News
Latest news from the group
New Paper: Engineered Neural Tissue for Peripheral Nerve Repair
Added 13 July, 2013Published online in Biomaterials on 5th July, this paper describes the construction and testing of living artificial nerve tissue that could potentially be used in regenerative medicine to repair peripheral nerves. The Engineered Neural Tissue is made by organising Schwann cells and collagen into robust sheets of aligned cellular material that support and guide neuronal regeneration. For more information please download the paper from the journal website or ORO, and view the related press release.
Oral presentation prize at Cell-Based Therapy symposium
Added 25 April, 2013
Kathleen Sanen (collaborating PhD student at Hasselt University, Belgium) was awarded the prize for best oral presentation at the Cell-based therapies in central nervous system pathology symposium on April 12th 2013. This symposium covered a series of biological subjects relating to stem cells, their involvement in brain disease and trauma and their potential use in regenerative medicine. Kathleen presented her preliminary findings on the use of glial-differentiated human dental pulp stem cells in Engineered Neural Tissue to support and direct neurite outgrowth in vitro, and answered questions from the audience and invited speakers.
New European Collaboration with Hasselt University, Belgium
Added 12 March, 2013The group is working closely with researchers from the Biomedical Research Institute (BIOMED) at Hasselt University on a new translational project in the field of peripheral nerve injury. The project has already involved two BIOMED researchers, Kathleen Sanen and Dr Wendy Martens, working in our labs at the OU. Kathleen is a PhD student in the Biophysics Group supervised by Prof Dr Marcel Ameloot and Wendy is part of the Morphology Research Group, supervised by Prof Dr Ivo Lambrichts. This collaboration is financially supported by the FWO and Boehringer-Ingelheim.
Nerve repair research wins international prize
Added 11 September, 2012
Melanie Georgiou won first prize for her presentation at the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) World Congress in Vienna. Melanie's abstract was shortlisted for the prestigious Oral Presentation Award Session, during which the five finalists presented their work to an expert panel, who then led a question and answer session in front of a large audience. Melanie was awarded first prize for discussing interim findings from her work using stem cells from adipose tissue as part of the project to develop tissue engineered implantable devices for surgical repair of the peripheral nervous system.
The TERMIS World Congress involved more than 2500 delegates from 62 nations. Our group presented three posters in addition to Melanie's talk, describing the latest findings from our ongoing projects. Abstracts are available via Open Research Online.
New international collaboration to study microglia in 3D culture
Added 9 September, 2012We are involved in a new project entitled 'Remodelling microglia in vitro in a 3D collagen construct' in collaboration with Dr Sharmili Vidyadaran at Universiti Putra Malaysia. The PhD student working on the project in Dr Vidyadaran's lab is Tong Chih Kong and financial support has been provided by the Research University Grant Scheme, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
International Conference on Stem Cell Engineering: Travel Award
Added 29 August, 2012Melanie Georgiou received a travel award from the Society for Biological Engineering and the International Society for Stem Cell Research to attend the 3rd International Conference on Stem Cell Engineering in Seattle, US. The theme of the meeting was 'Designing Cellular Therapies' and the programme and abstracts are available here.
New Paper: Using a 3D culture model to understand the effect of PDT on neurons
Added 11 July, 2012Our paper "Inhibition of specific cellular antioxidant pathways increases the sensitivity of neurons to meta-tetrahydroxyphenyl chlorin-mediated photodynamic therapy in a 3D co-culture model" reveals new information about how neurons can survive photodynamic therapy (PDT) cancer treatments. By using a co-culture system that maintained neurons and glial cells in a 3D environment we were able to identify a potential mechanism for the neuronal sparing we reported previously (2009 publication in the British Journal of Cancer) . Understanding the response of neurons to PDT is important for the treatment of tumours within or adjacent to the nervous system and this ongoing project in collaboration with the National Medical Laser Centre is an example of how our nervous system culture models can be used to address clinically relevant questions.
Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarship
Added 8 May, 2012We have been awarded a Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarship to support a student working on the project "Using a 3D culture system to monitor the astrocyte response to potential stem cell therapies for CNS damage". This will take place in the summer of 2012 and will complement other ongoing project to use our nervous system model technologies to inform our CNS repair strategies.
New Paper: 3D culture system models inhibitory interfaces in the damaged nervous system
Added 16 February, 2012Our new Tissue Engineering paper "Engineering an integrated cellular interface in 3-dimensional hydrogel cultures permits monitoring of reciprocal astrocyte and neuronal responses" describes a novel cell culture system that recreates key cellular features of the injured spinal cord. Following CNS trauma, astrocytes become reactive and a microenvironment develops that inhibits neuronal regeneration. Our new model mimics that process by arranging astrocytes and neurons in adjacent parts of an integrated 3D matrix. The astrocytes become reactive and form an inhibitory interface through which the neurons are unable to penetrate, simulating the cellular interactions that occur in damaged CNS tissue. This highly reproducible approach allows us to monitor both cell types continuously and we can carefully control variables to allow specific hypotheses to be tested without the additional complexity present in an animal model. This new platform technology will be useful in basic neuroscience research as well as in the development of new therapies.
