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GOVERNANCE
SUB-EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
(Centre Management Team)
Professor Hala Zreiqat (Chair)
Director
Hala Zreiqat is Professor of Biomedical Engineering, a 2016-2017 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University, a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellow, Director of the ARC Training Centre for Innovative BioEngineering and is Head of the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Research Unit in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney. She is also an Honorary Professor at Shanghai JaioTong University (2013-2019). Her group consists of multidisciplinary team of researchers including engineers, cell and molecular biologists and clinicians. Her lab works on the development of novel engineered materials and 3D printed platforms for regenerative medicine, particularly in the fields of orthopaedics, dental and maxillofacial applications. In addition, her group is interested in the development of novel nanospheres for growth factors, drug and cell delivery as well as novel injectable materials. She has over 100 peer-reviewed publications. Her pioneering development of innovative biomaterials for tissue regeneration has led to one awarded (US) and 6 provisional patents, 5 as a lead inventor, and several collaborations with inter/national industry partners.
She is regularly invited to give keynote and plenary presentations at major international and national conferences. She has organized / chaired a number of major international conferences/ symposia / workshops. She is the immediate past president of the Australian and New Zealand Orthopaedic research Society (2010-2012). She is the founder and chair of the Alliance for Design and Application in Tissue Engineering and the IDEAL Society network. Amongst her awards are: NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year 2018, The King Abdullah II Order of Distinction of the Second Class – the highest civilian honor bestowed by the King of Jordan (2018), Leopold Dintenfass Memorial Award, for Excellence in Research (2012); University of Sydney Engineering Deans Research Award (2009).
Professor Colin Dunstan
Deputy Director
Professor Colin Dunstan is a respected authority on bone metabolism with over 25 years of experience in both clinical and basic research. He was part of the team that identified osteoprotegerin, RANK ligand and RANK as central regulators of bone resorption. He has extensive experience in both academic and industry (Amgen) settings. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Endocrinology and the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Current research interests are in the local regulation of bone remodelling and in interactions between bone cell activity and cancer cells.
Dr. Jiao Jiao Li
Co-Deputy Director
Dr Jiao Jiao Li (JJ) is a biomedical engineer, NHMRC Early Career Fellow, a chief investigator on the ARC Training Centre for Innovative BioEngineering, and a 2021-22 Superstars of STEM. JJ is researching regenerative medicine approaches to treat chronic musculoskeletal conditions such as osteoarthritis and bone loss. She has particular interest in developing stem cell-based therapeutics, as well as biomaterials for tissue engineering. JJ has led interdisciplinary projects in basic science and clinical research in regenerative medicine and orthopaedics. Her research has been recognised by the 2020 Bob Fraser New Investigator Award from the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand (MBSANZ), the 2019 Young Investigator Award from the Australasian Wound & Tissue Repair Society (AWTRS), and four best manuscript awards. One of her publications (J Mater Chem B 2015) from a collaboration with Tufts University she established during her Endeavour Research Fellowship (2011) was publicised as a Science Highlight article by the NIH. She has delivered >45 conference presentations and received >15 best presentation awards. She is a co-inventor on a patent granted in Australia, Japan, Europe and USA. She was selected from internationally competitive applicants to join the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) Young Investigator Committee in 2019, and the Tissue Engineering journal Young Investigator Council in 2016. JJ is also an Honorary Associate at the Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, and at the School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, both at the University of Sydney.
Dr. Ashnil Kumar
Assistant Director
Dr Ashnil Kumar received his PhD from the University of Sydney in 2013. He is currently a lecturer in the School of Biomedical Engineering conducting research into computing algorithms and their application within clinical workflows. He is particularly interested in how to design and develop decision support systems that enhance clinicians’ decision making capacity. He works closely with clinicians from a number of hospitals in Sydney, including the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Westmead Hospital and Nepean Hospital.
