Centre for Synthetic Biology and the Bioeconomy

Staff Profile

Dr Jinju Chen

Senior Lecturer in Biointerface Engineering

Background

Dr. Chen is a Senior Lecturer (Equivalent to Associate Professor in USA)  in Engineering. She currently leads a team of 7 researchers. Since 2015, her research group consists of 6-12 active researchers. 

She is Principal Editor of Journal of Materials Research (Cambridge University Press) and Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) . Her research is mainly funded by EPSRC with further funding from MRC, BBSRC and The Royal Society. She regularly reviews proposals for both RCUK and overseas research councils (e.g. Singapore, Isreal, France, Czech). She also examines PhD thesis nationally and internationally. She also sits in EPSRC Healthcare Technology panel and UKRI COVID panel. She is member EPSRC Peer Review College. Gained special Recognition in 2021 for my significant contribution (top 6% of EPSRC Peer Review College members) to EPSRC Peer Review.  

Dr Chen joined Newcastle as a lecturer in Sept. 2011. Shortly after that, she was invited to visit NTU (Singapore) to lead a project on computational cell mechanics which led to a paper published in Journal of Biomechanics.  She resumed her teaching post at School of Mechanical & System Engineering in Jan 2012. She has 82 publications (66 journal papers, 2 bookchapters, 14 conference proceeding papers), with H-index of  27 and total citations exceeding 2,100 (googlescholar).

After obtaining her BEng , she moved to Newcastle to do PhD sponsored by various scholarships. Under the supervision of Prof. S.J. Bull (FREng),  She completed Ph.D thesis within 2 years and 9 months in School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials at Newcastle University. Her PhD work involves mathematical modelling, computational modelling (FEM) and experimental characterisations of thin film materials. Her PhD work has led to 8 first-authored journal papers and 3 first-authored conference papers. Then she worked as a Post-doc research associate at Newcastle (Nano Lab) & London (Cell & Tissue Engineering Lab, QMUL) to work on Multiscale Modelling of Functional Coatings and  Multiscale Mechanobiology for Tissue Engineering, respectively. She was also an academic visitor at Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung (Dusseldorf) to work on computational modelling crystal plasticity in collaboration with Prof. Dierk Raabe (Director). 

She has worked on mechanics of advanced materials such as energy related materials, biomaterials, soft and hard biological tissues, finite element simulation, nanomechanics, nanotribology,  and cell mechanics.  She investigated the fracture and adhesion failure in ceramic coatings, creep in metallic coating, plastic deformation at submicro/nanoscale, viscoelastic behaviour of polymers, nonlinear elasticity in biomaterials etc. She is also very interested in fundamental nanoindentation mechanics, fracture mechanics and nonlinear elastic mechanics. 

Her recent research interest is on cell-materials interactions, antimicrobial surfaces, nanofabrications, mechanics of biofilms, biological modelling, rheology of hydrogels and fluids and microfluidics. 

Her current research covers : 1) cell and tissue mechanics; 2) tissue engineering 3) rheology of hydrogels and biological materials ;4) antifouling surfaces; 5) nanofabrications and bio-inspired materials;  6) biofilm mechanics and modelling. 


 

We welcome enthusiastic and talented researchers at all levels (UG to Post-doc researchers) to join us. We are also happy to sponsor the talented researchers (with PhD degree) to apply for external fellowship to be hosted at my lab.

External Postdoc Fellowships: Newton International Fellowships (open Jan-Mar); Marie Curie Individual Fellowships (Open Apr-Sep); EMBO Fellowships etc.

 

For the visiting students (UG, MSc or PhD), you need to be registered as occasional students and you need to have funding to cover the fee as occasional students.


Google Scholar Profile

SCOPUS Profile

ORCID

0000-0002-9792-6285

 

Congrats to the team!  Our paper on ‘Nanostructured titanium surfaces exhibit recalcitrance towards Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm formation’ made it to the top 100 most highly read materials science papers for Natures’ Scientific Reports journal in 2018, signifying its great value to the research community.    https://www.nature.com/collections/fhacegjgia  ; dated on 15 April 2019.

The research paper features the novel pocket-type surface nanostructures on titanium implant materials which enabled sustainable anti-biofilm effects. Such a pocket-like surface significantly outcompetes current pillar-based nanostructures in terms of anti-biofilm performance. The combined experimental and computational modelling approaches revealed new key mechanisms for antibiofilm characteristics of these structured surfaces. Such a chemical-free antibiofilm surface has the potential to tackle the antimicrobial resistance issues.

