Dr David Alexander Gregory is currently Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
CTO for our spin off initiative PHAsT
Dr David Alexander Gregory previously worked as a Senior-PDRA to Prof Ipsita Roy at the University of Sheffield in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering.
Research
My research is concerned with applied inkjet printing, which contributes to areas as diverse as tissue engineering, printed electronic devices and 3D scaffold printing of e.g. swimming devices for biomedical applications. Inkjet printing is an additive manufacturing technique. I am an enthusiastic researcher, who enjoys research and supervising / mentoring. I particularly aspire to create new projects that combine several different discipline areas.
It is my future vision to develop new versatile biomaterials and the technologies needed to produce these in order to develop better 3D scaffold systems for use in biomedical applications e.g. regenerative tissue engineering as well as biosensing for disease and toxin monitoring. These address key healthcare challenges as well as environmental monitoring, challenges our society urgently needs to address. Another aspect in line with this is that I am very interested to investigate effects of electronic signals and stimulations of cells.
Recent Research News:
To date I have published 27 research publications comprising 22 journal papers, 3 book chapters and 2 refereed conference papers, resulting in over 1000 citations and a h-index of 13.
Journal Guest Editor
- Special Issue, Title: “Biomaterials from Nature”, Journal of Functional Biomaterials, IF 4.9.
- Special Issue, Title: “3D Printing Polymer: Processing and Fabrication”, Polymers, IF 4.96.
Journal Reviewer
- Advanced Materials, Advanced Materials Interfaces, Langmuir; Int. J. Nanotech. & Nanomed. Res.; ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering; MDPI;
Recent publications:
I am very excited to announce the publication of our paper of Reactive Inkjet Printing (RIJ) of MOFs. Do check out our work, where we successfully printed gradients.
Reactive Inkjet printing of Metal Organic Frameworks for sensing applications, Advanced Materials Interfaces, pp. 2300027,2023 (DOI)
Another recent publication which I would like to share is our paper on FDM of PHAs for biomedical devices. In this paper we investigate a vast array of biomedical applications and generate proof of concept data for these. We also look into the slicing of models and how this affects printing for biomedical devices due to the nature of the currently available slicing software and suggest work around way to produce best structures.
“Additive Manufacturing of Polyhydroxyalkanoate-based blends using Fused Deposition Modelling for the development of biomedical devices”, Journal of Funct. Biomaterials, 14 (1), 40, 2023 (DOI), (Awarded Editor’s Choice)
Check out our recent publication on Bacterial Cellulose: discussing its vast applications! 2021
Download and read here! DOI
Sustainable production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) via bacterial fermentation
Qualifications
- In October 2016 David was awarded his PhD at the University of Sheffield on “Catalytic Micromotors”
- MSc in Bionanotechnology in July 2011 a degree ran jointly between the University of Sheffield and Leeds University
- In July 2010 BSc (Dual Honours) in Biochemistry and Music at Keele University
- In July 2007 BSc (Honours) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology at Lancaster University
Professional and External Standing
Grant awards
| Date | Sponsor | Project | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2023 | IAA (UKRI) | Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates for Biomedical applications: Biocompatible, resorbable and sustainable Biomaterials (PoC: Downstream Optimisation and Upstream Scale-up) | £48.000 |
| March 2023 | EPSRC | Mussel Inspired Chemistry and Bacteria-synthesized Polymers for a Smart Adhesive Drug Eluting Oral Mucosal Patch (EP/X026108/1) | £550.000 |
| March 2023 | SURF | Reactive Inkjet Printed Silk Stirrers for Rapid Medical Diagnosis | 2x £1850 |
| Jan 2023 | Diamond Light Source (Oxford) | X-ray tomography for 3D bioprinting (MG33034) | Coherence (6 shifts) estimated value 50 k |
| Sep 2022 | Diamond Light Source (Oxford) | Ptycho-tomography for composite 3D printing for Tissue Engineering (MG31646) | Coherence (12 shifts) estimated value 100k |
| July 2022 | BBSRC | BBSRC Lean Launch Programme (£2500 plus £1200 for profession consultancy) | £3700 |
| April 2019 | SURE | Investigating the collective motion of catalytically active micromotors in 3D printed flow cell designs. | £2750 |
