- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Loughborough University
- T:+44(0)7813 533431
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Deepak Kumar is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Loughborough University. He has a degree in biomedical materials science and engineering, a masters in cell and tissue engineering and a PhD in biomedical engineering. Deepak’s research addresses the development of novel photo-curable polymer hydrogels for the encapsulation of human mesenchymal stem cells and their differentiation towards a nucleus pulposus like cell type by mimicking the in vivo hypoxic and mechanical stimulation environments.
Deepak\’s PhD involved investigating the effects of oxygen tension and electrospun nanofibre topography on the adhesion of human embryonic stem cells whilst eliminating the use of xenogenic materials such as MatrigelTM. This technique is now a patented technology in both the USA and UK. During this project he gained experience and skills in: stem cell culture (mesenchymal and embryonic), clonogenicity and differentiation assays, hypoxic workstation culture, electrospinning, immunocytochemistry, FACs, histology, reverse transcriptase-PCR, SEM and Synchrotron-based FTIR.
Currently, his PostDoc research involves investigating the use of a novel photo-curable polymer hydrogel for the encapsulation of hMSCs and their differentiation towards a nucleus pulposus like cell type by mimicking the in vivo hypoxic and mechanical stimulation environments. The scope of the project is to provide the opportunity of an hMSC-loaded hydrogel which could be delivered to the damaged site of patients by injection and then upon exposure to UV would result in cross-linking and suitable mechanical properties. Industrial collaborators on this project include: BOSE and RUSKINN Technologies. During this project, he gained experience in confocal microscopy, mechanical testing and stimulation using BOSE Series 3200 instrument, real-time quantitative PCR, optical coherence tomography and cell viability assays (live/dead, Picogreen, MTT and Alamar blue).