Daisy started her PhD in October 2021 based in Chemical Engineering. She started her university education with an Integrated Master’s in Chemistry, with a year in Industry, followed by Masters in Healthcare Technology, both at the University of Birmingham. In 2018, she began a year in Industry based at GlaxoSmithKline where she developed a novel cleansing formulation for dental prosthetics. Her interest in biomedical sciences started during a module during her Chemistry degree, pushing her in a direction focussing more solely on healthcare. This lead to her thesis on the use of magnetic nanoparticles to aid in bone regeneration for spinal arthrodesis. Her project drives this further by combatting the antimicrobial resistance crisis through novel materials for orthopaedic implants.
Project: Development of novel antimicrobial alloys for orthopaedic implants
In this project, Daisy is developing a titanium-copper alloy, aiming to produce an antimicrobial alloy. The aim is to investigate the effects of heat treatments and method of manufacture on the microstructure and phases to identify the effect on the antimicrobial properties. This system has been previously explored, however, the understandings on the mode of action of this alloy system is widely debated. Therefore, the aim is to understand the driving characteristics behind the biological properties.
Techniques employed: Additive manufacturing, Electron Microscopy (SEM,EDX), EBSD, XRD, microbiology and cell culture.