Alicia El Haj

Alicia El Haj is the Interdisciplinary Professor of Cell Engineering at the Healthcare Technologies Institute at the Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Birmingham.[1] She is the President of the UK Bioengineering Society and Director of MICA Biosystems. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She was president of the European Council of the International Society for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (2010 to 2014).[2]

Alicia El Haj
Alma materManchester University
University of Aberdeen
Known forTissue engineering
Regenerative medicine
Scientific career
InstitutionsKeele University
University of Birmingham

Early life and education

El Haj earned a Masters at University of Manchester and a PhD at the University of Aberdeen.[3]

Research and career

El Haj is a leading researcher in regenerative medicine.[4] In 1989 El Haj joined the University of Birmingham as a lecturer.[3] She was a member of the Birmingham Rowing Club, and won Oarswoman of the Year in 1992.[5] In 1997 she was appointed to Keele University, to lead a joint programme in cell engineering with the University of Manchester.[3] At Keele University she set up the Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine. She rejoined the University of Birmingham in 2018 as Interdisciplinary Chair in Cell Engineering within the Healthcare Technologies Institute.

In 2004 El Haj was made Director of the Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine.[6] The Institute treated osteoarthritis sufferers by taking cartilage cells from the healthy parts of patient's knees and culturing them in vitro to grow new knee tissue.[7] At Keele University, she has been the Theme Lead for Bioengineering and Regenerative Medicine.[6] She was awarded a Royal Society research fellowship in 2013 which allowed her to expand stem cell therapy for orthopaedic applications.[8] That year she won the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award.[9]

EL Haj's team are designing therapeutics where magnetic nanoparticles are used to signal systems on a cell, injecting them into the body and using an external magnet to guide them to where they are needed.[10] She is investigating the best conditions for growing the matrix of bone.[11] In 2015 she won the Medical Research Council Suffrage Science Award.[12][13] In 2016 she became co-director of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Centre for Innovative Manufacturing Centre in Regenerative Medicine.[14] She is Chair Elect of the European Council's Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. El Haj was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2017.[15]

El Haj is the Chair of the Bioengineering Society.[16]

Selected publications
  • El Haj, Alicia; Ahearne, Mark; Yang, Ying; Y Then, Kong; Liu, Kuo-Kang (28 July 2005). "Characterizing the viscoelastic properties of thin hydrogel-based constructs for tissue engineering applications". Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 2 (5): 455–463. doi:10.1098/rsif.2005.0065. PMC 1618501. PMID 16849205.
  • El-Haj, Alicia; Rawlinson, Simon; Minter, Sarah; Tavares, Ignatius; Bennett, Alan; Lanyon, Dr. Lance (December 1991). "Loading‐related increases in prostaglandin production in cores of adult canine cancellous bone in vitro: A role for prostacyclin in adaptive bone remodeling?". Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. 6 (12): 1345–1351. doi:10.1002/jbmr.5650061212. PMID 1724342.

References
  1. "Professor Alicia El Haj – School of Chemical Engineering – University of Birmingham". www.birmingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
  2. "Royal Academy of Engineering".
  3. "EPSRC | Doctoral Training Centre". www.lboro.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  4. "Alicia El Haj – EPSRC website". epsrc.ukri.org. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  5. "Birmingham Rowing Club". Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  6. University, Keele. "Alicia Elhaj, Keele University". www.keele.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  7. "Articles – Engineering cells to grow tissue". www.ingenia.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  8. "Alicia J El Haj". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  9. University, Keele. "Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award for Prof Alicia El Haj". Keele University. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  10. Greenemeier, Larry (2015-03-17). "Launch the Nanobots!". Scientific American. 312 (4): 50–51. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0415-50. ISSN 0036-8733.
  11. "Funny bone". The Economist. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  12. University, Keele. "MRC Suffrage Science Award 2015 for Professor Alicia El Haj". Keele University. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  13. "Break for the Borders". LMS London Institute of Medical Sciences. 2017-03-08. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  14. author, EPSRC. "Grants on the web". Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  15. "New Fellows 2017". RAEng. 2018-06-09. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  16. "IPEM > About IPEM > Governance of IPEM > IPEM BES Integration". www.ipem.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
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