Prof Karin Hing
CEng, PhD, BSc, MIMMM, FRSA, FRMS, FWES, FZSL, FHEA

 

Research Overview

Biomedical Materials, Bone graft substitutes, Bone, Biocompatibility, Tissue Engineering, Hydroxyapatite, Orthobiologics and Regenerative Medicine, Mechanobiology

Interests

Karin’s main research interests centre on development of novel biomaterials and treatment therapies to promote bone healing through investigation of the mechanisms behind the sensitivity of bone regeneration to the materials characteristics of synthetic bone graft substitute materials. As one of the founding scientists of ApaTech™, this has led to pioneering work on synthetic bone grafts that has been translated into several ranges of novel synthetic graft materials now in global clinical use.  Furthermore, she has led work to develop in vitro models to study the physio-chemical phenomena that control protein adsorption and ion exchange at the graft-bone interface to stimulate bone healing and regeneration. Reflecting her interests in the affect that these phenomena have on both the anabolic and catabolic sides of bone metabolism. Additionally she is also active in the study of tissue healing and regeneration in associated non-calcified musculo-skeletal tissues.

Details on the various research projects undertaken by Karin and her group are included under the 'Funding' and 'Impact' tabs, and in the QMUL Research Highways feature article on the development of Actifuse™ and Inductigraft™/Altapore™ - world leading synthetic bone graft substitutes that have been used to treat 100's of thousands of patients globally to date, and the QMUL news article following the release of a Royal Mail stamp celebrating the bone graft substitute work as one of seven key British Engineering successes in the last 50 years (links below).

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/research/featured-research/hard-graft-how-queen-mary-research-created-a-landmark-range-of-synthetic-bone-graft-materials/

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2019/se/synthetic-bone-graft-research-gets-stamp-of-approval.html