| May 2019 | SURF | Silk/PEG biogels for reactive inkjet printing and 3D tissue enigneering – for the production of rockets | £1850 |
| May 2019 | SURF | Silk/PEG biogels for reactive inkjet printing and 3D tissue enigneering – for the production of cell culture scaffolds | £1850 |
National and International Conference events organised
| DATE | SPONSOR | My role | Event | FUNDING |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2022 | Applikon (Gentinge) Keyence Geneflow Cellink (Bico) SLS Merk | Event Initiator and Organiser | BioSheffield 2022 (Conference) | £2395 |
| March 2023 | Merck Gentinge | Event Organiser | BioMAT Sheffield 2023 (Micro-symposium) | £500 |
- BioMedEng, Member of Association of Biomedical Engineers, Medical Engineers and Bioengineers
- TERMIS, Member of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society
- MInstP, Member of the Institute of Physics
- MMRS, Member of the Materials Research Society
- PSI, Member of Passiflora Society International
- SDOS, Board mameber Sheffield and District Orchid Society
- OSGB, Member of The Orchid Society of Great Britain
Awards
- 2023 Award via “the Deal”, for going above and beyond to provide both project specific guidance and general student personal development. (UoS)
- 2022 Award via “the Deal”, for stepping in at short notice when a colleague left at short notice in the New Year. “Your flexibility, professionalism, and collegiality are very much appreciated” (£200)
- 2021 Award for outstanding postdoc via the Deal (£50) (UoS).
- 2016 Best poster E-MRS (Symposium: Adv. Materials for Printing) May 2016, Lille (France)
- 2014 PixeLink SDK camera software sponsored by PixeLink®
- 2013 PGR conference Sheffield University First Prize for best Poster
- 2012 Three year PhD EPSRC Stipend at Sheffield University (2012-2015)
- 2011 One year MSc Studentship at Sheffield University (2010-2011)
Outstanding postdoc nominations 2021
I would like to thank everybody who nominated me as an outstanding Postdoc in 2021 you can see all the nominations here!
Previous Summer Project Research Group (2019)
Within the Zhao lab I ran a small summer project research group with three dedicated undergraduate students that worked on three projects for me with great results!
Summer Project Students
- Ajay Chandel [SURE project]
- Ella Cliff [SURF project]
- Mobarakshah Assadi [SURF project]
Teaching Certificates and Experience
Certificates
- Fellow Higher Education Academy (FHEA) (2019)
- Associate SuperVisionaries: successful completion of a formally assessed doctoral supervisor development framework (24h total) combining experiential practice, peer-observation, classroom learning, and self-directed reflective study (2019).
Experience and Expertise
- Module Lead, Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE), CPE260, Experimental Investigation 2023
- Module co-lead, CBE Particle Design and Processing, CPE441
- Delivering Lectures for BIE103 Introduction to Bioengineering
- Delivering Lectures and writing exam questions for MAT6304
- Tutorials for BSc and MSc Project-, PhD students and Postdocs.
- PhD Student Mentoring Program
- Teaching first year undergraduate Students in practical labs.
- Supervision and teaching of several master and undergraduate project students
- Supervision of over 18 PhD students in the Lab as well as support with writing and project planning / experimental design and troubleshooting
Industrial Work Experience
- 01.12.11 – 31.03.2012 – Abbott Products GmbH, Hans Böckler Allee 20, Hanover, D-30173, Germany: 4 months working in the Department of Enzyme Research: Development of an amylase assay for enzyme determination in various matrices.
- 20.07.10 – 17.09.2010 – Abbott Products GmbH, Hans Böckler Allee 20, Hanover, D-30173, Germany: 2 months working in the Department of Enzyme Research.
- 22.06.09 – 21.08.2009 – Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Hans Böckler Allee 20, Hanover, D-30173, Germany: 2 months working in the Department of Enzyme Research.
- 16.06.08 – 15.08.2008 – Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Hans Böckler Allee 20, Hanover, D-30173, Germany: 2 months in Dept. Med. Chem., synthesis and purification of various compounds.
- 15.07.06 – 29.09.2006 – Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Hans Böckler Allee 20, Hanover, D-30173, Germany: 2 months in Dept. Drug Formulation Development: A Project to Investigate the water content and sorption properties of Pancreatin.
Hobbies
Piano/organ, composition, photography, astronomy, electronics, 3D cad design and prototyping, breeding and cultivating orchids, passionflowers and water lilies, mineralogy, Chinese and Japanese languages.