Feel Good News brings together personal wins, fun moments, and everyday highlights shared by staff and students across the Department of Bioengineering.
Alongside our research and teaching activities, this section offers a snapshot of what people have been getting up to beyond formal achievements.
Have a read, celebrate your colleagues, and if you have something you would like to share next time, do submit your news for a future newsletter.
Running the London Marathon in support of Replacing Animal Research
by Dr Adam Celiz
I’m running the 2026 London Marathon to raise funds for Replacing Animal Research, a charity that supports the development of alternatives to animal testing in science and medicine. The organisation works to advance innovative, human-relevant research approaches and reduce reliance on animal models.
I’m aiming to raise £2,000, and any donations would be greatly appreciated!
A sabbatical of science, sunshine, and spicy food
by Professor Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis has begun an 8-month sabbatical away from London in Thailand, at the VISTEC Institute in Rayong and Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
With funding from the Leverhulme Trust, Tom will research how food-industry waste in Thailand is fermented into materials and examine opportunities for bioengineering microbes to diversify the products made.
He will also be eating lots of great spicy food, going to the beach and not worrying about heating the house!
A new chapter for Bioengineering in the I-Hub
by Ken Keating
Rodrigo Ledesma Amaro and Sonja Billerbeck, along with their groups and researchers from Tom Ellis’s group, have begun moving into newly built and fitted Bioengineering spaces in the I-Hub at Imperial’s White City campus. The move includes new office space on Level 5 and laboratory facilities on Level 9.
While there is still plenty of unpacking and settling-in underway, these new spaces represent an exciting addition to the Department of Bioengineering’s estate and will support our growing research and technical activities.