Read the paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19484-x

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-19484-x


Papers submitted/under review:  

 


 Recent  papers accepted in Biophysics or Biomechanics related aspects:

Crawling-Jumping Synergic Bioinspired robots Harnessing Electroactive Bistable Actuators by Adjusting Mechanical Response and Forces.Dachao Li, Dong Niu, Guoyong Ye, Biao Lei,JieHan, Weitao Jiang, Feng Luo, Jinju Chen, Hongzhong Liu,Bingheng Lu. Applied Materials Today, accepted on 8 June. 2021

A modified Sneddon model for the contact between conical indenters and spherical samples, Rui Han, Jinju Chen.  Journal of Materials Research, accepted on 5 April 2021. 

Modelling the combined effect of surface roughness and topography on bacterial attachment. Subash Bommu Chinnaraj, Pahala Gedara Jayathilake, Jack Dawson, Yasmine Ammar, Jose Portoles, Nicholas Jakubovics, Jinju Chen. Journal of Materials Science & Technology, accepted on 14 Dec. 2020.


 Revealing the nanoindentation response of a single cell using a 3D structural finite element model, Yang, Wenjian; Lacroix, Damien; Tan, lay poh; Chen, Jinju,  Journal of Materials Research. accepted on 26 Oct. 2020. 


CFD-DEM modelling of biofilm streamer oscillations and their cohesive failure in fluid flow
Y XIA, P Jayathilake, B Li, P Zuliani, J Chen, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, accepted on 26 Oct. 2020. 

Anti-wetting and anti-fouling performances of different lubricant-infused slippery surfaces, accepted in Langmuir, accepted on 20 Oct. 2020. 

How Does Lubricant Viscosity Affect the Wear Behaviour of VitE-XLPE Articulated Against CoCr, accepted 25 Aug. 2020. 

 Intergrated Shape Memory Alloys Soft Actuators with Periodic and Inhomogeneous Deformations by Modulating Elastic Tendon Structures, Dachao Li; Dong Niu; Guoyong Ye;  Biao Lei; Weitao Jiang; Feng Luo; Jinju Chen; Xin Li; Shaoxing Qu; Hongzhong Liu. ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS,DOI: 10.1002/adem.202000640, Sept. 2020

Bacterial nanotubes mediate bacterial growth on periodic nano-pillars, Yunyi Cao, Saikat Jana, Leon Bowen, Hongzhong Liu, Nicholas S. Jakubovics and Jinju Chen, Soft Matter,  accepted on 20 July 2020.

Nonlinear rheological characteristics of single species bacterial biofilms , npj Biofilms and Microbiomes,  npj Biofilms and Microbiomes volume 6, Article number: 19 (2020).

Muco-ciliary clearance: A review of modelling techniques, accepted on 15 Dec. 2019

NUFEB: A Massively Parallel Simulator for Individual-based Modelling of Microbial Communities, PLOS Computational Biology, accepted on 30 Oct. 2019. 

Hierarchical rose-petal surfaces delay the early-stage bacterial biofilm growth, Langmuir, accepted on 21 Oct. 2019.  DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b02367

Modelling bacterial twitching in fluid flows: a CFD-DEM approach, Scientific Reports,  accepted  on 25 Sept. 2019,

Individual based model links thermodynamics, chemical speciation and environmental conditions to microbial growth, Valentina Gogulancea, Rebeca Gonzalez-Cabaleiro, Bowen Li, Denis Taniguchi, Pahala Gedara Jayathilake, Jinju Chen, Darren Wilkinson, David Swailes, Andrew Stephen McGough, Paolo Zuliani, Irina D Ofiteru, Thomas Curtis, Frontiers in Microbiology, accepted on 29 July 2019. Front. Microbiol. | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01871

Regulating, measuring and modelling the viscoelasticity of bacterial biofilms. Samuel Charlton, Michael White, Saikat Jana, Lucy Eland, Pahala Jayathilake, J. Burgess, Jinju Chen, Anil Wipat, and Thomas Curtis,  Journal of Bacteriology, accepted on 5 June. 2019.

Formation of highly ordered micro fillers in polymeric matrix by electro-field-assisted aligning. Zhang Y, Zheng X, Jiang W, Han J, Pu J, Wang L, Lei B, Chen B, Shi Y, Yin L, Liu H, Luo F, Liu X, Chen J. RSC Advances 2019, 9(27), 15238-15245.

