Living Systems Institute (LSI), University of Exeter

I had a great time attending the Living Systems Institute (LSI), University of Exeter Research Day 2026. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn about the diverse and innovative research taking place across the institute, connect with colleagues from different disciplines, and engage in inspiring scientific discussions. The day featured research presentations, poster sessions, networking opportunities, and community activities that highlighted the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the LSI research community. Events like this remind me of the value of bringing together researchers from different backgrounds to share ideas, build connections, and foster new collaborations. Thank you to everyone involved in organizing such a successful and engaging event. Cc: Ramy Ragheb , Karina Scholpp , Gemma Sutton ,Nikolas Nikolaou. #UniversityOfExeter #LivingSystemsInstitute #ResearchDay #ResearchCommunity #InterdisciplinaryResearch #AcademicResearch #PhDLife

Had a great day last Friday at the University of Exeter Living Systems Institute (LSI), University of Exeter Celebration of CryoEM. Big thanks to Vicki Gold and Bertram Daum for setting up the day and excellent program. It was a wonderful talk from Thom Sharp (exiting to see your plans for Bristol's Hydra!), and a hugely diverse set of talks from structural biology of ribosomes, through archaea, to sexual conflict in nematode worms! I was excited to be able to share some of the latest results from Talos 12 with Falcon C direct electron detector 👀👀 Congratulations to Gayatri Mundhe for winning the microscope building block draw (and for your excellent talk!)! And as a bonus, got to swing via my parents for proper Devon fish and chips on the way home

Great to be part of the Living Systems Institute (LSI), University of Exeter delegation visiting the School of Biomedical Engineering at UBC last week to strengthen and expand our collaborations, together with our amazing colleagues Benjamin Housden, Joanna Bird, Koji Masuda, and Fabrice Gielen! Amazing to see the tremendous development of Biomed Eng at UBC over the past eight years, with outstanding new facilities, research programmes, and talent. It was a pleasure to present at the SBME seminar series and discuss opportunities across orthopaedics, mechanobiology, biomechanics, biomaterials, biosensing, and medical imaging with Profs. Rizhi Wang, Antony Hodgson, Babak Shadgan, Calvin Kuo, and Zhenwei Ma. This visit was also personally significant, as Prof. Rizhi Wang hosted my first visiting fellowship there back in 2018, shortly after I joined Exeter. It was the first seed-funding opportunity that helped shape the direction of my academic career. That visit also led to deep and ongoing collaborations, especially with Tengteng Tang, a former PhD student at UBC who is now a professor at the University of Virginia-Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. We have been awarded an NSERC Alliance grant in 2022 and published in Acta Biomaterialia last year on rodent femoral development. This year, we have a newly awarded Back-to-Back Research Grant on vertebral endplates in spine degeneration. I was delighted to revisit the Centre for Ageing SMART at Vancouver General Hospital and to reconnect with colleagues across the UBC ecosystem. It is exciting to see how these longstanding connections are evolving into the next phase of collaborative research. A sincere thank you to the SBME leadership, staff, and students for their exceptional hospitality. I was particularly impressed by the professionalism of the management team (Melody Salehzadeh, Ph.D. you are amazing!) in coordinating multiple major events simultaneously, as well as by the enthusiasm, engagement, and talent of the students. I look forward to returning to The University of British Columbia later next year as part of my upcoming fellowship programme and continuing to build these valuable partnerships. #UniversityUniversityUniversityUniversity of Exeter Engineering #UniversityUniversityUniversityUniversity of Exeter #BiomedicalEngineering #HealthierFuturethroughInnovationandCollaboration

What a fantastic Symposium at School of Biomedical Engineering at UBC - excellent keynote speakers, impressive student talks, interesting panel discussions followed by a busy and engaging Poster Session. Thoroughly enjoyed it and making new connections - managed to meet Peter Zandstra while I getting cheese! And for those who know me this is very on brand for Joanna Bird! #sbmesymposium2026 #lsiexeter #internationalcollaborations #researchpostersessions #cheeseislife