John Hunt's Biography

John Hunt, Professor, University of Liverpool

John’s research focuses on developing breakthrough therapies, devices and technology to repair, replace, augment and in the future regenerate diseased and damaged tissues in humans using material interventions. Understanding the generic science to deliver interventional medical therapies requiring the use of a material (within which cells are also considered as a material). These will come from an in depth generic first principles approach to understanding and directing the patient’s cellular and molecular mechanisms and responses related to the clinical outcome and efficacy of medical devices, biocompatibility, inflammation and stem cell biology. Tissue engineering processes are developed and applied, addressing the key areas of patient treatments requiring intervention and material implantation; the materials of choice being researched today also include cells and within that, expertise and intellectual property has been created relating to primary cell sourcing, controlling cell function and phenotype through defining and controlling extracellular matrix interactions, angiogenesis, inflammation and tissue regeneration. From a strong long lived generic research platform, specific applications and knowledge has been applied to and continue to be developed for musculoskeletal tissues specifically cartilage and bone, visceral and vascular tissues. Professor Hunt’s research has been funded by the European Commission, BBSRC, MRC and EPSRC as well as by Industry.