Dr Ali Mohammed

Senior Tutor (Research)
Design Products MA

Ali is material scientist and researcher with a focus on applied materials for sustainable design, medical applications and additive manufacturing.

Dr Ali Mohammed is a Senior Tutor (Research) in the Design Products MA at Design School in the RCA, and an honorary lecturer at the School of Design in Imperial College London.

Ali has research experience in tissue engineering, biomaterial synthesis, plant and algal biology, cancer biology, polymer chemistry and additive manufacturing. Ali’s research is highly interdisciplinary, combining elements of design, materials, physics and biology to address many of the pressing challenges in the modern world.

Ali completed his bachelors in Chemical Engineering (BEng) at UCL in 2009. After which, he worked as a Process Technologist for three years at Royal Dutch Shells' largest Gas To Liquid (GTL) plant to date, based in Ras Laffan (Qatar). There, he helped successfully and safely commission the plant to see it through to its first production of GTL fuel. He was awarded a Special Recognition Award in 2012 for his efforts during the start-up period. He then completed his MSc in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College, with a project supervised by Prof Julian Jones in the Biomaterials Group. He continued onto his PhD in the Jones' Group, and graduated in 2018. His research was based on advanced nanocomposite double network hydrogels for cartilage repair. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Larry Hench Prize for Excellence in Biomaterials Research. During his PhD, Ali also completed an associate degree at Harvard Medical School where he focussed on Cancer Biology Therapeutics.

School, Centre or Area

School of Design

More information

Research interests

Ali’s research seeks to create novel, sustainable materials that reduce environmental burdens, as well as multi-functional biomaterials for environmental, ecological and medical applications.

Research funding

(2022) Institute of Molecular Science and Engineering (IMSE) Seed Funding (PI):
Development of a novel 3D printing technology

(2021) Seeds for Success (PI):
Hassle-free degassing – an enzymatic approach to oxygen free environments

(2021) Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Convergence Science Centre (Co-I):
Development of a microfluidics platform to 3D print tumour-specific Extra-Cellular Matrices to improve derivation rates of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer patient-derived organoids

Awards

Innovation and Consultancy Project of the Year Award (2020)

Development of innovative 3D printing strategies

Bettelheim Award (2019)
International Conference of the Lens

Imperial College Larry Hench Bioengineering & Materials Departmental Prize (2018)

Excellence in a biomaterials related PhD

Thanaa Award (2018)
For Education, Science and Community Development during a PhD

Special Recognition Award (2012)

For efforts in the start-up of the Pearl GTL

Publications, exhibitions and other outcomes

Selected publications

JJ Lee, AA Mohammed, A Pullen, CW Myant, WG Proud, (2023), Mechanical characterisation of 3D printed lightweight lattice structures with varying internal design alterations, Materials Today Communications, 106456, ISSN 2352-4928.

AA Mohammed, J Miao, I Ragaisyte, AE Porter, CW Myant, A Pinna, (2023), 3D printed superparamagnetic stimuli-responsive starfish-shaped hydrogels, Heliyon, Volume 0, Issue 0, e14682.

AA Mohammed, S Li, T Sang, JR Jones, A Pinna, (2023), Nanocomposite Hydrogels with Polymer Grafted Silica Nanoparticles, Using Glucose Oxidase, Gels 2023, 9(6), 486.

AA Mohammed, N Groth Merrild, S Li, A Pinna, JR Jones, (2022), Double-Network Hydrogels Reinforced with Covalently Bonded Silica Nanoparticles via 1‑Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide Chemistry, ACS omega, 2022, Vol: 7, 48, 43904–43914.