Mechanical interactions between bacteria and hydrogels,  Nehir Kandemir, Waldmar Vollmer , Nick akubovics, Jinju Chen, Scientific Reports, accepted on 4 July 2018.

Finite Element Modelling of Nanoindentation Response of Elastic Fibre-Matrix Composites, Pengfei Duan, Yuqing Xia, Steve Bull and Jinju Chen; Journal of Materials Research, accepted on 26 June, 2018 ;

Modelling the nanomechanical responses of biofilms grown on the indenter probe,  Yuqing Xia, Pengfei Duan, and Jinju Chen; Processes, accepted on 19 June, 2018 .

An Asymmetrical Dual Coating on the Stent Prepared by Ultrasonic Atomization,  Wang, Jingjing; Huang, Yuhua; Ren, Yuzhen; Du, Ruolin; Xi, Yadong; Yin, Tieying; Wang, Yazhou; Zhang, Dechuan; Chen, Jinju; Wang, Guixue, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part B - Applied Biomaterials, accepted on 28 May, 2018.

How cell culture conditions affect the microstructure and nanomechanical properties of extracellular matrix formed by immortalized human mesenchymal stem cells: an experimental and modelling study,,Pengfei Duan, Ria Toumpaniari, Simon Partridge, Mark Birch, Paul G Genever, Steve J. Bull, Kenny W Dalgarno, Andrew W McCaskie, Jinju Chen, Materials Science and Engineering-C, accepted on 26-MAR-2018 DOI information: 10.1016/j.msec.2018.03.027

Synthesis of bioinspired Collagen/Alginate/Fibrin based hydrogels for soft tissue engineering, G.Montalbano, S.Toumpaniari, A.Popov, P.Duan, J.Chen, K.Dalgarno, W.E.Scott, A.M.Ferreira, Materials Science and Engineering-C, 91 (2018) 236-246, accepted on 26-April-2018

Nanostructured titanium surfaces exhibit recalcitrance towards Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm formation, Yunyi Cao, Bo Su, Subash Chinnaraj, Saikat Jana, Leon Bowen, Sam Charlton, Pengfei Duan, Nicholas S. Jakubovics , and Jinju Chen , accepted in Scientific reports, 27 Dec 2017.  DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-19484-x.     the top 100 most highly read materials science papers for Natures’ Scientific Reports journal in 2018

Pahala Gedara Jayathilake, Saikat Jana, Steve Rushton, David Swailes, Ben Bridgens, Tom Curtis, Jinju Chen, Extracellular polymeric substance production and aggregated bacteria colonization influence the competition of microbes in biofilms, Frontiers in Microbiology, accepted on 12 sept 2017.

Pahala Gedara Jayathilake, Prashant Gupta, Bowen Li, Curtis Madsen, Oluwole Oyebamiji, Rebeca González-Cabaleiro, Steve Rushton, Ben Bridgens, David Swailes, Ben Allen, Steve McGough, Paolo Zuliani, Irina Dana Ofiteru, Darren Wilkinson, Jinju Chen, Tom Curtis, A Mechanistic Individual-based Model of Microbial Communities, PLoS ONE 12(8): e0181965. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181965.  : among the top 10% most cited PLOS ONE papers published in 2017. By chief-editor on 20 Nov. 2019.

Dan Zou, Wei Wang, Daoxi Lei, Ying Yin, Fei Fang, Peng Ren, Jinju Chen, Tieying Yin, Bochu Wang, Guixue Wang, Yazhou Wang*. Kill two birds with one stone:Penetrate blood-brain barrier and enable anti-tumor and nerve repair in glioma by DOX-loaded monosialoganglioside micelles system" has been accepted for publication in "International Journal of Nanomedicine",  7 June 2017

Effects of elemene on inhibiting proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and promoting reendothelialization at the stent implantation site, Biomaterials Science, Wenjie Sun,  Yuhua Huang,  Tieying Yin,  Jingjing Wang,  Ruolin Du,  Juhui Qiu,  Yuan Zhang,  Yazhou Wang,  Jinju Chen, Guixue Wang , Biomaterials Science, 2017, 5, 1144 - 1155, doi: 10.1039/C7BM00190H

