the performance assessment of prosthetic devices. As a Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, Dr Roberto Leonardo Diaz worked with hip simulators to investigate cartilage degradation due to different configurations of hemi-arthroplasty models.