Professor Alicia El Haj BSc, MSc, PhD, FREng, FRSB, FEAMBES

School of Chemical Engineering
Interdisciplinary Chair of Cell Engineering
Director of the Institute of Translational Medicine

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 371 7698
Email: a.elhaj@bham.ac.uk
Manpreet Bhatti - Diary management: m.bhatti@bham.ac.uk

View my research portal

Address: Healthcare Technologies Institute
Institute of Translational Medicine
Heritage Building (Old Queen Elizabeth Hospital)
Mindelsohn Way
Birmingham
B15 2TH

Alicia El Haj is the Interdisciplinary Professor of Cell Engineering at the Healthcare Technologies Institute and Director of the Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Birmingham.

She is a leading figure in Bioengineering and Regenerative Medicine and has been involved in bringing together interdisciplinary groups within biomedicine, physical sciences and engineering, interested in aspects of cell and tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to move innovative new cell based therapies to the clinic. She has published over 200 publications in developing novel tissue engineering approaches using biomechanics, bioreactors, and imaging systems for the delivery of cell therapies to the clinic with funding from EPSRC, MRC, BBSRC, Versus Arthritis and ERC Advanced Grant

Alicia actively engages in public events having presented ‘Remote Control Healing’ at the Café Scientifique in Royal Society London and at the ‘Next Big Thing’ at the Hay Festival 2017.

Alicia El Haj is part of the Healthcare Technologies Institute (HTI), an interdisciplinary network of over 70 academics working together to advance new technologies and treatments that encourage better tissue healing and rehabilitation tools. The HTI brings together leading experts from a variety of disciplines across the University of Birmingham, including chemical engineering, biomedical science, computer science, applied mathematics, chemistry and physics. Researchers across campus are working collaboratively to speed up the translation of new discoveries into health applications.

Qualifications

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
Fellow of the European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and Science

Biography

Growing Bones - The Edge

Bone Cells - Alicia El Haj

2015 ACHLR – ESRC – Liability and Innovation The Defensive Medicine Debate Alicia El Haj

Professor Alicia El Haj, FREng, FRSB, FEAMBES, Interdisciplinary Professor of Cell Engineering, joined the Healthcare Technology Institute in the Institute of Translational Medicine at Birmingham University, UK in September 2018. Previously, she has been the founding Director of the Institute of Science & Technology in Medicine at Keele University Medical School. She is a leading figure in Bioengineering and Regenerative Medicine and has been involved in bringing together interdisciplinary groups within biomedicine, physical sciences and engineering interested in aspects of cell and tissue engineering and regenerative medicine to move innovative new cell based therapies to the clinic. She has published over a 200 publications in novel tissue engineering approaches such as biomechanics, bioreactors, and imaging systems for the delivery of cell therapies to the clinic with funding from EPSRC, MRC, BBSRC, AR UK and an ERC Advanced Award in 2018. She is also Director of a spin out company MICA Biosystems , Ltd involved in translating innovative in vitro pharma screening tools and stem cell control systems into clinical use.

She is Deputy Director of the MRC UKRMP Regen Med Hub and a partner in ARUK Centre in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine as well as multiple EU programmes. She has been a Research Director of an EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre in Regenerative Medicine, and a co-director of the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing Centre in Regenerative Medicine. Prof. El Haj is ex-Chair of the European Council for the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS).She was awarded with a Royal Society Merit Award in 2014 and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK. In March 2015, she was awarded the MRC Suffrage Award for her role in leading women in STEM. Alicia actively engages in public events having presented ‘Remote Control Healing’ at the Café Scientifique in Royal Society London and at the ‘Next Big Thing’ at the Hay Festival 2017.

Other activities

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
Fellow of the European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and Science
Founding member of the UK Tissue and Cell Engineering Society and President from 2003-2008
Deputy Director of the MRC UKRMP Regen Med Hub
Co-director of the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing Centre in Regenerative Medicine
President of the UK Bioengineering Society

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Unnithan, AR, Man, K, Kritika, Gethings, LA, Hughes, CJ, Keenan, A, Heaney, L, Cox, SC, Davies, OG & Haj, AJE 2026, 'Engineering Extracellular Vesicle Production Through Magnetic Ion Channel Activation for Bone Regeneration', Advanced Healthcare Materials. https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202504542

Hajiali, H, Cholewa-Waclaw, J, Ballard, J, Okur, KE, Elliott, R, Carragher, NO & El Haj, AJ 2026, 'High-throughput 3D phenotypic screening identifies repurposed MEK inhibitors as drivers of chondrogenesis for cartilage regeneration', Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 14, 1748443. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2026.1748443

Rashidi, H, Cox, HC, Qutachi, O, Moulding, D, White, LJ, Smith, EL, Kanczler, JM, Rojo, L, Rotherham, M, Henstock, JR, Stevens, MM, Haj, AJE, Oreffo, ROC, Shakesheff, KM & Rose, FRAJ 2025, 'Localized growth factor delivery from microparticles modulates osteogenic and chondrogenic gene expression in a growth factor-dependent manner in an ex vivo chick embryonic bone model', Acta Biomaterialia, vol. 204, pp. 558-567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2025.08.028