Hunt NC, Hallam D, Karimi A, Mellough CB, Chen J, Steel DHW, Lako M. 3D culture of human pluripotent stem cells in RGD-alginate hydrogel improves retinal tissue development. Acta Biomaterialia 2017, 49, 329-343


Topical Review

  • Jinju Chen, Indentation based methods to assess fracture toughness for thin coatings, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (2012) 45 203001 doi:10.1088/0022-3727/45/20/203001

 Invited papers 

Bookchapter 

  • Jinju Chen, A non-destructive approach to determine fracture toughness of coating: Nanoindentation tests and analysis, Chapter 3, pp123-178,in Thin Films and Coatings: Toughening and Toughness Characterisation, edited by Sam Zhang, published on July 29, 2015 by CRC Press
  • Jinju Chen, Chapter 7: Thin film coatings and the biological interface , Thin Film Coatings for Biomaterials and Biomedical Applications; Woodhead Publishing Series in Biomaterials: Number 110, 143-164,  edited by Prof. Hans Griesser, published on March 15, 2016.

Journal Editor 

Editorial Board

Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) in the topic of Biological Physics

International Journal of Nanomedicine and Nanotechnology 

 Conference chair/society chair

* Co-Chair of Symposium E - Organic and Biological Coatings of TACT 2017 (International Thin Films Conference), Taiwan, 15-18Oct, 2017

*        Session chair for Soft matters & MD/ab initio applications, 9TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MATERIALS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, Singapore, June 2017

         Appointed as Chairperson of Tyne & Wear Materials Society (2016-  ), IOM3, UK.

·         Chairing a session in Nanoindentation Conference at Newcastle 2010.

*        Co-chair of Symposium of Mechanical properties of thin films (MPF), ThinFilms2014.

*        Co-chair topical session in 42nd Intl. Conf. Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF), 20–24 April 2015, San Diego, United States.

*       Co-chair topical session in 43rd Intl. Conf. Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF), 25–29 April 2016, San Diego, United States.


Conference organization committee

·          Conference organizing committee for Nanoindentation Conference at Newcastle 2008.

*         Conference organizing committee for the 7th International Conference on Technological Advances of Thin Films & Surface Coatings, China 2014 .

*       Conference co-organizer for THINFILMS2016 (8th International Conference on Technological Advances of Thin Films & Surface Coatings) ,12th-15th July 2016, SINGAPORE

*       42nd, 43rd, 44th Intl. Conf. Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF), USA,  2015, 2016, 2017

*       

Reviewer for  international and national funding bodies

·         Czech Republic Science Foundation* (2009-present), Tier 1 Grant Singapore (2016-present), ANR ( French National Research Agency), (2016-present) , Israel Science Foundation , Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation (RPF) .

*         EPSRC* (2013-present), BBSRC (2014-present)*, MRC (2015-present)*, Cancer Research UK (2017-present),  Dunhill Medical Trust (2017-present).  :  * frequently


 External Ph.D examiner for the following University

Anna University, India (2021)

University of Bristol (2019)

University of London Queen Mary (2019)

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2012, 2018, 2020)

University of Groningen, Netherlands (2016)

External Examiner of MPhil for University of Manchester (2017)


 Reviewer for the chapters in the technical book proposals for

 Wiley (2012-present)

 Reviewer for Journals

 Manuscript reviewer for Advanced Functional Materials, Nano Today, Molecular Pharmaceutics,  ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Acta Biomaterialia, Medicinal Research Reviews, Nanotechnology, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Biomedical Materials, Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials*, Journal of Materials Research*, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.*, Biomacromolecules,  Water Research, Applied Microbiology, Experimental Mechanics*, Acta Mechanica Sinica, Crystal Growth & Design, Materials & Design, Journal of Materials Science, Materials Science and Engineering C*, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics; Applied Physics A, Thin Solid Films*, Surface Coating & Technology*, Materials Research Express , Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Semiconductor Science and Technology, Tribology International, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters, Wear.

*: frequently


Invited  presentations and seminars


Computational biophysics or cell mechanics

Sept. 2019: ETH Zurich 

June 2019: Invited speaker in Symposium M: Biomechanics in Human Diseases – Research and Applications and Symposium FF: Computational Advanced Material Science and Application  at 10th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT 2019), Singapore

Jan. 2019: University of Leeds; Southeast University; Shanghai Jiaotong University, East China University of Science and Technology.

Dec. 2018: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing Tech University,  Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen University, Beijing institute of chemical technology,  Hainan University.