Mrs. Yan Ros Wu
Centre Manager
Mrs. Ros Wu has worked in UNSW, Garvin Medical Institute and different companies before joining ARCTCIBE in June 2020. She has previously completed Master of Commerce and Master of Engineering study.
MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Dr. Shanny Dyer
Dr. Shanny is an experienced senior executive, having held roles across industry, government and universities. She has expertise in public administration and policy development with strong corporate governance skills. Shanny holds a PhD in Biochemistry and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is the CEO of ARCS Australia.
Professor Fiona Cameron
Dr Fiona Cameron joined the ARC in July 2012 as Executive Director for Biological Sciences and Biotechnology. Prior to this, Dr Cameron led the Innovation & Consulting Unit at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) as the Associate Director. In this role, she worked closely with the University Executive, academics, active researchers and the University Research Office at UWS to identify opportunities to protect, develop and commercialise Intellectual Property and to build relationships with Industry and Government.
Between 1986 and 2007 Dr Cameron worked at the CSIRO, where she was appointed a Principal Research Scientist of its Division of Molecular Science, and a member of the executive team of the CSIRO National Research Food Futures Flagship. Dr Cameron was also a key developer of the CSIRO Nanotechnology Centre. Active in gene control research, Dr Cameron’s work at CSIRO included the development of molecules for better gene delivery into cells and gene therapy.
Being heavily involved in commercially funded medical research, Dr Cameron’s most recent publications take the form of a suite of patents.
Dr Cameron originally trained at the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. She was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in 1990 from Macquarie University, having studied the regulation of gene control using engineered ribonucleic acids.
Professor Hala Zreiqat
Professor Colin Dunstan
Professor Christopher Berndt
Distinguished Professor Chris Berndt joined Swinburne in early 2008 as the founding Professor of Surface Science and Interface Engineering. This followed his role as founding Professor of Surface and Interface Engineering at James Cook University, a tenured professor position at Stony Brook University (where he remains Adjunct Professor) and appointments at the NASA-Lewis Research Center in Cleveland as a Fellow of the Institute for Aerospace Propulsion and Power where he worked on thermal barrier coatings.
Professor Berndt’s professional responsibilities gravitate around the Thermal Spray Society of the ASM of which he has been a member since 1991. He was appointed as the Vice President of this society in 2000 and President in 2002. He was the Proceedings Editor for the Thermal Spray Conferences held in the USA from 1992-2003. He was inducted into the Thermal Spray Hall of Fame in 2007 and is editor/co-editor of 10 conference proceedings on thermal spray.
Professor Berndt is the Founding Editor, and now Editor Emeritus, for the Journal of Thermal Spray Technology. He is a member of some 13 professional societies in the materials, mechanical, manufacturing and biomedical fields and has more than 550 publications in the field of materials science and engineering. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Institution of Engineers, a Fellow of ASM International, a Fellow of The Institution of Metallurgists (UK), and of ASME, ACS and ACerS. He is also a Chartered Engineer (UK), a Professional Engineer (Australia), and a Member of the College of Bioengineers (Australia).
Dr. Ashnil Kumar
Dr. Jiao-Jiao Li
A/Professor Rona Chandrawati
Scientia Associate Professor and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow
UNSW School of Chemical Engineering
Dr Rona Chandrawati graduated with a BSc (Biotechnology) from Monash University and obtained her PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering from The University of Melbourne in 2012. She was then a Marie Curie Fellow at Imperial College London before returning to Australia in 2015 to establish her research group. She completed an Executive Leadership Program at the University of Oxford in 2020
Dr Chandrawati heads the Nanotechnology for Food and Medicine (NanoFAM) Laboratory . Since 2012, she has successfully attracted over AUD 4M in competitive funding as a Lead Chief Investigator + AUD 6M in funding as a co-Chief Investigator. She published in prominent journals including Science, Advanced Materials, Advanced Science, Chem, Angewandte Chemie, Nano Letters, ACS Nano with >3000 citations. Dr Chandrawati serves in the World Economic Forum Global Future Council in Biotechnology, World Economic Forum’s Expert Network, and MIT Technology Review Global Panel.
