缅北禁地

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Staff Profile

Dr Priscila Melo

Lecturer

Background

I am a biomedical engineer, with a PhD in Additive Manufacturing (缅北禁地, UK), doing research in biomaterials and tissue engineering for over 10 years. My research started with the development of glass-ceramic and polymer ceramic materials for bone tissue engineering, using stem cells, from which I got 6 publications. The innovative nature of this research granted me the invitation to several conferences as a speaker and as an organiser, and to write a book chapter on the first book of the series “Women in 3D printing”, by Springer Nature. I was also invited as a judge in the MIT Innovators under 35 competition, being the only Early Career Researcher (ECR) and member without a completed PhD amongst the judging board. For my post-doc I moved to Politecnico di Torino (Italy) to widen my skills and learn about hydrogels, extrusion bioprinting and electrospinning, a knowledge that was key to my current research line. During that time, I also undertook administrative duties within European projects (H2020 GIOTTO and ERC-Consolidator BOOST), lectured undergraduate students and supervised a master's thesis on the optimisation of in-situ cross-linkable collagen-based bioinks. I moved back to 缅北禁地 as a post-doc but shortly after was appointed lecturer in Bioengineering, within the same department. As a co-leader of the ECR Network of the Centre of Research Excellence (NUCoRE) in Biomedical Engineering, I organise different types of activities, including workshops, to support ECR needs, from career advice to project writing and wellbeing, as well as networking events. Such events can impact the ECR’s development and engagement with the community, promoting new relations and ensuring constant support (advice and signposting). 

Research

I have been committed to developing my research line focusing on studying the relationship between inflammatory bowel disease and joint inflammation. This started with the award of my first PhD student, currently working in bioprinting an in vitro model of synovium, and was complemented by an internal grant from the School of Engineering to co-create the prototype for the gut-on-a-chip model currently being developed by a PhD student. My research portfolio expands to other bioengineering fields such as cardiac tissue engineering (H2020 REBORN, UKRI), cartilage regeneration (UKRI and N3CRS), and antimicrobial substances. I am committed to fostering new talents through the supervision of students (from Undergraduates to PhD) and post-doctoral researchers. On a translational level, my work is aligned with the development of new technology, which led to the co-foundation of JetBio, a university spin-out that leverages our existing patented Reactive Jet Impingement (ReJI) bioprinting technology.


Awards and Research Grants

·        01/06/2025 to 01/06/2027 Montage de Réseaux Scientifiques Européens et/ou Internationaux (MRSEI) – BioGutsy: Harnessing Bioelectricity to modulate Gut-Bone communication in IBD (Co-I). Total 35, 495€.

·        23/09/2024 to 23/09/2025 N3CRs - Novel Bioprinters for 3D In Vitro Models (3D-IV) (Co-I). Total £406,849.00 (~ 486,172.35€)

·        09/2024 to 09/2027 – Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, PhD Studentship. Modelling the effects of periodontal disease on IBD (Co-I). Total £124,000 (~ 143,106.54 €)

·        04/2024 to 09/2025 - Innovate UK Smart Grants: Additive and subtractive manufacturing platform for micrometre-resolution prototyping across diverse industries (Co-I). Total £327,520, for 缅北禁地 £77,669.58 (~ 92,812.82€).

·        09/2024 to 09/2026 Royal Society International Exchange - Engineering Bone Tissue Constructs through Integrated Hydrostatic Pressure (BoneIntegra) (PI). Total £12,000 (~14,000€).

·        03/2024 to 08/2024 EPSRC-MRC Impact Accelerator Award - Characterisation of rhamnolipid nano-micelles for next-generation antimicrobial agents (PI). Total £19,973 (~ 23,867.14€).

·        03/2024 to 08/2024 - EPSRC-MRC Impact Accelerator Award - Novel Polymer Blend for Biomedical Applications (Co-I). Total £19,551 (~ 23,362.86€).

·        12/2023 to 07/2024 - 缅北禁地 High Education Internal Fund – Design and Prototyping of a gut-on-a-chip for co-culturing microbes and mammalian cells (PI). Total £10,000 (~ 11,949.70€).