Sept. 2018: University of Tennessee, USA

Dec.2017: Xi'an Jiao Tong University, China

Dec.2017: South China Normal University, China

Dec.2017: Jinan University, China
Dec.2017: South China University of Technology, China

18 - 23 June 2017:  9th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT 2017),  Suntec, Singapore

April 2017: Montana State University, USA. 

Jan 2017:   Chongqing University , China

Dec 2016: Invited guest lectures on Finite element modelling for University of Chinese Academic Of Science  

Dec 2016: Perking University (Beida), China

Dec 2016:  Beihang University , China

Dec 2016: Tsinghua University, China

Nov 2016: National Physical Lab, UK

July 2016: National University of Singapore

July 2016: University of Malaya, Malaysia

July 2016: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

March  2016: Symposium of Biointerfaces, Advanced Materials Conference, Newcastle, UK

Jan 2016: Chinese Academic of Science, Beijing,China

Jan 2016: Hohai University , China

Dec 2015: Xi'an Jiao Tong University, China

Dec 2015: Chinese Academic of Science, Qingdao,China

Dec 2015: Tongji University, China

 March 2015: Keynote speaker @ 5th Annual International Conference on Advances in Biotechnology (BioTech 2015)  , India,  http://www.advbiotech.org/

•Oct 2015: University of Manchester,UK

•Dec 2014: Sun Yat-Sen University , China

•Dec 2014: Zhejiang University , China

•Dec 2014: South China University of Technology, China

•Dec 2014: Soochow University, China

•May 2014: Glasgow University, UK

•Apr 2014: Columbia University, USA

•Apr 2014: Montana State University, USA

•Nov 2013: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

•Dec. 2012: Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Mechanics, China.

•Dec. 2012: Beihang University, China.

•Dec. 2012:  Beijing Institute of Technology, China

•Apr. 2012: University of Kentucky, USA

•Apr. 2012: University of California, San Diego, USA

•Dec. 2011:  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

•Dec. 2010: Peking University, Beijing, China. 

•Dec. 2010: Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China. 

•Sept. 2010: University of Cambridge, UK 

•Aug. 2010: Symposium of Chondrocyte Mechanics in 6th World Congress on Biomechanics, Singapore. 

•Aug.2010: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore .


Nanomechanics, Fracture Mechanics and Interface Adhesion 

 Dec 2016: Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academic of Science, 

*July 2016: THINFILMS2016,  SINGAPORE

•Dec 2014: Guangdong University of Technology , China

•Jul 2014: 7th International Conference on Technological Advances of Thin Films & Surface Coatings, China
•May 2014: Glasgow University, UK

•Apr. 2014: 41st International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF), San Diego, USA.

•Mar.2013: National Physical Laboratory, Institute of Physics (IOP) Tribology Group Conference.

•June 2011: Materials Today Virtual Conference: Characterization Techniques and Analysis.
•Dec. 2010: The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
•Dec. 2010: Peking University, Beijing, China.
•Dec. 2010: Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.
•Aug. 2008: Loughborough University, UK. 
•May 2008: Institute of Physics One–Day Seminar on Nanoindentation and Nanotribology, National Physical Laboratory,UK
•May 2008: Nanomechanical Labortary, Hysitron Inc., Minneapolis, USA.
•May 2008: University of South Carolina, USA.

Academic Visitor

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Loughborough University, UK.
Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung, Dusseldorf, Germany.

 Conference presentations

I have made more than 30 presentations in international conferences such as MRS Fall meeting, MS&T conference, International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films (ICMCTF), Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics,Tissue and Cell Engineering Society (TCES), International Conference on Cell & Stem Cell Engineering (ICCE). 

Recent awards (after 2007)

·         European Society of Biomechanics (ESB) Travel Award 2010

·         International Travel Grant (The Royal Society) 2010

·         The following article has been selected as one of the highlights in the year of 2007 in J. Phys. D:  J. Chen and S J Bull, Indentation fracture and toughness assessment for thin optical coatings on glass, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 40 (2007) 5401-5417

Industry consultancy experience

 Stress analysis, Hardness and wear analysis of Coatings, Fracture and delamination analysis.