Prof. Jinman Kim
Professor Jinman Kim received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Sydney in 2005. He is currently the Director of the Visual TeleHealth Lab, the Biomedical & Multimedia Information Technology (BMIT) Research Group , School of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies, University of Sydney. As an active key member of the BMIT Research Group, he is in charge of a research commercialisation and industry links. He has produced a number of impact publications, including IEEE Transactions, Medical Image Analysis, etc., and received several prestigious external completive grants, including the ARC Discovery and Linkage grants. He is also a Theme Leader in the Faculty’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technologies (BMET)
Prof. Alistair McEwan
Professor Alistair McEwan received his PhD from the University of Oxford in 2005. He is currently Ainsworth Chair of Technology and Innovation within the School of Electrical and Information Engineering conducting research into bioelectronics, the electrical and optical properties of tissue and disabilities such as cerebral palsy. He works closely with clinicians from a number of hospitals in Sydney, including the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Westmead Hospital, Royal North Shore and Nepean Hospital. His research focuses on using signal processing, electronics and modelling to understand the effects of the impedance of tissue as a biomarker in neurology, cardiology, musculoskeletal tissue and the effect on neuromodulation.
Mr. Mark Kay
Mr. Mark Kay is the director of Post-Award Research at the University of Sydney
Professor Michael Fulham
Professor Fulham is the clinical director of Medical Imaging/ Director Department of Neurologist at RPA and the University of Sydney
Dr. William Lu
Dr. William Lu is the postdoctoral researcher at Osseintegration Group of Australia
Dr. Warren Smith
Dr. Smith is the advanced technologies manager at Ti2 Medical Pty Ltd.
Dr. Robert Bell
Dr. Bell is the head of Technology& Innovation at Allegra Orthopaedics.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Professor Fiona Wood (Chair)
Professor Fiona Wood is one of Australia’s most innovative and respected surgeons and researchers. A highly skilled plastic and reconstructive surgeon and world leading burns specialist, she has pioneered research and technology development in burns medicine.
One of Fiona’s early achievements was the development of a skin culture lab that she co-founded with scientist Marie Stoner. Professor Wood and Marie recognised the potential of tissue engineering technology to treat burns (called cultural epithelial autograph or CEA) and in 1993 developed a skin culture facility with support from a Telethon grant. Their product evolved from confluent sheets of CEA to aerosol-delivered cell-clusters, and is known as ‘spray-on skin’. This technology, commercialized through Clinical Cell Culture Pty Ltd (now AvitaMedical) is a world-first and has been used on more than 1000 patients around the world. In 2005 Professor Wood and Marie won the Clunies Ross Award (Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering for their contribution to medical science in Australia.
A/Professor Yi-Chin Toh
Yi-Chin Toh is a Future Fellow and Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology. She obtained her B.Eng in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D in Bioengineering from the National University of Singapore in 2001 and 2008 respectively. She did her post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008 under Professor Joel Voldman’s guidance. Before joining QUT, she was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore.
Yi-Chin leads the Micro Tissue Engineering Lab (https://microtelab.com/). Her major scientific contribution is in the advancement of microfluidic tissue models for applications in drug testing and experimental biology. To date, she has published over 40 papers in leading scientific journals such as Biomaterials and Lab on a Chip. Her current research interest is in engineering multi-scale tissue models to mimic complex biological interactions during human development and diseases, as well as translating them into scalable platforms for disease modeling and drug testing applications. Her lab is also working on integrating microfluidics and biofabrication technologies to realise a new generation of human-on-chips. Dr Toh is a recipient of the Australia Research Council Future Fellowship, National University of Singapore Research Scholarship, A*STAR Graduate Scholarship and A*STAR International Fellowship.