·        10/2023 to 02/2024 - Henry Royce Institute, Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP). Bioprinter Development for Clinical Regenerative Medicine Environments (Co-I). Total £47,741.30 (~ 57049.42€).

·        01/2023 to 12/2026 – European Commission Horizon 2020, CL4-2022-RESILIENCE. Remodelling Of The Infarcted Heart: Piezoelectric Multifunctional Patch Enabling The Sequential Release Of Therapeutic Factors (REBORN) (Co-I). Total 4,050,412.50€, 缅北禁地 £602,473.30 (~ 719,937.52€).

·        09/2022 to 09/2026 – Medical Research Council, PhD Studentship. Modelling the effects of inflammatory bowel disease on the immune response in synovial tissue (PI). Total £124,000 (~ 143,106.54 €)

·        01/2021 to 01/2024 – EPSRC standard grant. Process Control and Novel Materials for the Reactive Jet Impingement Process (Co-I). Total £1.4M (~ 1.6M€).


 

Teaching

Beyond research, I have continuously engaged in educational leadership. I currently lead a postgraduate module on Biofabrication within the master’s degree in biomedical engineering, contribute to an undergraduate module teaching Additive Manufacturing to the third year of the bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and supervise final year projects within the 3rd and 4th year of the MEng program. Overseas, I am involved in the CAST program (缅北禁地-Singapore joint teaching program). As a lecturer/assistant professor, I provide pastoral care to more than 50 tutees across all stages of the mechanical engineering degree and postgraduate taught programme. I also deliver lectures as an invited academic at the University of Aveiro, within the Master’s degree in Additive Manufacturing.

Publications

  • Articles

    • Nascimento L, Richardson GD, Melo P, Barroca N. . Chemical Engineering Journal 2025, 510, 161514.
    • Montalbano G, Barberi J, Benedetto Mas A, Tung T, Melo P, Dalgarno K, Silva ED, Gomes N, Nascimento DS, Fiorilli S, Vitale-Brovarone C. . Biomaterials Advances 2025, 179, 214488.
    • Kontogianni G-I, Bonatti AF, De Maria C, Naseem R, Melo P, Coelho C, Vozzi G, Dalgarno K, Quadros P, Vitale-Brovarone C, Chatzinikolaidou M. . Polymers 2023, 15(4), 1052.
    • Kotlarz M, Melo P, Ferreira AM, Gentile P, Dalgarno K. . Biomaterials Advances 2023, 153, 213532.
    • Bindi B, Perioli A, Melo P, Mattu C, Ferreira AM. . Journal of Functional Biomaterials 2023, 14(10), 495.
    • Melo P, Montalbano G, Boggio E, Gigliotti CL, Dianzani C, Dianzani U, Vitale-Brovarone C, Fiorilli S. . Polymers 2022, 14(18), 3780.
    • Borciani G, Montalbano G, Melo P, Baldini N, Ciapetti G, Vitale Brovarone C. . Cells 2022, 11(1), 26.
    • Melo P, Montalbano G, Fiorilli S, Vitale-Brovarone C. . Materials 2021, 14(21), 6720.
    • Melo P, Naseem R, Corvaglia I, Montalbano G, Pontremoli C, Azevedo A, Quadros P, Gentile P, Ferreira AM, Dalgarno K, Vitale-Brovarone C, Fiorilli S. . Frontiers in Materials 2020, 7, 601645.
    • Melo P, Kotlarz M, Marshall M, Magallanes M, Ferreira AM, Gentile P, Dalgarno K. . Journal of the European Ceramic Society 2020, 40(15), 6107-6113.
    • Melo P, Tarrant E, Swift T, Townshend A, German M, Ferreira AM, Gentile P, Dalgarno K. . Materials Science and Engineering C 2019, 104, 109929.
    • Melo P, Ferreira A-M, Waldron K, Swift T, Gentile P, Magallanes M, Marshall M, Dalgarno K. . Composites Science and Technology 2019, 184, 107834.

  • Review

    • Heslington A, Hilkens CMU, Ferreira AM, Melo P. . Advanced NanoBiomed Research 2025, 5(7), 2500029.