 Professional membership

Materials Research Society;  Europe Society of Biomechanics; Tissue and Cell Engineering Society;

Institute of Physics


Research

 Selected funded projects
2012-2013: Industrial consultancy project with Metalysis , Ltd (Co-I)
2013-2019: A New Frontier in Design: The Simulation of Open Engineered Biological Systems, one of the only five prestigious Frontier Awards (~£5.56 millions) funded by EPSRC (EP/K039083/1), strategic Co- investigator and team leader for the theme of Biomechanics and Flow within the project.
2013: Using nanomechanical testing and modelling to understand the biophysics of cell-hydrogel Interactions, funded by EPSRC, Principal Investigator (PI)
2014-2018: Multiscale modelling and characterisation of biofilms (SAgE DTA award, PI)
2014-2017: Biomechanics of bacteria (school DTA award,  PI)
2014-2015: Designing  a new cannula and injection system for subretinal injections,MRC Confidence in Concept (CiC) Fund, Co-I.
2015-2019: Biophysics of biofilms in wastewater treatment (DPT award,  PI)                              
2016-2020: Computational modelling to study cell-materials interactions for tissue engineering,    Newcastle-Singapore Studentship, PI)

June-July 2016:  Newton Fund and British council travel award to attend Vietnam-UK Young Scientist Networking Conference on Biomedical Engineering. (PI)

2017-2020:  The biophysics for bacteria-materials interactions, Research Excellence Academy PhD studentship, PI.

2017-2021: EPSRC Industrial CASE Award in partnership with P & G (PI)
2017-2018: EPSRC Partnering for GCRF: Develop chemical-free anti-biofilm surface (PI)
2017-2018: High performance computational & microfluidic models of complex biofilm dynamics, Oak Ridge National Lab ( Co-I)
2018-2020: Multiscale characterization of complex materials using a combination of atomic force microscopy and optical coherence tomography funded by EPSRC (EP/R025606/1), £487k, PI).
2018-2019: Investigate how the architectures of nanostructured surfaces affect bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, Oak Ridge National Lab (PI). 

2019: EPSRC Soft Mech feasibility grant: Characterising the microstructure and mechanical properties of cells  (PI) 

2018-2022: Experimental Cell Mechanics to Understand Disease progression,  EPSRC DTP studentship (PI, EP/R51309X/1)

2019-2023: EPSRC DTP studentship ( PI, EP/N509528/1 )

2019-2023: Chinese Scholarship Council ( CSC) studentship plus  Newcastle Univ ( PI)

2019-2020: BBRSC NBIC on marine biofilms  (PI)

2020-2022: The Royal Society -Newton Mobility Grant (PI)

2020-2021: BBRSC NBIC on biofilm mechanics and modelling (PI) 

2021-2022: BBRSC NBIC on preventing biofilm formation (PI) 

2021-2024: EPSRC on novel antibiofilm surfaces (PI)


EPSRC or BBSRC funded post-doctoral research associates: 

Dr. Yasmine Ammar (Mar 2014-May 2015, PhD from Newcastle), now got a permanent job as data analyst and modeller in public section.  

Dr. Jaya PAHALA GEDARA (Oct 2014- Feb 2019, PhD from NUS, post-doc at NUS), Now at University of Oxford as a PDRA in Computational biology

Dr. Saikat Jana  (Aug 2015-Aug 2019, PhD from Virgin Tech, post-doc at MIT, Glasgow), Now at University of Leeds as a PDRA in biophysics and biomechanics

Dr. P. Duan (Feb-March 2018, PhD from Newcastle), Now work in China 

Dr. Nehir Kandemir (March 2018,  Feb 2019-May 2019,PhD from Newcastle), Now work in ANSYS, Cambridge. 

Dr. Ben Allen (2020), BBSRC funded senior PDRA:  PhD from Newcastle

Dr. Yuqing Xia (2021), BBSRC funded PDRA, PhD from Newcastle. 

Current PhD students supervised as the lead supervisor:

Mr. Luo Ma (joined in Jan 2018)

Mr. John Exton (joined in Sept. 2018)

Mr. Yufeng Zhu (joined in Jan. 2019)

Mr. Jack Dawson (joined in Sept. 2019)

Mr. Rui Han (joined in Sept. 2019)

Mr. Sam Coaster ( joined in 2021)

PhD student I co-supervised: Peiheng Tong (since Jan. 2021)


PGR students completed: 8 PhDs and 1 MPhil

Mr. Yunyi Cao: completed MPhil in 2017. 

Dr. Pengfei Duan (started in Jan 2014 , submitted draft thesis in Sept. 2017, successfully defended thesis in Nov 2017,  PhD awarded in March 2018). Now he works as KTP scientist  in a  Chinese Research Institute.