Professor Christopher Little
Professor Christopher Little is director of the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Labs at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research at Royal North Shore Hospital, Australia. Chris is a qualified Veterinarian with specialist surgery training and ACVS certification. He was awarded a PhD degree from the University of Sydney in 1996 for his studies of cartilage degradation in a sheep model of osteoarthritis (OA). Following a 5-year postdoctoral position at Cardiff University (UK), he was awarded an Arthritis Foundation of Australia Fellowship at the University of Melbourne. In 2004 he moved to his current position in the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine. Chris’s research interests focus on defining the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of joint pathology in OA, and tendon and intervertebral disc degeneration, and are based on the belief that it is only though a better understanding the mechanisms that drive the initiation and progression of these diseases that new therapies can be developed. Chris is recognized internationally for his expertise in the development and use of animal models of bone and joint disease. He has served as an Associate Editor of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, and a leader of the OARSI international initiative to establish standardised methods for evaluation of animal models of OA. Chris received the 2010 Barry Preston Award from the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand, presented to an outstanding leader in the field.
Professor Nico Voelker
Prof. Voelker is the Director of the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication and he frequently works with industry on projects involving materials and coating technologies including membranes and sensors. Nico’s own research interest include the development of chemo- and biosensors for applications in environmental monitoring, food quality as well as veterinary and human medical diagnostics.
Dr. Mate Biro
Dr Maté Biro received his PhD with summa cum laude at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany.
Dr. Biro has previously worked at the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology in Sydney, in the Imaging Informatics division at the Bioinformatics Institute of A*STAR in Singapore, at the MIT BioImaging Center in Cambridge, MA, USA and in the Belle collaboration at the KEK: High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation in Tsukuba, Japan.
As an EMBL Australia Group Leader he will expand his exciting studies on the way actomyosin complexes control cell shape, homeostasis and migration in cancer and immune function, focusing on the elucidation of biomechanical interaction within and between cells.
Dr. Biro is spearheading the use of complex in vitro and in vivo models for studying the cell-intrinsic actin cytoskeleton cues and dynamics that govern the invasive migration of tumour cells, the tissue scanning of T cells and their cytotoxic interaction with tumour cells. Using a multidisciplinary approach encompassing cell biology, biophysics, bioimage informatics and advanced light microscopy, he aims to unravel fundamental actin-based processes and develop new methodologies for basic cell biological research. Dr. Biro’s research relies heavily on advanced microscopy and the development of image analysis platforms capable of automatically detecting and analysing the kinetics of actomyosin, cell movement and protrusions.
Dr. Biro’s group is primarily concerned with the cell biology and mechanics of the actin cytoskeleton, and how immune cells (T cells) locate and kill cancer cells.
Prof.Kristopher Kilian
Graduate of the University of New South Wales (Ph.D. 2007). Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago (2008-2011). Assistant Professor (2011-2017), Associate Professor (2017-2018), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. UNSW Scientia Associate Professor (2018).
ARC Future Fellowship (2019). PLuS Alliance Fellowship (2019). Young Innovator of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering Society (2017). List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2015, 2016). NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation (2015). Kavli Fellow, 19th German-American Frontiers of Science Symposium (2014). Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising, College of Engineering, UIUC (2013). Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA), National Institutes of Health (2009). Australian Museum Eureka Prize Finalist (2009). U Committee Prize, UNSW, “Best Science PhD thesis in 2007” (2008). Cornforth Medal, “Best PhD thesis submitted in a branch of chemistry, chemical science or chemical technology in Australia”, The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (2008)
Professor Hala Zreiqat
Professor Colin Dunstan
STUDENT COMMITTEE
Mr. Jett van der Wallen is the Chair of Student Committee
Mr. Haobo Guo is the Secretary of Student Committee
Tel: 0061 2 9114 4607
Email: artcibe@sydney.edu.au
@2021 ARC Centre for Innovative BioEngineering
Level 4, J07
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
University of Sydney
Darlington NSW 2008
Australia