Queen Square Future of Neurosurgery Lecture Series #3

Queen Square Future of Neurosurgery Lecture Series #3

Join us for the third installment of the Queen Square Future of Neurosurgery Lecture Series! This exciting event will take place in person at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery - Wolfson Lecture Theatre, located in the heart of Queen Square, London, UK.

Presentation: Tissue Engineering for Neural Cell Therapies

Neural injuries typically carry a poor prognosis with poor functional outcomes. Current therapies focus on limiting the initial damage, but no regenerative treatments are available. Advances in stem/precursor cell transplantation have shown promising outcomes but have key limitations that must be overcome to develop efficacious treatments. This talk will focus on the use of biomaterial-based approaches (including neurosurgical grade materials) to improve neural cell transplantation therapies, focusing on nanoparticle based genetic engineering and polymer hydrogels for encapsulated cell delivery. The talk will also discuss the development of reductionist, in vitro models of neurotrauma (including use of patient derived tissue) to Reduce, Replace and Refine animal experimentation.

Presented by Professor Divya Maitreyi Chari

About Professor Divya Maitreyi Chari

Divya Maitreyi Chari is Professor of Neural Tissue Engineering at the Keele University School of Medicine. She has a DPhil in Developmental Neurobiology from Oxford University, followed by postdoctoral training at the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair & Veterinary Medicine, latterly funded by a UK Multiple Sclerosis Society Junior Fellowship. She established the new Neural Tissue Engineering at Keele group and her laboratory develops novel tissue engineering approaches for neural regeneration, such as nanoparticle platforms for genetic engineering and imaging and biomaterials/functionalised nanomaterials for cell therapy. The group has a track record of developing reductionist, 3D neural injury models to Reduce, Replace and Refine live animal experimentation. Her work has been funded by the British Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (including a New Investigator award), Medical Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (including a Healthcare Technologies award for cross-disciplinary training at Cambridge), the US Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society. The group’s work has been published in several leading journals including ACS Nano, Biomaterials, Journal of Controlled Release, Journal of Tissue Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Nano Research, Advanced Healthcare Materials and Nanoscale. Divya serves on the Grants Advisory Panel for Spinal Research, the UK’s leading spinal research charity, and the UK Medical Research Council’s translational arm- the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme panel. She was recently appointed Dean of Internationalisation and Partnerships for the Keele Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, UK, United Kingdom