糖心原创

Contact

• workRoom A61 Vet School/ Room C209g Biodiscovery Institute
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• Jennifer.Ashworth@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Dr Jennifer Ashworth is an Anne McLaren research fellow at the 糖心原创, working jointly between the Vet School and the School of Medicine. She completed her PhD in medical materials at the University of Cambridge in 2015, creating collagen materials to characterise the link between extracellular matrix and cell invasion, in collaboration with Geistlich Pharma AG, Switzerland. She initially moved to Nottingham as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2016, where she has since applied her materials science background to develop advanced materials for in vitro disease models. Her work developing peptide gel technology for 3D cell culture, providing an animal-free alternative to basement membrane extract, has been recognised by a highly commended award from the International 3Rs Prize 2020.

Expertise Summary

Jenny's main research interest is developing tissue-mimetic biomaterials for application to disease modelling. Her fellowship will focus on designing tissue-realistic models of fibrotic conditions in humans and animals, by combining biomaterials science with 3D tissue imaging.

Research Summary

My research focus is the design of bespoke biomaterial models of soft tissues, to study how cells interact with their surroundings in development, normal homeostasis, and disease. To create tissue-… read more

Recent Publications

• ASHWORTH JC, THOMPSON JL, JAMES JR, SLATER CE, PIJUAN-GALITO S, LIS-SLIMAK K, HOLLEY RJ, MEADE KA, THOMPSON A, ARKILL KP, TASSIERI M, WRIGHT AJ, FARNIE G and MERRY, C. L. R., 2020. Matrix Biology. 85-86, 15-33
• PAL A, ASHWORTH JC, COLLIER P, PROBERT C, JONES S, LEZA EP, MEAKIN ML, A RITCHIE A, ONION D, CLARKE PA, ALLEGRUCCI C and GRABOWSKA AM, 2020. Cancers. 12(8),
• ASHWORTH JC, MORGAN RL, LIS-SLIMAK K, MEADE KA, JONES S, SPENCE K, SLATER CE, THOMPSON JL, GRABOWSKA AM, CLARKE RB, FARNIE, G and MERRY CLR, 2020. JOVE - Journal of Visualized Experiments.
• ASHWORTH JC, MEHR M, BUXTON PG, BEST SM and CAMERON RE, 2018. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine. 29(11), 166

• View all publications

Current Research

My research focus is the design of bespoke biomaterial models of soft tissues, to study how cells interact with their surroundings in development, normal homeostasis, and disease. To create tissue- and species-specific models, we must be able to understand and mimic the surroundings that our cells experience in the body. This has many potential applications, e.g. in finding future treatments for cancer. For example, as breast cancer progresses, cells make their surroundings stiffer, which is one of the danger factors that leads to cancer spread. Using biomaterials science, we can recreate this process in the lab, which can help us understand how to design new treatments and how these might work. My group uses 3D imaging of healthy and diseased tissues to understand what makes them different, how this changes between types of tissue and species, and how to recreate this in a 3D biomaterial to improve our understanding of health and disease.

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• ASHWORTH JC, THOMPSON JL, JAMES JR, SLATER CE, PIJUAN-GALITO S, LIS-SLIMAK K, HOLLEY RJ, MEADE KA, THOMPSON A, ARKILL KP, TASSIERI M, WRIGHT AJ, FARNIE G and MERRY, C. L. R., 2020. Matrix Biology. 85-86, 15-33
• PAL A, ASHWORTH JC, COLLIER P, PROBERT C, JONES S, LEZA EP, MEAKIN ML, A RITCHIE A, ONION D, CLARKE PA, ALLEGRUCCI C and GRABOWSKA AM, 2020. Cancers. 12(8),
• ASHWORTH JC, MORGAN RL, LIS-SLIMAK K, MEADE KA, JONES S, SPENCE K, SLATER CE, THOMPSON JL, GRABOWSKA AM, CLARKE RB, FARNIE, G and MERRY CLR, 2020. JOVE - Journal of Visualized Experiments.
• ASHWORTH JC, MEHR M, BUXTON PG, BEST SM and CAMERON RE, 2018. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine. 29(11), 166
• ASHWORTH JC, MARCO M, BUXTON PG, BEST SM and CAMERON RE, 2018. Advanced Biosystems. 2(8), 1700257
• OFFEDDU GS, ASHWORTH JC, CAMERON RE and OYEN ML, 2016. Acta Biomaterialia. 41, 193-203
• OFFEDDU GS, ASHWORTH JC, CAMERON RE and OYEN ML, 2015. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. 42, 19-25
• ASHWORTH JC, MEHR M, BUXTON PG, BEST SM and CAMERON RE, 2015. Advanced Healthcare Materials. 4(9), 1317-1321
• ASHWORTH JC, BEST SM and CAMERON RE, 2014. Materials Technology: Advanced Performance Materials. 29, 281-295