Meet the PBL Director

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Dr. Heidari is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Assistant Professor at University College London. He specializes in soft biomaterials and light-based additive manufacturing technologies. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Mechanical Engineering in 2015 and 2017 from Sharif University of Technology and the University of California at Berkeley where he developed multiscale in silico and in vitro models of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to study vascular permeability. His Doctoral work at UC Berkeley's DENM laboratory led to biofabrication breakthroughs overcoming some of the manufacturing challenges of extremely soft tissue micro-environments with composite hydrogel-based biopolymers. At UC Berkeley in collaboration with the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, they developed the first ever volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM) process that produces 3D objects volumetrically all-at-once through tomographic photo-polymerization. In 2018, he presented this technology to the decision-makers of BASF, the world’s largest chemical producer and secured a $170K research collaboration grant. Later that year he was awarded the prestigious Anselmo Macchi Fellowship by the School of Engineering. In 2019 he won the SPIE Photonics Start-up Challenge, and succeeded in demonstrating the impact of this technology through their publication in Science. He joined Volumetric in 2020 where his work focused on the development of high-throughput vascular tissue platforms for drug screening and pharma with United Therapeutics, Janssen and Merck. Their startup was successfully acquired by 3D Systems (world's largest 3D printing company) for a total of $400 Million in 2021, and he joined the Queen Mary University of London's SEMS faculty as an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering. He held a Fellow and holds an affiliated faculty position at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovations. In the year 2023, he joined the University College London's IMD as a faculty member in Materials Innovation and Enterprise. He recently received the UKRI's flagship Future Leaders Fellowship, a £1.7 million research grant to fund SPARK 3D - an organ-manufacturing project that will integrate bioprinting, biomodulation and imaging in a volumetric bioproduction system to produce 3D tissues.  Leading the PBL with a stellar team, he aims to address some of the grand challenges of large-scale bioproduction.

Siyuan is an accomplished researcher with a robust background in advanced biomaterials, honed through extensive work as a research associate at the University of Manchester under the guidance of Profs Saiani and Miller, and at Pharmaron Inc. in Beijing focusing on preclinical testing of antibody drugs as a research scientist. Her experience spans translational research, specifically in incorporating nano biomaterials into biomedical applications such as immunosuppression treatment for AMD and immune cancer therapy. Dr. Dong's postdoctoral work includes developing long-term release systems for anti-VEGF drugs, designing peptide hydrogels for stabilizing biologics, and enhancing stem cell differentiation for cell therapy applications.  She received her BSc in Clinical Pharmacy from China Medical University in 2016, her MPhil in Drug Discovery from Queen's University Belfast in 2017 and her PhD from the University of Manchester in 2023 studying novel biomaterials for controlled release of macromolecule therapeutics, leading to key publications and recognition at prestigious conferences, including the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Controlled Release Society, where she received top honors.

David is a recent graduate of University College London (UCL), he received his BSc and MSc in Biochemical Engineering and Regenerative Medicine from UCL in 2021 and 2022 respectively (in addition to an LLB from QMUL). He brings various prior experiences in bioprinting and biomaterials from his work at the London Center for Nanotechnology (DNA origami as a diagnostic tool), University College London (3D in vitro organoid models using the RAFT 3D cell culture system) and the University of West London (bioartificial tissue scaffolds for retinal tissue engineering) with a core interest in Neural Bionanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine and Synthetic Biological Intelligence.

Churun received her bachelor’s degree in Materials Physics from China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB) in 2021, where she conducted novel research on nanomaterials, catalysts, and metallic batteries. She later pursued an MSc in Advanced Material Science at University College London (UCL), focusing on light-based additive fabrication of tunable scaffolds and performing correlative simulation work under the guidance of Dr Heidari. At the PBL, her research focuses on design, synthesis and biofabrication of photoresponsive biomaterials with advanced volumetric AM techniques and data-driven mapping of material characteristics with process parameters.

Charlie received his BSc and MSc from the University of Cambridge in 2022 and 2023 in Natural Sciences and an MPhil in 2025 in Materials Science. With a background in materials science and medical implant design, Charlie has worked on a variety of projects at the University of Cambridge, focusing on the use of hydrogels and additive manufacturing techniques. His main area of interest is using additive manufacturing to create customized implants that meet the unique needs of individual patients. He is passionate about combining innovative materials and cutting-edge technology to develop implants that improve patient outcomes and enhance quality of life. Beyond his core research, he is interested in exploring new ways to optimize implant designs and production methods, including the potential for interdisciplinary approaches in biomaterials and medical engineering. Outside the lab, he can usually be found on the basketball court or caving underground.

Jiaxuan completed his Master’s in Computer Science at University College London and his Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Birmingham. His academic journey has been marked by a deep interest in the convergence of electronic and electrical engineering with cutting-edge deep learning techniques and their applications in biology. During his undergraduate studies, Jiaxuan focused on autonomous driving technologies, model and system Simulink, and applications of microprocessors. At UCL, Jiaxuan dedicated his efforts to optimising deep learning models to enhance predictions of 3D protein structures, which ignited his profound interest in this specialised area. His current research primarily revolves around leveraging deep learning to trace neuronal movement trajectories, aiming to make these trajectories more interpretable with extensive experimental data. Additionally, Jiaxuan is deeply interested in the practical application of biological knowledge and deep learning in everyday life, exploring ways to integrate these advanced technologies into daily human experiences.