Rebecca Shipley

Last updated

Rebecca Shipley

OBE FIET
Born
Buckinghamshire, England
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Alma mater University of Oxford
OccupationProfessor of Healthcare Engineering
Employer University College London

Rebecca Julia Shipley OBE FIET is a British mathematician and professor of healthcare engineering at University College London (UCL). She is director of the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering, co-director of the UCL Centre for Nerve Engineering and Vice Dean (Health) for the UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences. [1] [2] [3] She is also co-director of the UCL CHIMERA Research Hub with Prof Christina Pagel and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Contents

Early life and education

Shipley grew up in Buckinghamshire, where she attended Dr Challoner's High School for Girls. She graduated with an MMath in Mathematics from St Hugh's College, University of Oxford and was awarded a doctorate from the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford in 2008 for her thesis "Multiscale Modelling of Fluid and Drug Transport in Vascular Tumours". [3]

Research career

Her first postdoctoral position was a prestigious Research Fellowship at Christ Church, Oxford to develop mathematical and computational models that describe biomechanical and biochemical stimulation of tissues. She also held two concurrent Visiting Research Fellowships at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Bath, and Tissue Repair and Engineering Centre, UCL during that time. [3]

In 2012, Shipley moved from mathematics into bioengineering, taking up a Lectureship in UCL Mechanical Engineering. Her research is predominantly divided into two themes: tumour blood flow and nervous system tissue engineering.

Within the field of tumour blood flow and therapy prediction, she is developing new bioengineering platforms which combine computational modelling with in vivo and ex vivo imaging data to better understand and interrogate cancer therapies. [4] Her work advancing cancer therapies has been recognised in the national press. [5]

Within nervous system tissue engineering, she has developed an interdisciplinary programme spanning bioengineering, computational modelling and tissue engineering to characterise the response of repairing nerves to chemical and mechanical stimuli, and integrate these data to design and test repair constructs. This is complemented by her work using computational modelling to understand the role of biochemical and biophysical stimuli, and define operating parameters, in tissue engineering development.

In 2017 she co-founded the UCL Centre for Nerve Engineering, the first Centre in the UK to bring together engineering and physical sciences with the life and clinical sciences to tackle translational nerve engineering problem. [6]

In March 2020, Shipley was one of the main leads of the UCL / UCL Hospitals / Mercedes F1 effort to develop, manufacture and distribute the Ventura non-invasive breathing mask to provide crucial machines to help patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. [7] [8] [9] [10] The design was made open source and to date over 1,800 teams from 105 countries have taken licences and 20 have manufactured their own prototypes to test. [9]

Honours, awards and recognition

Shipley was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to the development of the Continuous Positive Airways Pressure Device during the pandemic. [16]

Public outreach and engagement

Shipley is active in bringing mathematics and engineering to the wider public. Her outreach activities include:

Related Research Articles

Systems biology Computational and mathematical modeling of complex biological systems

Systems biology is the computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological systems, using a holistic approach to biological research.

Peter Coveney

Coveney is a Professor of Physical Chemistry, Honorary Professor of Computer Science, and the Director of the Centre for Computational Science (CCS) at University College London (UCL). He is also a Professor of Applied High Performance Computing at University of Amsterdam (UvA), Professor Adjunct in the Medical School at Yale University and Member of Academia Europaea.

Neural engineering is a discipline within biomedical engineering that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, or enhance neural systems. Neural engineers are uniquely qualified to solve design problems at the interface of living neural tissue and non-living constructs.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universities in the United Kingdom. EPSRC research areas include mathematics, physics, chemistry, artificial intelligence and computer science, but exclude particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astronomy. Since 2018 it has been part of UK Research and Innovation, which is funded through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Biological engineering Application of biology and engineering to create useful products

Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number of pure and applied sciences, such as mass and heat transfer, kinetics, biocatalysts, biomechanics, bioinformatics, separation and purification processes, bioreactor design, surface science, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and polymer science. It is used in the design of medical devices, diagnostic equipment, biocompatible materials, renewable energy, ecological engineering, agricultural engineering, process engineering and catalysis, and other areas that improve the living standards of societies.

Peter W. Zandstra, is a Canadian scientist who is the I’Anson Professor of Tissue Engineering and a Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Bioengineering at the University of Toronto Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

Dr Nick Rhodes, Ph.D., is a Reader in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Liverpool, in the U.K. Tissue Engineering can be described as the use of engineering techniques, including engineering materials and processes, in order to grow living tissues. Regenerative Medicine can be described as the treatment of defective tissues using the regenerative capacity of the body's healthy tissues. Combined, Dr Nick Rhodes describes the discipline as "aiming to repair tissue defects by driving regeneration of healthy tissues using engineered materials and processes."

The UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences is one of the 11 constituent faculties of University College London (UCL). The Faculty, the UCL Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the UCL Faculty of the Built Envirornment together form the UCL School of the Built Environment, Engineering and Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

The UCL Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences is one of the 11 constituent faculties of University College London (UCL). The Faculty, the UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences and the UCL Faculty of the Built Envirornment together form the UCL School of the Built Environment, Engineering and Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Trey Ideker is a professor of medicine and bioengineering at UC San Diego. He is the Director of the National Resource for Network Biology, the San Diego Center for Systems Biology, and the Cancer Cell Map Initiative. He uses genome-scale measurements to construct network models of cellular processes and disease.

Philip Maini Northern Irish mathematician (born 1959)

Philip Kumar Maini is a Northern Irish mathematician. Since 1998, he has been the Professor of Mathematical Biology at the University of Oxford and is the head of the Centre for Mathematical Biology in the Mathematical Institute.

Linda Ann Macaulay is the Emeritus Professor of System Design at the University of Manchester, specialising in Human–computer interaction, Requirements engineering and Service science, management and engineering.

Alicia El Haj is a Professor and the Interdisciplinary Chair of Cell Engineering at the School of Chemical Engineering and the Healthcare Technologies Institute at the Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Birmingham. 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.

Eleanor Phoebe Jane Stride is a Professor of Biomaterials at St Catherine's College, Oxford. Stride engineers drug delivery systems using carefully designed microbubbles and studies how they can be used in diagnostics.

Sofia Olhede British-Swedish mathematical statistician

Sofia Charlotta Olhede is a British-Swedish mathematical statistician known for her research on wavelets, graphons, and high-dimensional statistics and for her columns on algorithmic bias. She is a professor of statistical science at the EPFL.

Nora Henriette de Leeuw is the inaugural executive dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at University of Leeds. Her research field is computational chemistry and investigates biomaterials, sustainable energy, and carbon capture and storage.

Julia A. Schnabel is the Chair of Computational Imaging at the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences at King's College London.

Sadie Creese is a British cybersecurity specialist. She is Professor of Cybersecurity in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, Director of the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre at the Oxford Martin School, co-director of the university's Cyber Security Centre and of the Martin School's Institute for the Future of Computing, and a fellow of Worcester College, Oxford.

Alona Ben-Tal is an Israeli and New Zealand applied mathematician who works as an associate professor and deputy head of school in the School of Natural and Computational Sciences at Massey University. Her research concerns dynamical systems and the mathematical modeling of human and bird breathing and of electrical power systems.

Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh is an Iranian academic who is an associate professor at University College London. She was made a Senior Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2022.

References

  1. ↑ UCL (27 September 2018). "People". UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  2. ↑ "Nerve Engineering / People / Rebecca Shipley". 9 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 1 2 3 "Mechanical Engineering / People / Rebecca Shipley". 9 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ↑ d'Esposito A, Sweeney PW, Ali M, Saleh M, Ramasawmy R, Roberts TA, et al. (October 2018). "Computational fluid dynamics with imaging of cleared tissue and of in vivo perfusion predicts drug uptake and treatment responses in tumours" (PDF). Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2 (10): 773–787. doi:10.1038/s41551-018-0306-y. PMID   31015649. S2CID   80663002.
  5. ↑ "Scientists take big step towards personalised cancer treatment". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Launch of the UCL Centre of Nerve Engineering".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ↑ "Royal Academy of Engineers talk".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ↑ "How Mercedes F1 and academics fast-tracked life saving breathing aid". The Engineer. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  9. 1 2 Dempsey, Paul (25 May 2020). "Teardown: UCL-Ventura CPAP breathing aid". eandt.theiet.org. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  10. ↑ Walsh, Fergus (30 March 2020). "F1 team helps to create coronavirus breathing aid". BBC News. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  11. ↑ "The Tissue and Cell Engineering Society has awarded its Early Stage Investigator prize to Rebecca Shipley, of OCIAM". Mathematical Institute. University of Oxford. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  12. ↑ "Winners of Rosetrees Trust Interdisciplinary Prize!". Walker Samuel Group. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  13. ↑ "Rebecca Shiplsy". Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  14. ↑ "Editors". Scientific Reports. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  15. ↑ "Editors". Journal of Engineering Mathematics. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  16. ↑ "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B14.
  17. ↑ Louise. "Hundreds of engineers set to inspire young people in UK-wide 'Big Assembly'". FE News. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  18. ↑ Pozniak, Helena (29 November 2019). "Why now is a fantastic time to work in STEM". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  19. ↑ "Explore virtual tumours with UCL at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition - Drug Discovery Today". www.drugdiscoverytoday.com. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  20. ↑ "Tomorrow's Tech: Biomedical Breakthroughs". www.thenakedscientists.com. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  21. ↑ "Gels to help nerves re-grow". www.thenakedscientists.com. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.