Professor Jelena Rnjak-Kovacina

Fields of Research (FoR)

Biomedical Engineering, Biomaterials, Regenerative Medicine (incl. Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering), Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Functional Materials, Cardiovascular Medicine and Haematology

Biography

Dr Jelena Rnjak-Kovacina is a Professor and ARC Future Fellow leading a multidisciplinary group at the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW Sydney in Australia.

Her research interests are at the interface of biology and engineering, focusing on the development of biomimetic materials that direct cellular interactions for enhanced vascularisation and for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. In particular, she develops novel silk-based biomaterials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications and investigates how biomaterial properties translate to biological outcomes.

She completed her doctoral degree in Anthony Weiss' lab at the University of Sydney and her postdoctoral training in David Kaplan’s group at Tufts University in Boston. She joined UNSW in 2014 where her research has been supported by funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Heart Foundation, the National Health & Medical Research Council, and NSW Health. She is the recipient of multiple awards, including most recently, the NSW Ministerial Award for Rising Stars in Cardiovascular Research and the Early Career Researcher of the Year (Physical Sciences) in the NSW Premier's Prizes for Science & Engineering.

She is actively involved in the Australasian MedTech sector, including as President of the Australasian Society for Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering (ASBTE), board member of the Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (ACvA) Bioengineering flagship, Fellow of the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society, and through editorial roles for multiple journals. She is passionate about research training and communication.

My Grants

UNSW Faculty of Engineering Infrastructure Fund (lead CI) ‘Mechanical testing equipment for soft and anisotropic materials’, $270K, 2023
NSW Health Cardiovascular Research Capacity Program Collaborative Grants (lead CI)- ‘Engineering next generation aortic valve replacement materials’, $950K, 2023-2024
NSW Cardiovascular Research Capacity Program EMCR Grant (lead CI)- ‘Novel strategy for chronic wound healing’ (2022-2024)
ARC Future Fellowship (CI-A) - ‘Engineering biomaterials that actively promote blood vessel growth’ (06/2022-2025)
NSW Health/Cardiovascular Research Capacity Program - Investigator Development Grants (lead CI), ‘Engineering vascular microenvironments on silk biomaterials for advanced medical implants’, 2020
Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD) (lead CI), ‘Application of advanced scaffold fabrication technologies toward functional cardiac patches’, 2020-2021
ARC Linkage Project (co-CI), ‘Engineering a physiologically-relevant blood vessel in vitro’, 2019-2022
Innovative Manufacturing CRC (co-CI), ‘Engineering an advanced, high value bioreactor system for research and clinical applications’, 2019-2022
HRC Project Grant (PI), ‘Smart delivery of growth factors for treating osteonecrosis of the femoral head’, 2021-2022
HRC Sir Charles Hercules Health Research Fellowship (AI), ‘HRC Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship’, 2020-2022
MARSDEN Fast start (PI), ‘Harnessing macromolecular chemistry to mimic vascular developmental biology’, 2020-2021
NHMRC Project Grant (co-CI), ‘New Synthetic Conduits for Arterial Revascularisation’ 2019-2021, Marshall and Warren Award for the most innovative and potentially transformative project grant
Diabetes Australia (co-CI), ‘Bioengineered growth factor binding scaffolds for improved diabetic wound healing’, 2019
Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (lead CI), ‘Biomaterial-directed vascularisation of bioengineered cardiac patches’, 2018-2022
ARC Discovery Project (DP150104242) (lead CI), ‘Novel biomimetic vascular biomaterials using extracellular matrix molecules’, 2015-2019;
UNSW Engineering Faculty Major Research Equipment Funding (lead CI), 'Medical device characterisation', 2018
UNSW Infrastructure Fund (AI), ‘Dynamic Mechanical Testing-ElectroForce’, 2017
UNSW Infrastructure Fund (AI), ‘High throughput Flash Purification System for Small Molecule and Polymer Separations’, 2017;
UNSW Network Lab Project (AI), ‘Molecular Surface Interaction Network Lab’, 2017-2018;
UNSW Faculty of Engineering Startup award (lead CI), 2016-2017;
UNSW Career Advancement Fund (lead CI), 2017-2018;
UNSW Minor Equipment Grants (lead CI), 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017;
UNSW Faculty of Engineering Early Career Researcher Award (lead CI), 2014.