PhD Success
Added 6 January, 2012Congratulations to Sarah Mason who successfully passed her PhD viva examination on 21st December. Sarah's PhD Thesis title is "Examining the relationship between ultrastructural features and tensile properties in joint and non joint regions of peripheral nerve" and her project revealed new information about peripheral nerve biomechanics and anatomy.
New research project involving industrial collaboration
Added 27 October, 2011The group has started an exciting new project in collaboration with TAP Biosystems to develop advanced CNS tissue models for neuroscience research. The project will run for 3 years from October 2011 and will involve close collaboration between scientists and engineers to develop viable production technology to generate advanced culture systems for research and development. For more details visit the Projects page.
New nerve biomechanical anatomy paper
Added 21 October, 2011The paper "An ultrastructural and biochemical analysis of collagen in rat peripheral nerves: the relationship between fibril diameter and mechanical properties" by Sarah Mason and James Phillips has been published this week in the Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System. This research revealed that median nerves at the elbow joint showed a pattern of smaller diameter collagen fibrils than were present in the nerves at non-joint regions. This finding corresponds with our earlier work that showed the joint regions of these nerves are biomechanically more compliant than non joint regions. Understanding nerve biomechanics is important for the development of repair and rehabilitation strategies following nerve damage.
Glial Cells in Health and Disease, Prague 2011
Added 19 September, 2011Staff from the OU attended the 2011 European Glial Cells in Health and Disease meeting in Prague in September. Dr Jane Loughlin organised and co-chaired a symposium entitled "3D neural cell culture – using tissue-like microenvironments to model normal and pathological neural/glial cell behaviours" which attracted widespread interest from delegates and involved presentations from researchers in Europe and the USA. James Phillips was invited to present a talk "Monitoring glial cell behaviour and neuron-glial interactions in 3D hydrogel and aggregate culture systems” which showcased some of the innovative culture models that have been developed at the OU for neuroscience research. PhD student Melanie Georgiou presented a poster in the Regeneration and Repair session entitled “Aligned Schwann cells within 3D tissue-like gels provide guidance to regenerating neurites” as part of her project using tissue engineering technology to repair the nervous system.
Feature in Research Highlights brochure
Added 5 September, 2011Our recent spinal cord injury research project has been selected for inclusion in the University's latest 'Research Highlights' brochure. Research Highlights is where the Open University showcases a carefuly selected sample of research from its portfolio. To find out more about research at the Open University visit http://www.open.ac.uk/research/
Tissue and Cell Engineering Society, Leeds 2011
Added 11 August, 2011Group members attended the TCES annual meeting in Leeds in July and presented work on peripheral nerve repair and electrophysiological recording from 3D neuronal cultures. Mel gave a talk on aligned cellular and acellular collagen guidance substrates for peripheral nerve repair and we presented a poster describing how dorsal root ganglion neurons maintained in a 3D culture model exhibit similar electrophysiological properties to fresh explants.
2011 Peripheral Nerve Society Conference
Added 17 July, 2011Members of the group attended the biennial meeting of the Peripheral Nerve Society which was held in Potomac, Maryland. We presented work on peripheral nerve repair, peripheral nerve biomechanics, and a culture model for studying peripheral nerve cells. Abstracts are available via Open Research Online and through the links on the Publications page.
PhD Success
Added 25 March, 2011Congratulations to Stanley Kimani who successfully passed his PhD viva examination on 25th March. Stan's PhD thesis title is "Exploiting tumour metabolism to augment the cytotoxicity of photodynamic therapy and to develop novel photosensitizers" and his interdisciplinary project used cell culture systems and synthetic chemistry to explore potential methods for improving cancer therapy.
RSC Lecture
Added 12 January, 2011Melanie Georgiou delivered a talk "Engineering functional tissues for regenerative medicine: development of a cellular implant for nerve repair" at the Royal Society of Chemistry Prize and Award Lecture event at the OU on 12th January [view the programme]
3D Cell culture Book Chapter
Added 1 November, 2010
Micro-Structured Materials and Mechanical Cues in 3D Collagen Gels
(James Phillips & Robert Brown)
Chapter 12 in the new Methods in Molecular Biology book "3D Cell Culture" Edited by John Haycock.
Tissue Engineering Paper: 3D astrocyte alignment increases neuron growth
Added 13 July, 2010Alignment of astrocytes increases neuronal growth in 3D collagen gels and is maintained following plastic compression to form a spinal cord repair conduit We have published a paper showing that alignment of astrocytes in 3D culture makes them more permissive for neuron growth than unaligned cells. Astrocytes in the damaged central nervous system surround a lesion site and generate an environment that is inhibitory to neuronal growth. Using an advanced 3D culture system in which cellular alignment can be isolated, we have shown that neurons grow significantly further through an aligned cellular environment than an unaligned one. Furthermore, we have developed a system for engineering an implantable tissue substitute to deliver aligned astrocytes to a site of spinal cord injury. This engineered tissue supported neuronal growth in culture and has the potential to form the basis of a novel repair strategy for further investigation. East, Blum de Oliveira, Golding and Phillips (2010), Tissue Engineering
Characterisation of a “blanch-blush” mechano-response in palmer skin
Added 7 April, 2006T. Wright, E. Green, J.B. Phillips, O. Kostyuk and R. Brown (2006) Characterisation of a "blanch-blush" mechano-response in palmer skin. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 126, 220-226.