IBME Doctoral Student wins Best Presentation Award at 2024 World Biomaterials Congress

Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) doctoral student, Rhodes Scholar and US Army Officer, Veronica Lucian, was awarded the Best Presentation Award for her outstanding research presentation titled, “Ultrasound-Enhanced Cavitation using Sub-Micron Stabilising Nuclei for Tissue Engineering Applications”. Her presentation was one of over 2600 poster presentations delivered at the 2024 Word Biomaterials Congress, held in Daegu, Republic of Korea and organised by the Society for Biomaterials. The Society of Biomaterials is a multidisciplinary society dedicated to promoting advancements in all aspects of biomaterial science, including research, teaching, and training of junior researchers.

Veronica’s work is well aligned with the mission of the Society of Biomaterials to enhance human health and quality of life. Specifically, her research seeks to deliver improvements to the function of tissue scaffolds used in medical applications, such as skin grafts. Recent experiments used ultrasound delivered to protein cavitation nuclei with aims to sustain cell viability, optimise nutrient migration and improve vascularisation, which are important aspects in improving the success of skin grafts following surgery.

Veronica’s research is co-supervised by Professor Malavika Nair, Associate Professor of Biomaterials and Professor Constantin Coussios OBE FREng FMedSci, Director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Veronica joined the IBME in 2022 as a doctoral student and Rhodes Scholar, following her graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science in Life Science (major) and Nuclear Science (minor).

She says, “The conference was attended by over 4200 delegates from 62 countries and regions, and seeing my name up on the screen as an award winner was a surreal moment, especially when it only takes place once in every four years. I am very grateful to my supervisors for guiding my research in this impactful direction and for supporting me to attend this exceptional conference”.