Professor of Bioengineering
Academic Division: Mechanics, Materials and Design
Research group: Biomechanics
Telephone: +44 1223 7 48559
Email: yysh2@cam.ac.uk
Research interests
Research themes include (i) sustainably augmented living matters; (ii) organ-on-a-chip and tissue engineering; (iii) intertwining 3D printing and AI for affordable and ethical healthcare and clinical informatics.
We combine nanotechnology and new material fabrication techniques to construct the defined biochemical and physical inputs of an extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffold, and to recapitulate the key attributes of a cell or tissue 'niche'. These eco-friendly, biomimetic techniques also hold significant potentials for producing customized, affordable wearables and sensors meeting the pressing demands for circular economies. Our research is highly multi-disciplinary in nature, crossing fields of engineering, biology, chemistry, polymer physics and computer science. We aim to apply our scientific findings into exploring a new generation of tissue engineering constructs for personalized therapy, at affordable costs; and to provide new sustainable solutions for disease monitoring, animal-free drug testing, and better patient healthcare.
Group website:
For more information about my group, please visit: https://biointerface.eng.cam.ac.uk/
Strategic themes
Manufacturing, design and materials
- Multiscale biofabrication
- 3D printing; Organ manufacturing
- Electrospinning and fibre technology; functional fibres and smart textiles
Bioengineering
- Tissue engineering scaffold
- Organ-on-chips: microvessels, and lung
- Neural stem cell interface
Complex, resilient and intelligent systems
- Bio-robotics and soft robotics
- Clinical informatics via AI, 3D printing & sensor integration
Research projects
Information on research activity and latest opportunities in the group, please visit: https://biointerface.eng.cam.ac.uk/
Other positions
- Associate Editor, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces,
- Associate Editor, Microsystems & Nanoengineering (Springer Nature Publishing)
- Associate Editor, Bio-Design and Manufacturing (Springer)
- Editorial Board, Bioactive Materials (KeAi)
Biography
I completed my MEng degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Imperial College London in 2007 (1st Class; top of the class for four years). With a Cambridge Gates Scholarship, I then pursued a PhD in Physics at Cambridge, focusing on carbon nanotechnology and experimental soft & biological matters. I was a visiting researcher at University of Texas at Austin (2008). After graduating from my PhD in 2011, I was awarded an Oppenheimer Fellowship and a Homerton College Junior Research Fellowship. Since Aug 2013, I have been a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Bioengineering at Cambridge. I am a recipient of the prestigious ERC Starting grant, and an elected fellow of the Institute of Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. As Oct 2022, I am Professor of Bioengineering at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge.
Please see my interview with ''The Meaning of Success: Insights from Women at Cambridge' in 2013, and at the BioMedEng Innovation Award in 2024.