3D-Stem Cell Culture and Scaffold Fabrication
17 November 2024
13:00-14:30 (GMT), 21:00-22:30 (Beijing), 9:00-10:30 (EST, US)
Zooming info:
https://swanseauniversity.zoom.us/j/8266570519?pwd=aXdrN1pOUFhqSFlSYlFkQjVvNDRHQT09
Host/Introduction: 5 min
Dr. Zhidao Xia
Swansea University Medical School, UK
Lecture 1: (20 min)
Natural and synthetic scaffolds for 3D cell culture of adult stem cells
Prof. Dr. Darius Widera
Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Reading, UK
Lecture 2: (20 min)
Electrophysiological characterization of stem-cell derived cytotypes in 3D cultures
Prof. Francesco Tamagnini
Lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Reading, UK
Lecture 3: (20 min)
Current challenges of experimental planning in 3D bioprinting and biofabrication: control theory, reinforcement learning and incorporation of feedback
Dr. Bogdan Kirillov
Senior Research Scientist
Institute of Gene Biology, Moscow, Russia
Viabio Project (Russia - UK - China)
Panel discussion and wrap-up (25 min)
Dr. Xiaoxiang Ren
Assistant Professor,
Institute of Translational Medicine, Shanghai University, China
Dr. Meifei Lian
Department of Oral Implantology,
Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China
Organizing Committee (Alphabetically):
Prof. Xu Cao
Department of Orthopaedics, Johns Hopkins University, USA
Prof. Xiaodong Guo
Department of Orthopaedics, Wuhan Union Hospital, China
Prof. Bin Li
Institute of Orthopaedics, Soochow University, China
Prof. Zengwu Shao
Department of Orthopaedics, Wuhan Union Hospital, China
Prof. Jiacan Su
Shanghai University, China
Prof. Qian Wang
University of South Carolina, USA
Dr. Zhidao Xia
Swansea University Medical School, Swansea, UK
Dr. Chenjie Xu
City University of HongKong, China
Prof. Weihua Xu
Department of Orthopaedics, Wuhan Union Hospital, China
Dr. Darius Widera is a Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and Research Division Lead at the University of Reading. His lab is mainly interested in adult stem cells and their secretome, inflammatory signaling cascades in health and disease, and novel methods for clinical-grade 3D cultivation of human stem cells. His research is focused on the regenerative potential of mesenchymal stromal cells, neural crest-derived stem cells, and pluripotent stem cells in different disorders and conditions. Lastly, his research aims to tackle disorders and conditions with an inflammatory component, such as osteoporosis, and lung, brain, and breast cancer.
He graduated in Biochemistry (Witten/Herdecke University, Germany) and received his PhD in Neurobiochemistry from Witten/Herdecke University, Germany, in 2007. From 2013 to 2015, he served as an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Cell Biology, University of Bielefeld (Germany). In February 2015, he was appointed as a Lecturer in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Reading, promoted to Associate Professor in 2019, and to full Professor in 2023. Since 2022, Prof. Widera has also been the Research Division Lead for the Reading School of Pharmacy at the UoR.
He has published over 90 research manuscripts (h-index of >35, i-10 index of 70) and has presented his research outcomes as invited talks at numerous international conferences in the UK, Germany, USA, Italy, Ireland, Finland, San Marino, Russia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil, and China. To date, he has supervised 12 PhD and 26 Master's students to completion. In addition to his academic duties, he has acted as a consultant for UPM Biomedicals and is currently a Scientific Advisory Board Member for Argon Medical Ltd, Germany.
Prof. Widera is also actively engaging in science communication, and he has consulted national and international media, including The Times, BBC, Daily Mail, AFP, Nature, and ITN.
Dr. Francesco Tamagnini is a Lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Reading School of Pharmacy. He studied pharmaceutical biotechnologies at the University of Bologna, where he later completed a PhD in neuroscience on synaptic correlates of recognition memory in rodent brain slices. In 2010, he joined the University of Bristol to collaborate with Prof. Bashir, and in 2012, began working with Prof. Randall on dementia research, focusing on single-cell electrophysiology in mouse models and stem cell-derived neurons. After a six-month internship at Eli Lilly in 2015, he became an Alzheimer’s Society Junior Research Fellow at Exeter University, investigating tau-related neuronal changes in frontotemporal dementia. Since 2017, Prof. Tamagnini has been a Lecturer in Pharmacology at the University of Reading School of Pharmacy, examining the link between neuronal activity and cognition. He also directs neuroscientific research at the University of San Marino’s Centro Studi Biomedici, utilizing techniques like EEG and 2-photon imaging to study dementia.
Dr. Bogdan Kirillov is a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the Viabio project. He is mainly interested in applied machine learning for biotechnology, biofabrication and tissue engineering. His research spans several areas of modern biotechnology, including gene editing with CRISPR-Cas technology, molecular biology experiment design and 3D bioprinting. He graduated from ITMO University with a B.Sc. in Applied Physics (Saint-Petersburg, Russia) and received his PhD in Life Sciences from Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Moscow, Russia) in 2023. Since 2021, he worked as a bioinformatician at the Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine (Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences), as well as a consultant for several startups and tech companies. The Current research of Dr. Kirillov includes applications of active machine learning and reinforcement learning for the optimization of biological protocols and modeling of physical processes in living tissues with physics-informed machine learning.
Dr. Xiaoxiang Ren received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in 2020. Currently serving as an assistant professor at the Institute of Translational Medicine at Shanghai University, she focuses on developing co-culture models and 3D bioprinted bone organoids for applications in translational medicine. Her work advances tissue engineering by constructing diverse bone organoid models aimed at supporting clinical therapy innovations.
Dr. Meifei Lian completed her MD in 2020 at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and was selected for the 2021 Shanghai Science and Technology Commission's "Sailing Talent" program and the 2022 Shanghai Education Commission's "Morning Light Scholar" program. She has received numerous awards, including the Gansu Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award (Second Prize), the Chen Jialun Scientific Innovation Award, and the First Prize in the Fourth National 3D Printing Technology and Application Innovation Competition. Dr. Lian is a member of the Chinese Society for Biomaterials and the Chinese Stomatological Association’s Oral Implantology Committee.
Her research primarily focuses on nanocarriers, biomaterials, 3D printing, and tissue engineering, with a dedication to developing innovative treatments for craniofacial bone defects, osteochondral defects, and infectious bone defects. In recent years, she has led projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s Youth Science Fund, the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission's Sailing Program, and the Shanghai Education Commission’s Morning Light Program. She has published 18 SCI papers in journals such as ACS Nano, Bioactive Materials, and Biomaterials, including 13 as first or co-first author. Additionally, Dr. Lian has been involved in the application for 20 national patents and 1 international patent, with 5 patents granted.
