Acting as the technical manager for the University of Bergen BoneFix team is Ahmad Rashad Elsebahy. His main focus for the project is the engineering of biomimetic cell-instructive hydrogels for the bone scaffold domain, and the testing of these hydrogels in vitro with stem cells and in vivo in rat defect models. Originally from Alexandria in Egypt, Ahmad worked as a dentist for five years before completing his masters in biomaterials at Alexandria University. He then worked as a researcher in tissue engineering in Egypt, the US, and Japan before moving to the University of Bergen in Norway where he completed his PhD. He now leads the biofabrication team in the tissue engineering group there, where they 3D bioprint stem cells in advanced biomaterials for bone and cartilage regeneration.
When asked what interested him most about BoneFix, Ahmad replied that “in addition to the great knowledge I gain from the interdisciplinary team, I am fascinated by the innovative concept of BoneFix, where chemistry meets biology to create a smart multifunctional solution to heal broken bones.” Ahmad was initially inspired to start his career in tissue engineering after seeing a picture of the famous Vacanti Mouse, which had been engineered with a human ear on its back. “To create is to engineer and to engineer tissues we need to mimic their structures, compositions and developments.”
