Meet Research Assistant Dr Afsaneh Khansari.
What is your role?
I am a Research Assistant, working as both a Synthetic Chemist and Quality Control Technician.
As a Synthetic Chemist, I work to develop methods to produce for new biomaterials and bioinks suitable for 3D bioprinting. As a Quality Control Technician, on the other hand, I have two roles. I perform a wide range of analysis and characterisation on biomaterials using different equipment to ensure their quality and am also responsible for writing and maintaining procedures for ISO 13485 quality management systems.
What is your area of expertise and what kind of experience do you have in this area?
My area of expertise is working on the synthesis of organic and inorganic compounds as well as their characterisation. I also have experience working with different analytical equipment.
I have been working for three years now in synthesis and characterisation of biomaterials.
What are some of the projects and collaborations you are currently working on?
We have been working on a number of industrial and clinical projects, including the Axcelda project to develop a universal bioink using natural biomaterials for cartilage repair. We have also collaborated with Venus Shell Systems to modify polysaccharides and we are investigating their use for wound healing applications.
Most recently, we have started a collaboration with Professor Fiona Wood and researchers from Curtin University to develop a bioink for intraoperative skin regeneration.
What is the future outlook of these projects?
The objectives of the projects are to formulate new bioinks for tissue engineering as well as scale up the bioinks from laboratory scale to large scale. The bioinks should meet requirements for bioprinting and have biocompability with different living tissues. We are closely working with our collaborators to achieve the desired structures and properties for the targeted applications.
How is this work being translated into real applications?
The demand for organ replacement and tissue engineering is increasing. Therefore, the demand for the development of different bioinks, and consequently their application for 3D bioprinting, will continue to grow.