Community Leads: University of Bath: Nazia Mehrban, Matthew Little, University of Bristol: James Armstrong (PI), Norah-Jane Prendergast, Cardiff University: Yasir Syed, Tianqi Wang
The human brain is prone to many severe and incurable conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder, dementia, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease, which greatly affects both individuals and wider society.
Researchers can now study these pathological conditions using artificial living tissues that is grown in a laboratory. However, these tissues currently lack much of the complex structure and biology of the human brain.
Led by Dr James Armstrong, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, the Brain Tissue Engineering Community was established to pursue a goal of building complex brain tissues that can help to develop treatments for incurable brain conditions. The community brought together a team of experts from three diverse fields, neurobiology, biomaterials and bioprinting, across three GW4 institutions, Bath, Bristol and Cardiff, for a coordinated programme of practical training designed to explore a shared interest of engineering brain tissues for ‘in vitro’ disease modelling.
The new research community, who had not previously worked together, was created and upskilled in 2023, thanks to funding from the GW4 Building Communities Generator Award, which supports collaborative research and innovation communities across the four GW4 universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. The fund enables both the creation of new GW4 communities and the development of the strongest ideas emerging from our existing communities.
The funding supported the community to carry out eight in-person events which included four practical research and training sessions, and three strategic planning meetings. The community’s activities culminated in a two-day ‘Innovations in Brain Tissue Engineering’ conference, held in Bristol in October 2023, which brought together a wider network of researchers and stakeholders working in this area. As a result of the conference, the community were able to establish new connections with relevant academics within the field of brain tissue engineering.
Through collaboration across the Alliance, the community have been able to produce preliminary datasets of human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived neural cells, printed and cultured in novel biomaterials. The award also facilitated shared learning across the community, with three community PhD students leading a practical training session, at their institution, for the other two PhD students to attend and learn about bioprinting, peptide synthesis, and iPSC-derived neural cell culture.
Additionally, the researchers have subsequently been able to identify future funding opportunities which will enable them to continue to progress their work within this field.
Dr Armstrong, said: “The Generator Funding has allowed the Community to develop the interdisciplinary knowledge needed to drive our research forward. By regularly meeting in-person and dedicating time to discuss the science in depth, we are now much better able to talk each other’s language and are much more aware of the different challenges and opportunities in each other’s fields.
"From a training perspective, the students have benefitted tremendously, in particular experiencing the different laboratory environments across institutions and seeing how different academics from different fields approach scientific problems. I don’t believe this experience would have been easily achieved by an individual academic or institution.”
Our communities
The GW4 Building Communities Programme aims to build research and innovation communities of scale and capability, delivering a step change in world-class research that could not be achieved by one of the institutions alone. The Programme has two funding schemes:
- The annual Generator Fund which awards GW4 communities up to £20K for 6-month projects. The fund supports collaborative research and innovation communities across the four GW4 universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. It supports both the creation of new GW4 communities and the development of the strongest ideas emerging from our existing communities.
- The Development Awards which support new, and advance existing, collaborations across GW4 by funding single activities or resources with up to £5K. This is a rolling scheme, with no closing date.
More details of both schemes, and how to apply, can be found at the links above.
The Generator Funding has allowed the Community to develop the interdisciplinary knowledge needed to drive our research forward. By regularly meeting in-person and dedicating time to discuss the science in depth, we are now much better able to talk each other’s language and are much more aware of the different challenges and opportunities in each other’s fields."
