Sheila MacNeil is a Professor of

Tissue Engineering Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of Cell (biology), cells, engineering, Materials science, materials methods, and suitable biochemistry, biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintai ...

at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

. She works alongside NHS clinicians to use tissue engineered skin to benefit patients with burns, chronic ulcers and those recovering from surgery. She developed MySkin, skin bandages that are used to treat burns in 11 of 13 major UK burns units.

Early life and education

MacNeil studied

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

. She earned a PhD in the endocrinology of manic depression from the

. Here she explored why certain rare earth metals can benefit patients with manic depression.

Research and career

In 1992, MacNeil began to develop cytokeratin for patients with extensive burns in a Sheffield Hospital. She joined the

in 2000. MacNeil founded the

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

spinout company CellTran in 2000, and remained as Director until 2007. CellTran was taken over by York Pharma in 2008. In 2004 MacNeil and colleagues developed MySkin, living bandages made from healthy skin cells. They went on to explore how

aminopropionitrile Aminopropionitrile, also known as β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN), is an organic compound with both amine and nitrile functional groups. It is a colourless liquid. The compound occurs naturally and is of interest in the biomedical community. Bioche ...

sweet pea The sweet pea, ''Lathyrus odoratus'', is a flowering plant in the genus ''Lathyrus'' in the family Fabaceae ( legumes), native to Sicily, southern Italy and the Aegean Islands. It is an annual climbing plant, growing to a height of , where sui ...

s could be bound with polymers, and created CryoSkin. They were awarded over £2,500,000 in funding from the

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...

. The products were voted the Biomedial Product of the Year in 2008. MacNeil was appointed Deputy Director of the

Kroto Research Institute in 2005. She established the university's Bachelors and master's degrees in bioengineering in 2011, which were accredited in 2014. She is part of the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

Doctoral Training Centre for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. She won the 2014 President's Prize from the UK Society for Biomaterials. Alongside acting as Director for Interdisciplinary Programmes at the university, she continues to lead on innovations in healthcare. Working with Chris Chapple at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, MacNeil is developing biomaterials to repair tissues in the pelvic floor. They are also working on tissue engineered buccal mucosa to help scarring in the

Urethra The urethra (from Greek οὐρήθρα – ''ourḗthrā'') is a tube that connects the urinary bladder to the urinary meatus for the removal of urine from the body of both females and males. In human females and other primates, the urethra con ...

. She has worked with

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

''Affordable Healthcare for India'' programme to develop cell delivery membranes for corneal defects. MacNeil serves as an advisor for the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

company Upside Biotechnologies. In 2017 she identified that certain sugars encourage blood vessel formation and can aid wound healing. She developed a new material for vaginal mesh which could release

oestrogen Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal activ ...

and assist healing. She has over 464 peer-reviewed publications and has an

H-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...

of 49. In 2017 she was awarded the Medical Research Council Suffrage Science Award. In 2018 Professor MacNeil was awarded the

Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a UK engineering institution whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterisation, processing, forming, finishing and applicatio ...

Chapman Medal, an award which is presented for "distinguished research in the field of biomedical materials, particularly with respect to biomaterials innovation."

External links

University of Sheffield profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacNeil, Sheila Living people Women bioengineers Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of the University of Sheffield Academics of the University of Sheffield Year of birth missing (living people)