 Dr. Nehir Kandemir (joined in Sept.2014, draft thesis submitted in May 2018,  successfully defended her PhD thesis in July 2018), PhD awarded in Nov 2018.  PDRA in my group in 2019. Now secured a permanent job in ANSYS, UK.

Dr. Subash Chinnaraj (joined in Nov. 2014, draft thesis submitted in Nov, successfully defended PhD thesis in Dec 2018, Awarded in Feb. 2019).  secured an industrial job in the UK.

Dr. Sam Charlton (joined in Sept.2015), successfully defended his PhD thesis on 7 Oct 2019. He just started  PDRA job at ETH, Zurich, Switzerland.

Dr. James Hood successfully defended his PhD thesis on 26 Nov. 2019.  He started a project engineer in a company in the UK from Oct 2019. PhD awarded in Feb. 2020.   secured an industrial job in the UK.

Dr. Yunyi Cao successfully defended his PhD thesis on 5 March 2020. PhD awarded in April 2020. He has secured an industrial R&D post in China. 

Dr. Wenjian Yang successfully defended his PhD thesis on 17 Dec 2020. He secured a tenure tracked Assistant professor position in a leading university in China. 

Dr. Yuqing Xia successfully defended her PhD thesis on 6 April 2021. 

Visiting academic fellows :  Associate Prof. Y  Wang (now full professor); Associate Prof. T Yin ( Jan 2017- July 2017) from China, Associate Professor  Tianyu Zhang (Nov-Dec 2017) from USA. Dr. S. Elatriby  (July 2015-Jan 2016)from Egypt.


Previous group members : Dr. S. Elatriby  (July 2015-Jan 2016); Dr Yasmine Ammar (2014-2015, funded by EPSRC), Dr. P. Duan (Feb-March 2018, funded by EPSRC),  Dr.  Wenbo Wang (Jan 2015-July 2015)

 Group news (2016-present):

Dr. Chen, Dr Phahala, Mr Chinnaraj  all gave oral presentations at 43rd ICMCTF at San Diego in April 2016.  

Mr Duan gave an oral presentation at ThinFilms2016, Singapore in July 2016. 

Congratulations to yunyi Cao and pengfei Duan who have a joint  paper published in Nanotechlology (IF=3.82) in 2016 .

Summer internship student Mieszko Jaskiewicz in my group, who works on microfluidics, was the overall Faculty prize winner (£300) at the recent ‘Celebrating Student Research Scholarships and Expeditions’ annual poster and presentations evening 2016.

Mr Yunyi Cao and Sam Charlton were the Tyne & Wear Materials Society (TWMS) (associated with IOM3) young person lecture  competition 2017 winner  (£100) and runner-up (£50). 

Mr Yunyi Cao and Sam Charlton were the runner-up in PGR conference in 2017. 

Ms Nehir Kandemir was the winner for TCES scholarship, awarded in April 2017.

Prof. Yin and Prof. Wang just had a joint paper with us accepted in Biomaterials Science in April 2017. Well done !

Dr. Chen, Ms Kandemir, Mr Charlton, Mr Cao all gave oral presentations at 44th ICMCTF at San Diego in April 2017.  

Prof. Wang and Prof. Yin just had a joint paper with us accepted in "International Journal of Nanomedicine",  7 June 2017. Well done !

Dr Chen, Ms. Kandemir presented papers at MRS fall meeting at Boston 2017 .

Congratulations to Pengfei Duan who successfully defended his thesis in Nov 2017 ! Now he becomes Dr. Duan. 

Mr. Y. Cao, Mr. Chinnaraj  and other members within the group just had a joint paper accepted in Scientific reports in Dec 2017. Well done !

Mr Ma LUO and Mr Yunyi Cao were the Tyne & Wear Materials Society (TWMS) (associated with IOM3) young person lecture  competition 2018 winner  (£100) and runner-up (£50), respectively.  

Dr. Duan has just published a paper in Materials Science & Engineering C in march 2018. Well done !

Ms Nehir Kandemir, Ms yuqing Xia, and Dr. Duan published a joint paper in MRS Advances in 2018. well done!

Mr. Yunyi Cao and Mr. Sam Charlton have won first prizes in their sessions in PGR conference in march 2018. Well done.

Dr. Duan and Miss Xia just had a joint paper accepted in Journal of Materials Research in June 2018. Well done !

