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Jerani Pettikiriarachchi completed her Bachelor of Science and Engineering double degree in 2008 at Monash University. She was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies in Biomaterials Engineering at Monash University under the supervision of Dr John Forsythe and Dr David Nisbet. In 2010, she successfully transferred from a Masters degree to Ph.D. Jerani’s research is focussed on the fabrication of biologically functional nanofibrous scaffolds for spinal cord injury applications.

Clare Parish completed her undergraduate studies in Biomedical Science at Monash University, Australia. She obtained a Ph.D. in neuroanatomy from Monash in 2002. Dr Parish received two training fellowships (Human Frontiers Science Program longterm training fellowship and an Australian NHMRC CJ Martin fellowship) to pursue a 4-year postdoctorate in molecular and stem cell biology at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden). In 2007, she returned to Australia to establish an independent research career at the Florey Neurosciences Institutes in Melbourne. In 2009, Dr Parish was appointed head of the Stem Cell Therapy laboratory at the Institute and awarded a prestigious NHMRC Career Development Fellowship. Her research interest is focussed on developing and improving cell replacement therapy strategies to repair the injured brain. Dr Parish is also interested in understanding how the brain matures and is wired during development, knowledge critical for repairing neural pathways.

Professor Molly Shoichet graduated from MIT and completed her Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1992. She is currently a Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto, where she researches tissue engineering strategies to promote regeneration after central nervous system injury. Her novel work has earned her many awards, including the prestigious Canadian Council for the Arts Killam Fellowship.

Dr Forsythe’s major research interest is in the field of neural tissue engineering. His research is focussed on biochemical and biophysical cues to control cell function to ultimately repair neural pathways damaged as a consequence of Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injury.

David Nisbet studied engineering at Monash University, Australia, before completing his Ph.D. in 2009. He was then awarded an Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Dr Nisbet’s research is aligned with new scientific directions, having expertise that bridges the traditional fields of materials engineering, nanotechnology, surface science and biology. He currently has two main research areas, which include neural and bone tissue engineering. For more information, please refer to the website http://www.eng.monash.edu.au/mat/staff/nisbetd.html