Innovations for regenerative medicine translation

In this webinar, you will discover more about limitations and opportunities in regenerative medicine and how we’re translating research into clinical applications and industry solutions. Specifically, we will discuss the need for innovations in biomaterials design and manufacturing and the identification of reliable, well-characterised and ethically sound cell sources.

You can pre-submit questions to our distinguished panel during the registration process.

Introducing the November MedTech panelists and chair:

Daniel Heath

Senior Lecturer / Assistant Dean of International Partnerships

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Melbourne

Daniel is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of Melbourne. He is a biomaterials scientist, and he and his group strive to improve medical outcomes by investigating how materials interact with biological environments. This fundamental knowledge is then used to develop improved materials for use in next generation biomedical devices.

Sarah Cartmell, PhD

Professor of Bioengineering – Head of the Department of Materials

The University of Manchester

Sarah was appointed Professor of Bioengineering at The University of Manchester in 2014 in the School of Materials after joining Manchester in 2010. She received a B.Eng. in Materials Science with Clinical Engineering and a Ph.D. degree in Clinical Engineering from The University of Liverpool in 1996 and 2000, respectively and then furthered her studies at GeorgiaTech, Atlanta for two years as a postdoctoral research fellow. She joined Keele University in 2002 where she continued her postdoctoral studies until obtaining a Lecturership and then a Senior Lecturer position in orthopaedic tissue engineering in 2008.

Kilian Kelly

Chief Operating Officer

Cynata Therapeutics

Dr Kilian Kelly is Chief Operating Officer at Cynata Therapeutics, an Australian clinical-stage biotechnology company, focussed on the development of novel induced pluripotent stem cell (or iPSC)-based therapies. He has previously held positions at Biota Pharmaceuticals, Mesoblast, Kendle International, Amgen and AstraZeneca. He holds a Masters in Pharmacy from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Strathclyde University, Glasgow, and is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy.

Megan Munsie

Deputy Director, Centre for Stem Cell Systems

Professor, Melbourne School of Medicine

The University of Melbourne

Professor Megan Munsie is an internationally recognised biologist who over the last 25 years has made a significant contribution to policy development and community engagement in stem cell science and regenerative medicine. She is Deputy Director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Stem Cell Systems, Professor in the Melbourne School of Medicine and holds senior roles in several national and international professional bodies. She received her PhD and Masters of Reproductive Sciences from Monash University and completed her undergraduate degree at Queensland University of Technology.

Professor Andrea O’Connor (Chair)

Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering

The University of Melbourne

Professor Andrea O’Connor, FIChemE is the Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and leads the Tissue Engineering Group at the University of Melbourne. Her research is focussed on design, synthesis and fabrication of biomaterials, porous materials and antimicrobial nanomaterials. She is particularly interested in strategies for scale-up of tissue engineering including vascularisation, and design of antimicrobial materials for medical implants. Andrea led the engineering team on the world-first Neopec clinical trial of breast reconstruction using tissue engineering, showing proof-of-principle of tissue engineering of large volumes of well vascularised fat tissue. She has published over 90 journal articles and collaborates with a range of hospitals, medical research institutes and medical device companies to improve existing products, develop new devices and solve clinical problems.