Focus
Brillouin imaging, Advanced microscopy, Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials, 3D Bioprinting and Mechanobiology
Group Leader
Dr Irina Kabakova
Our research is focused toward the use and development of advanced imaging techniques, in particular Brillouin microscopy, for mapping 3D mechanical properties of biomaterials, tissues and cells at the microscale. With the growing interest in micromechanical properties of biological materials and their effect on cellular growth, differentiation and vitality, there is an urgent need in characterisation of tissue and cell mechanics at the microscale, in particular in their 3D native environments. Brillouin microscopy, a non-contact and label-free method that uses low power light to assess material viscoelasticity, is perfectly suited for such in vivo and in situ imaging.
Current research projects of our research group use novel bioprinting technologies (commercial 3D bioprinters and home-build point-by-point 3D laser writing technologies) to achieve complex 3D tissue constructs and organ on a chip models for studies of fundamental questions of mechanobiology and developmental cell biology as well as regenerative tissue engineering applications. The lab collaborates with many research groups across UTS (Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering and IT), other research centers (the University of Sydney, Macquarie, UNSW and Garvan Medical Institute), and has developed relationship with Sydney-based bioprinting company Inventia Life Science.