Chief Editor A career deeply rooted in drug discovery and a focus on digital transformation and innovation in drug discovery.

Professor Dimitrios A. Lamprou (PhD, MBA) is Chair of Biofabrication and Advanced Manufacturing, and Director of Internationalisation at Queen's University Belfast. His research focuses on advanced drug delivery systems, biofabrication, microfluidics, nanomedicine, artificial intelligence-enabled pharmaceutical technologies, and translational healthcare innovation. He has authored more than 180 peer-reviewed publications and over 500 conference abstracts, secured research funding exceeding £6 million, and delivered more than 230 invited lectures at leading institutions and international conferences worldwide. Recognised among the world's leading researchers in Printing and Microfluidics, he has been included in Stanford University's Top 2% of Scientists globally for several consecutive years. Professor Lamprou leads multidisciplinary research programmes that integrate pharmaceutical sciences, engineering, biomaterials, advanced manufacturing and digital technologies to develop innovative healthcare solutions with clinical, industrial and societal impact. His research has particular focus on personalised medicines, regenerative healthcare, sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing and emerging therapeutic technologies. Alongside his research activities, he contributes to academic leadership in education, internationalisation and research strategy. He serves as Chair of the United Kingdom and Ireland Controlled Release Society (UKICRS), Co-Chair of the EPSRC Bio-Effective Surface Treatment Network, Section Editor-in-Chief of Pharmaceutics, and a member of the British Standards Institution (BSI) AMT/8 Additive Manufacturing Committee. At the Lamprou Lab, he works with international academic, healthcare and industry partners to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into technologies that address major global healthcare challenges.

Parasitologist by training and spent over 20 years working on cerebral malaria and its impact on the Blood-Brain-Barrier and Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier using a variety of 2D and 3D methods. Also actively researching the impact of neurotropic strains of borrelia to understand how they interact with the BBB and B-CSFB. Interested  more broadly in the role of the peripheral immune system in barrier dysfunction. 

As much as I love doing research, I feel great aversion doing it at the cost of countless animals being sacrificed. Being a passionate advocate of ethical and sustainable research practices, I am fascinated by the idea of using alternative in vitro platforms to reduce and ultimately replace animal testing methodologies. While I acknowledge the historical significance of animal testing and the complex physiological interactions that they provide, I firmly believe that the rapid advancements in the field of biomedical research and development of in vitro testing platforms such as microphysiological systems, organoids, 3D bioprinting offer a more humane and robust approach for toxicological assessments.  *I am open to scientist positions across the globe*

PhD-level Tissue Engineer, science communicator, aspiring analyst developer. Experienced in pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), 2D/3D cell culture, organoids, in vitro cardiovascular biology and organ-on-a-chip applications. Passionate about alternatives to animal models following the 3R principle, and science communication to non-experts and general audience. Nowadays taking on new challenges as an analyst developer in the fintech industry, while keeping close ties with the scientific community and the exciting advancements in organoids and NAMs.