FN Barrak, S Li, AA Mohammed, C Myant, JR Jones, (2022), Anti-inflammatory properties of S53P4 bioactive glass implant material, Journal of Dentistry, Vol: 127, Page: 104296, ISSN: 0300-5712

AA Mohammed, LM Kalossaka, G Sena, L Barter, C Myant, (2021), 3D printing nanocomposite hydrogels with lattice vascular networks using stereolithography, Journal of Materials Research, 36, pages 4249–426, ISSN: 0884-2914

S Li, F Tallia, AA Mohammed, MM Stevens, JR Jones, (2020), Scaffold channel size influences stem cell differentiation pathway in 3-D printed silica hybrid scaffolds for cartilage regeneration, Biomaterials Science, Vol: 8, Pages: 4458-4466, ISSN: 2047-4830

AA Mohammed, A Pinna, S Li, T Sang, JR Jones, (2020), Auto-catalytic redox polymerisation using nanoceria and glucose oxidase for double network hydrogels, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, Vol: 8, Pages: 2834-2844, ISSN: 2050-750X

X Liao, ND Falcon, AA Mohammed, YZ Paterson, AO Saeed. (2020), Synthesis and Formulation of Four-Arm PolyDMAEA-siRNA Polyplex for Transient Downregulation of Collagen Type III Gene Expression in TGF-β1 Stimulated Tenocyte Culture, ACS omega, 2020, Vol: 5, Pages1496−1505, ISSN: 2470-1343

AA Mohammed, J Aviles Milan, S Li, JJ Chung, MM Stevens, TK Georgiou, JR Jones, (2019), Open vessel free radical photopolymerization of double network gels for biomaterial applications using glucose oxidase, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, Vol: 7, Pages: 4030-4039, ISSN: 2050-750X

A El Ghamrawy, F de Comtes, H Koruk, AA Mohammed, JR Jones, JJ Choi, (2019), Acoustic streaming in a soft tissue microenvironment, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, Vol: 45, Pages: 208-217, ISSN: 0301-5629

Exhibitions:

Imperial Lates (Future Food), Imperial College, London 2023

Imperial Lates (Look up), Imperial College, London 2022

Stories of Wonder, V&A, London (2022)

Great Exhibition Road Festival, London (2022)

Norwich Science Festival, Norwich (2019)

Conferences:

Global Young Scientists Summit GYSS (Singapore, Singapore) – Invited attendee (2024)

Materials Research Society MRS (Boston, USA) – Oral presentation (2023)

Oncological engineering: The development of 3D printed metamaterial implants for patients with bone tumours in end-of-life-care

Materials Research Society MRS (Boston, USA) – Oral presentation (2023)

3D printed hydrogels as novel substrates for soilless cultivation

Innovation Think Tank Certification Program (London, UK) – Participant (2022)

Run by Innovation Think Tank, Siemens Healthineers

Global Young Scientists Summit GYSS (Singapore, Singapore) – Invited attendee (2022)

13th Annual Undergraduate Research Experience Program Competition – Panel member (Doha, Qatar) (2021)

Invited Judge in the panel for students’ presentations and posters

International Conf. on Additive Manufacturing ICAM (Anaheim, USA) – Oral Presentation (2021)

Nanocomposite double network hydrogels – from bulk photopolymerization to stereolithography

Materials Research Society MRS (Online) – Co-presenter (2021)

Hydrogel 3D Fabrication to Introduce Vascular Networks Using Digital Light Processing

International Conference of the Lens (Hawaii, USA) – Invited Speaker (2019)

Fabrication of Implantable IOLs Using 3D Printing Technology

Global Young Scientists Summit GYSS (Singapore, Singapore) – Poster Presentation (2018) Nominated to attend the summit amongst specially selected 200 young scientific scholars

European Society of Biomaterials ESB (Athens, Greece) – Oral presentation (2017)

Sol-gel derived lithium-releasing glass for cartilage regeneration

United Kingdom Society of Biomaterials UKSB (London, UK) – Poster presentation (2016)

Enhanced Photopolymerization Kinetics and Conversion of two Biocompatible Polymers’

World Biomaterials Congress WBC (Montreal, Canada) – Oral presentation (2016)

Nanocomposite Double Network Hydrogels, with Silica Nanoparticles as Macro-Crosslinkers

Materials Research Society MRS (Boston, USA) – Oral presentation (2016) Improving conversion of open vessel free radical photopolymerization for biomaterial applications using glucose oxidase

Sol-Gel (Kyoto, Japan) – Poster presentation (2014)

Facile Synthesis of Hybrid Double Network Hydrogels with Nanocomposite Structures for Cartilage Tissue Engineering Applications

Annual Research Conference ARC (Doha, Qatar) – Poster presentation (2013)

Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Nanocomposite Polymers for Bone Regeneration

Key details