Group members
Nick Evans
Principle investigator, Associate Professor
Agnieszka earned her Bachelor and Master degrees in Medical Biotechnology from Medical University in Poznan, Poland. There, she worked as a researcher under the supervision of Prof. Maciej Kurpisz. Her studies focused on genetic engineering of murine and human muscle stem cells with proangionenic growth factors, for application in myocardial infarction. Agnieszka pursued her graduate studies in Stem Cell Biology at University of Southampton and is currently a final year PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Nick Evans. She studies how the Wnt signalling pathway affects skeletal stem cells of the human bone marrow, concentrating on how nanoparticles, such as liposomes, can be used as a delivery method for therapeutic Wnts. Agnieszka earned several research awards and honors, including: BRS Barbara Mawer Travel Fellowship, TCES Short-Term Scientific Mission Award, Faculty of Medicine Research Conference 1st Poster Prize. Currently she's continuing her research as a post doc after being awarded a short-term MRC Fellowship.
Agnieszka Janeczek
MRC Postdoctoral Researcher
Nick was appointed as a lecturer in Bioengineering at Southampton University in January 2011. Before his appointment, Nick enjoyed a wide research experience, engaging in work touching on many different fields. He completed his PhD at King’s College under the supervision of Prof John Pickup, where he researched novel techniques in fluorescence spectroscopy for tracking metabolism in cells by using their natural fluorescence. After experiencing some of the excitement of stem cell biology during his PhD studies, he won an MRC career development fellowship at Imperial College to research the effects of extracellular matrix on the differentiation of embryonic stem cells. He then took a postdoctoral position at Stanford University to study Wnt signalling and stem cells in wound healing, and was subsequently awarded a SPARK fellowship in translational medicine to develop therapies for stimulating skin regeneration. Nick’s current research focuses on Wnt signaling, extracellular matrix and biomechanics in tissue healing and regeneration.
Yu Hin Man
Graduate student
Edo obtained his Bachelor's degree in Biotechnology at the University of Salento (Ita) and a Master's degree cum laudae in regenerative medicine at the University of Parma (Ita). During the Master's degree final project he came to realise that the field of regenerative medicine was perfectly suited to his skills and interests, and in particular the application of biomaterials and nanoparticles for bone regeneration. Therefore, it seemed like a natural progression for him to then go on and undertake an interdisciplinary PhD project. Edo is currently a third year PhD student supervised by Dr Nick Evans and Dr Tracey Newman. The project is focused on the use of polymeric nanoparticles (polymersomes) for the controlled delivery of Wnt agonists for bone fracture repair.
Edo was selected to present at SET for Britain in the Houses of Parliament, he was runner up for best poster prize at the Faculty of Medicine Research Conference 2015 and at TCES 2015. He won a travel grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry allowing him to attend TERMIS 2015 in Boston (MA) to give an oral presentation.
Edoardo Scarpa
Graduate student
Ines Moreno
Graduate student
Ines undertook her Biotechnology degree in the Universitat de Lleida (Spain), where she become interested in the medical applications of this subject while doing an intership in the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona (Spain). This is why she decided to participate in the Erasmus double degree programme at Cranfield University (UK) where she coursed a Master degree in Nanomedicine. As part of the Erasmus expirience, she moved to Linkoping (Sweden) to undertake a research project under the supervisor of Dr. Martin Mak and Prof. May Griffith. Having enjoyed the laboratory experience, Ines started a PhD in regenerative medicine under the supervision of Dr Nick Evans and Prof. Richard Oreffo. Her research project is to develop an ex vivo model to study human bone regeneration using the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of the chick embryo.
Currently Ines has been a speaker in more than five conferences, including international meetings in Brugges (Belgium) and Linz (Austria), and win a mention award for the best presentation at the Faculty of Medicine Research Conference 2015.
Dan Page
Graduate student
Dan obtained his first class degree in Microbiology from the University of Surrey in 2010. After three years in industry working as a research scientist for Leatherhead Food Research, Dan decided to pursue his interests in biomaterials, stem cells and regenerative medicine. Dan is currently in his second year of his PhD at the University of Southampton under the supervision of Dr Nick Evans. His PhD focuses on a regenerative strategy for improving chronic wound healing in people with diabetes by using the clay biomaterial, Laponite. Laponite is a synthetic smectite clay with a unique nanostructure that is highly sorptive and self-organises to create a reversible hydrogel. Unlike other hydrogels, Laponite can effectively retain and deliver active biological molecules, such as growth factors. Dan is aiming to use the proangiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to promote angiogenesis. He is also investigating the delivery of agonists of the Wnt signalling cascade that could promote stem cell differentiation within skin tissue. Dan has also achieved several awards and honours, including The Health and Pharma University Sector Team Conference 1st poster prize, 1st oral presentation prize at Postgraduate Faculty of Engineering and the Environment Conference and also selected to present at the 2015 SET for Britain exhibition.
Camelia Tusan
Graduate student
Camelia studied Biochemical Engineering at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca in Romania. In 2014 she received her Bachelor diploma for a work on interactions of proteins with anticancer drugs and isolation and purification of rubredoxin under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu. She was a guest student in Forschungszentrum Julich, Germany, where she worked with Dr. Iris der von Hocht on the expression and purification of connexin hCx26. Camelia is currently a first year PhD student in Stem Cell Science at the University of Southampton under the supervision of Dr. Nick Evans. Her research focuses on the effects of the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix such as stiffness and dimension in collective cellular mechanosensig. The way in which cells experience material properties in their interaction with ECM may have exciting consequences in the study of embryogenesis, skin repair and regenerative processes.