Nahar, T, Gates, M, Secret, E, Siaugue, J-M, Fresnais, J, Rotherham, M, Fuller, HR, Brown, SJ, El Haj, AJ & Telling, ND 2025, 'Long-range directional growth of neurites induced by magnetic forces', Acta Biomaterialia, vol. 193, pp. 215-230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2024.12.057

Clarke, J, Pike, J, Bending, D, Owen, D, Wraith, DC & Haj, AJE 2025, 'Remote Force Modulation of the T-Cell Receptor Reveals an NFAT-Threshold for CD4⁺ T-Cell Activation.', European Journal of Immunology, vol. 55, no. 6, e51716. https://doi.org/10.1002/eji.202451716

Alipio, AR, R. Vieira, M, Haefeli, T, Hoelting, L, Frey, O, El Haj, AJ & Arno, MC 2025, 'Sweet and sticky: increased cell adhesion through click-mediated functionalization of regenerative liver progenitor cells', Communications Biology, vol. 8, 1023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08408-x

Henstock, JR, Price, JCFA & El Haj, AJ 2024, 'Determining Which Hydrostatic Pressure Regimes Promote Osteogenesis in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells', Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, vol. 21, no. 8, pp. 1141-1151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13770-024-00666-w

Imere, A, Foster, N, Hajiali, H, Okur, KE, Wright, A, Barroso, IA & El Haj, A 2024, 'Enhanced chondrogenic potential in GelMA-based 3D cartilage model via Wnt3a surface immobilization', Scientific Reports, vol. 14, no. 1, 15022 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-65970-w

Gothard, D, Rotherham, M, Smith, EL, Kanczler, JM, Henstock, J, Wells, JA, Roberts, CA, Qutachi, O, Peto, H, Rashidi, H, Rojo, L, White, LJ, Stevens, MM, El Haj, AJ, Rose, FRAJ & Oreffo, ROC 2024, 'In vivo analysis of hybrid hydrogels containing dual growth factor combinations, and skeletal stem cells under mechanical stimulation for bone repair', Mechanobiology in Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mbm.2024.100096

Kennedy, JI, Davies, SP, Hewett, PW, Wilkinson, AL, Oo, YH, Lu, W-Y, El Haj, AJ & Shetty, S 2024, 'Organ-on-a-chip for studying immune cell adhesion to liver sinusoidal endothelial cells: the potential for testing immunotherapies and cell therapy trafficking', Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, vol. 12, 1359451. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2024.1359451

Abstract

Hosni, RA, Moakes, R, Chary, K, Ramakrishnan, NK, Muhammad, H, Kaggie, J, El Haj, AJ, Birch, M & McCaskie, A 2024, '385 - Endogenous Cell Targeting Using WNT16 for Cartilage Repair and Regeneration', Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, vol. 32, no. Supplement 1, pp. S275-S276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2024.02.397

Poster

Hajiali, H, Rotherham, M & El Haj, A 2024, 'Remote Activation of Mechanotransduction via Integrin Alpha-5 via Aptamer-Conjugated Magnetic Nanoparticles Promotes Osteogenesis', Joint TCES // CDT 2024 Conference, 19/06/24 - 21/06/24.

Review article

Wu, K, Wang, J-P, Natekar, NA, Ciannella, S, González-Fernández, C, Gomez-Pastora, J, Bao, Y, Liu, J, Liang, S, Wu, X, Nguyen T Tran, L, Mercedes Paz González, K, Choe, H, Strayer, J, Iyer, PR, Chalmers, J, Chugh, VK, Rezaei, B, Mostufa, S, Tay, ZW, Saayujya, C, Huynh, Q, Bryan, J, Kuo, R, Yu, E, Chandrasekharan, P, Fellows, B, Conolly, S, Hadimani, RL, El-Gendy, AA, Saha, R, Broomhall, TJ, Wright, AL, Rotherham, M, El Haj, AJ, Wang, Z, Liang, J, Abad-Díaz-de-Cerio, A, Gandarias, L, Gubieda, AG, García-Prieto, A & Fdez-Gubieda, ML 2025, 'Roadmap on magnetic nanoparticles in nanomedicine', Nanotechnology, vol. 36, no. 4, 042003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/ad8626

Luo, L, Okur, KE, Bagnaninchi, PO & El Haj, AJ 2024, 'Current challenges in imaging the mechanical properties of tissue engineered grafts', Frontiers in Biomaterials Science, vol. 3, 1323763. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbiom.2024.1323763

Ashmore-Harris, C, Antonopoulou, E, Finney, SM, Vieira, MR, Hennessy, MG, Muench, A, Lu, W-Y, Gadd, VL, El Haj, AJ, Forbes, SJ & Waters, SL 2024, 'Exploiting in silico modelling to enhance translation of liver cell therapies from bench to bedside', npj Regenerative Medicine, vol. 9, no. 1, 19. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41536-024-00361-3

View all publications in research portal