Blog posts

The Caro Alumni Lecture & Bioengineering Industry Showcase

This autumn, the Department of Bioengineering is launching the first-ever Caro Alumni Lecture alongside our Bioengineering Industry Showcase.

These two events shine a spotlight on the translational impact of our research and the innovative spin-outs that have grown from our department. The industry showcase is a unique opportunity to connect with industry partners, discover entrepreneurial success stories, and highlight the breadth of collaborations happening within Bioengineering.

To make the most of the showcase event, we need your help. If you have industry contacts who should be part of the showcase, or if you yourself have a spin-out company that you would like to celebrate and exhibit, please complete our Industry Connections & Showcase Interest Form for academic staff or the form for PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and alumni so we can extend invitations to them.

Events: Autumn 2025

Imperial is bustling with activity this Autumn Term, and there are lots of events across campus to get involved in.

This Events news section brings together opportunities you might enjoy, whether for learning, networking, or just trying something new.

If you’re looking for what’s happening closer to home, check out our Bioengineering Events listings page.

Black History Month: Fireside Chat with Baroness Amos

Date: Monday 13th October 2025 | 13:00–14:00

Join the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for a special online Fireside Chat with Baroness Valerie Amos, a distinguished public servant, diplomat, and academic leader whose career has spanned British public life, global diplomacy, and higher education.

News You Can Use: Autumn 2025

Imperial after:hours – adult education classes open to all!

Don’t miss out! 🌟 Early Bird Discounts on Imperial evening classes end this week.

Join us for inspiring courses in art, languages, humanities, and more — no previous experience needed.

Book now to secure your place at a reduced rate.

Classes are also open to friends and family at the reduced rate, and we have in-person and online courses available

www.imperial.ac.uk/afterhours

Imperial for Academic English: Academic Communication Primer Sessions

New to Imperial? Start strong with our primer sessions

Whether you’re an undergraduate or postgraduate, our academic communication primer sessions are designed to help you hit the ground running.

Feel Good News: Autumn 2025

Our Bioengineering community has had plenty of reasons to celebrate this season.

Feel Good News is all about the moments that make our Bioengineering community special. Unlike Staff and Student Successes, here we celebrate personal wins, fun achievements, and the everyday highlights that bring us together.

Take a moment to congratulate your colleagues and peers, and if you have good news to share, make sure to send it in for the next newsletter.

Celebrating Recovery and Supporting Cancer Research

by Dr Laki Pantazis

My wife Nadine was diagnosed with breast cancer last September. Since then, she has bravely undergone chemotherapy, immunotherapy and surgery – and we are deeply grateful to share that she is now cancer-free.

Spotlight on Global Engagement: High-Profile Visits to the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein and Microbial Food Hub

The Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein and Imperial’s Microbial Food Hub have recently welcomed a wave of international visitors, reflecting growing worldwide interest in sustainable food research.

Ministers from the UK, Sweden and Denmark, as well as delegations from Finland, Canada, Korea and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, toured the facilities to learn more about the cutting-edge work taking place.

Their visits underline the global significance of Imperial’s research in shaping the future of food systems.

🗞️Read more about these visits:

Staff and Student Successes: Autumn 2025

It’s been a fantastic summer for the Department of Bioengineering, with staff and students recognised for their hard work and achievements.

This Staff and Student Successes is packed with highlights, including funding awards, fellowships, competition wins and runner-up places.

We encourage you to read through the full list and, if you spot a familiar name, take a moment to congratulate them. Sharing in each other’s successes is a great way to share pride in the achievements of our staff and students!

UK Future Leaders Fellowship

Congratulations to Dr Sophie Morse, one of the newest Assistant Professors in Bioengineering, who has been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.

News You Can Use: Spring 2025

Stay in the know with the Bioengineering Shared Calendar

Keeping track of key departmental events just got a lot easier!

Bioengineering has launched a new shared calendar as a go-to planning resource for staff to stay informed and improve coordination across the department. The live calendar has seven categories you can filter to find the events that matter to you:

  • 🎟️ Department Events, including Department Seminars, the Annual Bioengineering Lecture, staff and student socials, Away Days, and more.
  • 🏫 Academic Staff Meetings: the monthly meeting specifically for academic staff.
  • 👥 Professional & Technical Staff Meetings: dedicated professional and technical staff meetings.

Events: Spring 2025

Registration for the Great Exhibition Road Festival is now OPEN!🎉

The Festival takes place on 7-8 June 2025, and will be full of exciting free events for all ages: from hands-on workshops to fascinating talks, and immersive performances to amazing art🎨🧬

Enjoy a relaxing yoga workshop inspired by insect movements, paint the northern lights with astronomers, or discover the science behind Bollywood dance. Design butterfly carnival costumes, take to the tiniest disco floor in the universe to explore quantum, discuss the new space race or experience chemistry brought to life through amazing reactions, slime and explosions at the interactive family-friendly show.

AI Autophagy: Understanding the Risks and Solutions

by Dr Xiaodan Xing

The latest paper by the Yang Lab, published in Nature Machine Intelligence, delves into a pressing issue in AI development: what happens when generative models train on their own synthetic data? This phenomenon, known as AI autophagy, leads to model collapse, loss of diversity, and ethical risks.

As the awareness of AI autophagy grows, so does the call for a comprehensive framework to understand, detect, and mitigate its effects. Our research brings together conflicting findings, theoretical perspectives, and empirical evidence to highlight the risks and propose potential solutions.

One key takeaway is that technical fixes alone, like watermarking or detection methods, aren’t enough.

Saliva-based Menopause Test Wins Hackstarter

Congratulations to Karina Cheng, Biomedical Technology Ventures BSc student, and teammate Yihan Pu, on winning Imperial College’s Advanced Hackspace Hackstarter Grand Final with their Menosense device which monitors menopause via saliva!

Women experiencing menopause undergo hormonal changes that affect their mood, metabolism, and health. Traditional hormone tests need blood or urine samples, which can be invasive and take a long time to produce results.

Menosense introduces a portable saliva-based hormone detector for menopause that uses Lateral Flow Immunoassay technology for home use. It provides quick, noninvasive, and accurate hormone readings in just 20 minutes. A handheld reader analyses disposable test strips, and results appear on the device and a Bluetooth-connected mobile app, allowing users to track their health.