UCL hosts minister as part of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week

Universities Minister Chris Skidmore MP visited the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering (IHE) Autumn Research Symposium today as part of Tomorrow's Engineers Week. Mr Skidmore met Professor Becky Shipley, Director of the IHE, who with her team demonstrated the REANIMATE project (REAlistic Numerical Image-based Modelling of biological Tissue substratEs), which is a virtual modelling technique that creates highly detailed 3D models of individual cancerous tumours and simulates the delivery of drugs into them. As part of Tomorrow's Engineers Week, organised by Engineering UK, Professor Shipley is highlighted as one of five Engineers on a Mission. The week aims to inspire future generations of engineers and tackle an annual shortfall of 59,000 engineers in the UK. Professor Shipley was selected for her work in developing tools to better understand the structure of cancerous tissues and better predict where drugs will be delivered, helping doctors optimise the delivery of therapies to patients. "Once I started my research career, I wanted to be able to have an impact on people's health and quality of life," Professor Shipley said. "Fortunately there is huge opportunity for this, as we need researchers who can develop tools from maths and engineering to develop digital and medical technologies in healthcare." Now in its second year, the UCL IHE Autumn Research Symposium was held at the Wellcome Collection.