Miss Xia and Dr. Duan and just had a joint paper accepted in Processes in June 2018. Well done !

Miss Nehir Kandemir just had a paper (which covers most of her PhD work) accepted in Scientific Reports (nature publishing group) in July 2018. Well  done !

Miss Nehir Kandemir successfully defended her PhD viva on 19 July 2018. Well done !

Mr Subash Chinnaraj successfully defended his PhD viva on 20 Dec 2018 (just before Christmas holiday). Well done !

Mr. Sam Charlton (joined in Sept.2015), successfully defended his PhD thesis on 7 Oct 2019. Well done ! He just started  PDRA job at ETH, Zurich, Switzerland.

Mr. John Exton was he Tyne & Wear Materials Society (TWMS) (associated with IOM3) young person lecture  competition 2019 runner-up. 

Mr Jack Dawson and Miss yuqing Xia were the Tyne & Wear Materials Society (TWMS) (associated with IOM3) young person lecture  competition 2020 winner  (£100) and runner-up (£50). 

Mr John Exton and Mr. Ma Luo were the Tyne & Wear Materials Society (TWMS) (associated with IOM3) young person lecture  competition 2021 winner  (£100) and runner-up (£50). 

Mr John Exton was the runner up for Northeast YPLC Regional Final (associated with IOM3) 2021. 

Mr. Rui Han just had a paper accepted in JMR on 5 April 2021. 


My Expertise

Biomechanics, Fracture mechanics,  Adhesion evaluation, Nano/Micromechanics, Surface analysis, Finite element simulation, 3D modelling for biomedical images.

Applied Mathematical Modelling ( I was selected to participate International Mathematical Contest in Modelling when I was an undergraduate. I still have strong interest in mathematical modelling. If you share the same interest, please feel free to contact me. )

Research area

Nanomechanics :  Nanoindentation;  Nanotribology

Rheology and microfludics: rheology of soft materials and solutions, Microfluidic device and characterisation and its applications

Bacterial Adhesion and Biofilm Mechanics

Multiscale biomechanics in both experimental and modelling techniques,

The physics of biofilm formation

Develop methods to inhibit biofilm formation or destroy biofilms

Droplet dynamics

Finite Element Analysis:   Biomechanics; Modelling deformation in advanced materials; Modelling Interfacial crack initiation and evolution

Mechanics of Biomaterials: Tissue engineered bone; Cell-matrix interaction; Cell mechanics; Hydrogel scaffold, Soft tissues mechanics

Thin Film Mechanics:  Energy related coatings (Anode Coatings & Solar Control Coatings);  Polymeric coatings; Hard coatings; MEMS

Other major research projects I've worked on

*A multiscale Modelling Approach to Engineering Functional Coatings (EPSRC Materials Modelling Consortium *Multiscale Mechanobiology for Tissue Engineering (EPSRC Platform Grant)

 

 Opportunities

Postgraduate  research students (Ph.D, MPhil and MRes), visiting research students, summer internship or visiting scientists (or fellows) are welcome to join my group. In the past two years, I have hosted excellent summer students (sponsored by various councils) from Brazil , Germany, Jordan, France and China.


Other projects include: 

Biomechanics  and Mechanotransduction (priority area in my group)

1. Nanofabrication and bio-inspired materials

2. Multiscale modelling of soft tissue mechanics 

3. Multiscale modelling of  biofilms

4. Cell-materials interactions

5. Mechanics of Advanced Biomaterials

6. Cell Mechanics and biophysics


Previous work in Thin Film Mechanics

1. Multiscale modelling of mechanics of functional coatings

2. Predict mechanical durability and performance of battery materials

3. Cracking and delamination of coatings

 


 




Teaching

Teaching & supervising

Semester 1

Mechanical Engineering professional Skills

Materials Science (practical)

Mechanics II

Computational modelling

Nanomaterials 

Tutor of Stage 1 students 

 

 Semester 2

Design for industry

Applied Mechanics (Module leader)

Mechanical Engineering professional Skills

Engineering Mathematics with Applications

Nanomaterials  

Tutor of Stage 1 students  

Individual supervision for BEng and MSc students

Sem1 -Sem 2: Supervision of Team project for Design for Industry and MEng project 

MSc, and BEng  students in Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering, as well as excellent internship students fully sponsored by different organizations. 

I also host government (or research council, home University) sponsored visiting research fellows and research students with strong track of record. 

Publications