My Qualifications

Education & Training

Postdoctoral scholar- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Boston, USA, 2011-2013

Research area: Development of novel silk-based biomaterials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, Supervisor: Prof David Kaplan

Doctor of Philosophy, School of Molecular Bioscience, University of Sydney, 2011

Research area: Development of human elastin-based dermal substitutes for the treatment of severe burn injuries, Supervisor: Prof Antony Weiss

Bachelor of Science (Molecular Biology & Genetics) (Honours I) (University Medal),University of Sydney, 2007

My Awards

UNSW Faculty of Engineering Leadership Award, 2021
NSW Early Career Researcher of the Year (Physical Sciences), NSW Premier's Prizes for Science & Engineering, 2020
Emerging Leader Award, Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (ABSTE), 2019
Travel award- NSW CVRN Travel Scholarship application, 2018
NSW Young Tall Poppy Science Award, Australian Institute of Policy & Science, 2018
Bob Fraser New Investigator Award, Matrix Biology Society of Australia & NZ, 2016
Fresh Science NSW, 2016
Finalist (Top 19) in the L’Oreal Women in Science Fellowship, 2015
Research featured in the American Chemical Society (ACS) Headline Science video series, 2015
Travel Award- Contributing to Australian Scholarship and Science (CASS) Foundation, 2015
Travel Award- Australasian Society for Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering (ASBTE), 2015
American Chemical Society (ACS) Editors’ Choice article, 2015
Best Early Career Researcher Oral Presentation Award- ASBTE, 2013
Best poster prize- ASBTE, 2009;
Best poster prize- 34th Lorne Conference on Protein Structure & Function, 2009
University Medal, University of Sydney, 2006.

My Research Activities

Research themes/projects

Currently recruiting PhD and Honours students

Novel silk biomaterials for cardiovascular & wound healing applications (ARC Future Fellowship, NSW Health)- The ability to reverse engineer the silkworm fiber has led to tremendous advancements in the field of silk materials over the last several decades, with silk fibroin materials applied to biomedical, food, and high technology industries. This progress is largely due to the ability to process silk into a regenerated silk fibroin solution that can be engineered into various material formats and stabilised by reintroducing the non-covalent native β-sheet protein structure. The next revolution in silk materials involves stabilising silk fibroin through covalent crosslinking using di-tyrosine bonds. These approaches have transformed silk into a material that is not only strong, but also elastic and flexible, making it compatible with modern fabrication approaches. This has significantly broadened silk material fabrication strategies to include photolithography, digital light processing, and extrusion-based 3D printing. We offer a range of projects to fabricate novel silk hydrogels and porous scaffolds based on this novel crosslinking approach for cardiovascular and wound healing applications.

Collaborators: Prof David Kaplan (Tufts University), A/Prof Khoon Lim (University of Sydney)

Bioengineered tissue vascularisation strategies (ARC Future Fellowship)- Bioengineered tissues offer an alternative for the replacement and regeneration of organs and tissues damaged through injury or disease, but they currently have little clinical utility due to the lack of an adequate vascular supply, making vascularisation one of the biggest obstacles in translating biomaterials and tissue engineering research to the clinic. This project aims to understand the physical and biological cues that drive tissue vascularisation and replicate them in biomimetic silk-based biomaterial platforms. This involves (1) development of novel silk biomaterials with tuneable physical/architectural features, (2) silk functionalisation strategies, (3) bioengineering molecules of the vascular niche with specific features using recombinant DNA technology and protein expression and (4) establishment of appropriate assays and imaging modalities to assess vascularisation of 3D biomaterials.

Collaborators: A/Prof Khoon Lim (University of Sydney), Dr Tomasz Juengst (University of Wuerzburg), Prof Juergen Groll (University of Wuerzburg), Prof John Whitelock & A/Prof Megan Lord (UNSW), Prof Marcela Bilek (University of Sydney)

More info: Webinar: Novel Biofabrication Approaches Enabled By Di-tyrosine Crosslinking Of Silk Fibroin (gelomics.com)

Next-generation vascular devices (NSW Health)- The aim of this project is to develop next-generation biomaterial platforms for use in blood-contacting vascular devices, such as vascular grafts and heart valve leaflets. Silk-based vascular grafts and heart valve leaflets have the potential to overcome the physical, mechanical and biological shortcomings of the current clinical options by mimicking the morphological and mechanical structures found in the native tissue. This project also involves bioengineering models of healthy and atherosclerosis vessels in vitro.

Collaborators: Prof Steven Wise (University of Sydney), Dr Anna Waterhouse (University of Sydney), A/Prof Khoon Lim (University of Sydney), A/Prof Bernd Gludovatz (UNSW), Dr Nona Farbehi (UNSW), Prof Martin Ng (RPA), Dr Michael Stevens (UNSW)

Professional Activities

Scientific Advisory Board, Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (ACvA) (2023-present)
Member of the Bioengineering Flagship Advisory Board, Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (ACvA) (2020-present)
Member of the Centre for Commercialisation of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) Australia Advisory Board (2018-present)
Australasian Society for Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering, Vice President (2023-present), Treasurer & Secretary (2017-2023), member (2008-present)
Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR), member (2018-present)
American Chemical Society (ACS), member (2015-present)
Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand, member (2014-present)
International Society for Matrix Biology, member (2014-present)
Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS), member (2012-present)
NIH Tissue Engineering Resource Centre, member (2011-2014)