Dr Thomas E Robinson MEng, PhD

Dr Thomas E Robinson

School of Chemical Engineering
Assistant Professor

Contact details

Email
t.e.robinson@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Healthcare Technologies Institute
Institute of Translational Medicine
Heritage Building (Old Queen Elizabeth Hospital)
Mindelsohn Way
Birmingham
B15 2TH

Dr Tom Robinson is an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering, interested in the discovery, delivery, and translation of healthcare technologies.

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Qualifications

  • PhD in Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, 2020
  • MEng in Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, 2016

Biography

Tom came to Birmingham in 2012 to study for an MEng in Chemical Engineering. During his final year, he became interested in applying engineering principles to healthcare and disease, particularly designing soft materials for drug delivery. Following graduation with a First Class Hons, he pursued a PhD in Formulation Engineering, sponsored by the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, to develop novel material therapies for calcification diseases, including heterotopic ossification and kidney stones. His postdoctoral work included designing material therapies to limit scarring in epidermolysis bullosa, and designing a medical device to combat burn wound infections. He was appointed as an Assistant Professor in 2024, to establish a research group to discover, develop, and translate healthcare materials.

Teaching

  • LM Advanced Therapeutic Medicine Products

Postgraduate supervision

Tom welcomes applications from enthusiastic scholars to pursue research degrees. Funded positions will be advertised on findaphd.com and through the HTI twitter account.


Research

Tom’s current research interests include:

  • Understanding and targeting the molecular mechanisms of disease, particularly in the context of fibrosis and mineralisation
  • Understanding the inherent therapeutic potential of polysaccharides
  • Developing intelligent, multiscale materials for specific medical applications
  • Delivery of healthcare materials, particularly through spraying and injection
  • Translation of medical devices for patient benefit

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Robinson, TE, Clark, C, Moakes, RJA, Schofield, Z, Moiemen, N, Geoghegan, JA & Grover, LM 2025, 'Simultaneous viscoelasticity and sprayability in antimicrobial acetic acid-alginate fluid gels', Biomaterials advances, vol. 166, 214051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioadv.2024.214051

Robinson, TE, Brunet, MY, Chapple, I, Heagerty, AHM, Metcalfe, AD & Grover, LM 2023, 'Self‐Delivering Microstructured Iota Carrageenan Spray Inhibits Fibrosis at Multiple Length Scales', Advanced NanoBiomed Research, vol. 3, no. 9, 2300048. https://doi.org/10.1002/anbr.202300048

Sui, C, Robinson, TE, Williams, RL, Eisenstein, NM & Grover, LM 2023, 'Triggered metabolism of adenosine triphosphate as an explanation for the chemical heterogeneity of heterotopic ossification', Communications Chemistry, vol. 6, no. 1, 227. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-023-01015-z

Barroso, IA, Man, K, Hall, TJ, Robinson, TE, Louth, SET, Cox, SC & Ghag, AK 2022, 'Photocurable antimicrobial silk-based hydrogels for corneal repair', Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, vol. 110, no. 7, pp. 1401-1415. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm.a.37381

Pires Moedas De Almeida Barros, I, Man, K, Robinson, T, Cox, S & Ghag, A 2022, 'Photocurable GelMA adhesives for corneal perforations', Bioengineering, vol. 9, no. 3, 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering9020053

Bassett, DC, Robinson, TE, Hill, RJ, Grover, LM & Barralet, JE 2022, 'Self-assembled calcium pyrophosphate nanostructures for targeted molecular delivery', Biomaterials advances, vol. 140, 213086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.213086

Moakes, R, Senior, JJ, Robinson, T, Chipara, M, Naylor, A, Metcalfe, T, Smith, AM & Grover, L 2021, 'A suspended layer additive manufacturing approach to the bioprinting of tri-layered skin equivalents', APL Bioengineering, vol. 5, no. 4, 046103 . https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0061361

Hughes, EAB, Robinson, TE, Moakes, RJA, Chipara, M & Grover, LM 2021, 'Controlled self-assembly of chemical gardens enables fabrication of heterogeneous chemobrionic materials', Communications Chemistry, vol. 4, no. 1, 145. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-021-00579-y

Robinson, TE, Arkinstall, LA, Cox, SC & Grover, LM 2021, 'Determining the Structure of Hexametaphosphate by Titration and 31P-NMR Spectroscopy', Comments on Inorganic Chemistry, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02603594.2021.1973444

Man, K, Brunet, MY, Louth, S, Robinson, TE, Fernandez-Rhodes, M, Williams, S, Federici, AS, Davies, OG, Hoey, DA & Cox, SC 2021, 'Development of a Bone-Mimetic 3D Printed Ti6Al4V Scaffold to Enhance Osteoblast-Derived Extracellular Vesicles' Therapeutic Efficacy for Bone Regeneration', Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, vol. 9, 757220. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2021.757220

Lowther, M, Robinson, TE, Villapun, VM, Stark, CP, Grover, LM & Cox, SC 2021, 'Formulation of inherently antimicrobial magnesium oxychloride cement and the effect of supplementation with silver phosphate', Materials Science and Engineering C, vol. 126, 112158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msec.2021.112158

Robinson, TE, Moakes, RJA & Grover, LM 2021, 'Low Acyl Gellan as an Excipient to Improve the Sprayability and Mucoadhesion of Iota Carrageenan in a Nasal Spray to Prevent Infection With SARS-CoV-2', Frontiers in Medical Technology, vol. 3, 687681. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmedt.2021.687681

Robinson, TE, Hughes, EAB, Bose, A, Cornish, EA, Teo, JY, Eisenstein, NM, Grover, LM & Cox, SC 2020, 'Filling the Gap: A Correlation between Objective and Subjective Measures of Injectability', Advanced Healthcare Materials, vol. 9, no. 5, 1901521. https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.201901521

Comment/debate

Moakes, RJA, Senior, JJ, Robinson, TE, Chipara, M, Atanasov, A, Naylor, A, Metcalfe, AD, Smith, AM & Grover, LM 2023, 'Publisher's Note: “A suspended layer additive manufacturing approach to the bioprinting of tri-layered skin equivalents” [APL Bioeng. 5, 046103 (2021)]', APL Bioengineering, vol. 7, no. 2, 029901. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0151285

Review article

Moakes, RJA, Grover, LM & Robinson, TE 2022, 'Can We Structure Biomaterials to Spray Well Whilst Maintaining Functionality?', Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland), vol. 10, no. 1, 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10010003

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