News & Reports

  • Report 2019 University of Sydney Research Award: Dr Giselle Yeo

    “I am very grateful to the Selby Scientific Foundation for establishing the Selby Research Award. It was especially meaningful to me as it was the first independent funding I have ever received as an early-career academic. This support has been instrumental in developing my research program at the Charles Perkins Centre. My research focused on understanding the molecular events that regulate multiple aspects of mesenchymal stem cell behaviour, including proliferation, aging and differentiation.

    Fundamental knowledge arising from these studies have also been applied to a range of biomaterials for tissue repair. With my findings, I have been able to release numerous publications, including:

    – Roohani, I., Yeo, G.C., Mithieux, S.M and Weiss, A.S. (2021) Emerging concepts in bone repair and the premise of soft materials. Current Opinion in Biotechnology 74: 220-229.

    – Wong, K.U., Zhang, A., Akhavan, B., Bilek, M.M. and Yeo, G.C.# (2021) Biomimetic culture strategies for the clinical expansion of mesenchymal stromal cells. ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, in press, DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c01538.

    – Bochicchio, B., Yeo, G.C.*#, Lee, P., Emul, D., Pepe, A., Laezza, A., Ciarfaglia, N., Quaglino, D. and Weiss, A.S. (2021) Domains 12 to 16 of tropoelastin promote cell attachment and spreading through interactions with glycosaminoglycan and integrins alphaV and alpha5beta1. The FEBS Journal, in press, DOI: 10.1111/febs.15702.

    – Walia, R., Akhavan, B., Kosobrodova, E., Kondyurin, A., Oveissi, F., Naficy, S., Yeo, G.C., Hawker, M., Kaplan, D., Dehghani, F. and Bilek, M. (2020) Hydrogel-solid hybrid materials for biomedical applications enabled by surface‐embedded radicals. Advanced Functional Materials 30: 2004599, DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202004599.

    – Alavi, S., Lotz, O., Akhavan, B., Yeo, G.C., Walia, R., McKenzie, D.R. and Bilek, M.M. (2020) Atmospheric pressure plasma jet treatment of polymers enables reagent-free covalent attachment of biomolecules for bioprinting. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 12: 38730-38743, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c07169.

    These results have also been shared through the following talks:

    – 2022 Manchester Regenerative Medicine Network, Manchester, UK (online). Modulation of mesenchymal stem cells for biomedical applications

    – 2020 World Biomaterials Congress, Glasgow, Scotland (online). Tropoelastin modulation of mesenchymal stem cells 

    Furthermore, these studies have paved the way for additional investigations into the matrix biology and additive manufacturing spaces, backed by new Australian Research Council grants:

    – Yeo, G.C.; Weiss, A.S.; Baldock, C.; Burgess, J. Tuning mesenchymal lifespan, performance and differentiation, 2022-2025 ARC Discovery Project DP220101644

    – Akhavan, B.; Bilek, M.M; Yeo, G.C.; McKenzie, D.R.; Garcia, D. In-situ biofunctionalisation for additive manufacturing, 2022-2025 ARC Linkage Project LP210100437

    Your generosity has also supported the research training of postgraduate and undergraduate students, forming part of two PhD theses and one Honours thesis, as well as two Summer Research projects. Thank you again to the Selby Scientific Foundation, for helping to launch the careers of upcoming researchers, like me.”

    Back to News & Reports