Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Ahmed M Eissa

Assistant Professor


Portrait of Ahmed Eissa

Dr Eissa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, working across, Chemistry, Engineering and Life Sciences to develop bioactive and bio-inspired macromolecules and biomaterials.

Ahmed studied Chemistry for his first degree at Ain-Shams University in Cairo graduating with Honours and finishing third top of his year. Following a three year spell in pro squash and badminton tours, he returned to science to pursue a career in academia. In 2005, he successfully completed his M.Sc. in Polymer Chemistry at Ain–Shams University, Cairo and was appointed as a Research Associate in the National Research Centre in Cairo. In 2006, Ahmed was awarded a fully funded Ph.D. studentship and moved west to carry out his Ph.D. studies at the University of Durham, UK, graduating in 2011 with a thesis titled “Synthesis and Characterisation of Novel Biopolymers via ‘Click’ Chemistry”, under the supervision of Dr. Ezat Khosravi. Between 2011 and 2014, as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the group of Prof. Neil Cameron at Durham, he was able to translate his skills to design macromolecules and materials that interfere or mimic biological processes, leading to therapeutic or biotechnological applications. In September 2014, Ahmed took up a research fellowship position in Engineering at Warwick University, UK, with an adjunct position at Monash University, Australia. In this role, he embarked on independent research career in the area of Biomedical Polymer Materials. Following a promotion to a Senior Research Fellow, in 2018, Ahmed took a group leader position in the Department of Chemistry at Warwick, working with Prof. David Haddleton.

A dot M dot Eissa at warwick dot ac dot uk

024 765 24986

Office C2.12

Eissa Group

Image result for follow us on twitter

 

Groups at Warwick


Affiliations


Biography

  • 2021 - Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick
  • 2020 - Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Polymers, National Research Centre, Egypt
  • 2018 - Senior Research Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick
  • 2017 - 2018 Monash-Warwick Alliance Senior Research Fellow, School of Engineering, University of Warwick
  • 2014 - 2017 Monash-Warwick Alliance Research Fellow, School of Engineering, University of Warwick
  • 2015 - 2017 Monash-Warwick Alliance Adjunct Research Fellow, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Australia
  • 2011 - 2014 Post Doctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, Durham University
  • 2006 - 2011 PhD, Department of Chemistry, Durham University

I am working on the following projects at the moment:

  • Functional Highly Porous Polymer Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
  • Bioactive Hydrogels as Extracellular Matrix Mimics
  • 3D Printed Scaffolds for Organ-on-a-Chip Devices
  • Photocurable Resins for Dental Applications
  • Developing an In Vitro 3D Model of Human Endometrium Using Biomaterials
  • Emulsion-Templated Porous Polymer Scaffolds for Mimicking the Bone Marrow Niche
  • Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerisation Techniques as Platforms for Functional Materials
  • Glycopolymers and Glyco-nanoparticles as Therapeutics and Nanocarriers in Medicine and Biotechnology
  • Giant Vesicles and Polymersomes as Simple Cell Mimics

My research interests lie at the interface between Polymer Chemistry and Biology and much of our work involves working across-disciplines (Chemistry, Engineering and Life Sciences) to solve societal/industrial problems. My team utilises living polymerisation techniques (e.g. RDRP and ionic) and modern synthetic chemistry (such as Click chemistry) to create designed novel macromolecules and materials as new tools for chemistry and biology with particular emphasis on bioactive and bio-inspired polymers; sustainable polymers; supramolecular chemistry and self-assembly; glycopolymers and glyco-nanoparticles; giant vesicles; synthetic biology and protocells; antimicrobial and antiviral polymers; polypeptides and bioconjugation; biomaterials; bioactive hydrogels; 3D (bio)printing technologies; emulsion-templated porous polymer scaffolds; 3D cell/tissue culture, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine; porous materials and membranes; supported catalysts; separation techniques, energy storage and batteries.

I participating in both under-graduate and post-graduate teaching activities. Currently teaching on the following modules

Post-graduate teaching:

  • CH972, Polymer MSc – Group Research Projects (Module Leader, Lecturer);
  • CH967, Polymer MSc – Polymer Synthesis (Lecturer);
  • CH982, Polymer MSc – Physical Properties of Polymers and Nanocomposites (Lecturer);
  • ES970G, Biomedical Eng MSc – Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (Co-Module Leader, Lecturer)

Under-graduate teaching:

  • CH161, Year 1 – Introduction to Organic Chemistry (Tutor);
  • CH3G0, Year 3 – Extended Labs (Supervisor);
  • CH401, Year 4 – Practical Research Projects (Supervisor);

I am currently supervising the following students:

  • Emma Salisbury, 1st yr PhD - Developing a 3D Model of the Human Endometrium Using Biomaterials
  • Josh Swindell, MChem - Functional Emulsion-Templated Porous Polymer Scaffolds for Biological Applications

I am also co-supervising several PhD students in Haddleton Group: Chris Atkins (4th yr PhD); Yongguang Li (4th yr PhD); Yujing Chang (4th yr PhD); Spyros Efstathiou (3rd yr PhD); Jirui Zhang (3rd yr PhD); Despina Coursari (2nd yr PhD)


If you are interested in joining my team as a PDRA, PhD student or even short term research project student, please feel free to contact me to discuss options.

Please check links below for a full list of publications

Google Scholar logo 2015.PNG

orcid logo

* denotes corresponding authorship

A Hall, J Blakeman, AM Eissa, P Chapman, ALM García, L Stennett, O Martin, E Giraud, DH Dockrell, NR Cameron, M Wiese, L Yakob, M Rogers, M Geoghegan “Glycan-glycan interactions determine Leishmania attachment to the midgut of permissive sand fly vectors”, Chemical Science 2020, 11, 10973-10983.

CJ Atkins, DK Seow, G Burns, JS Town, RA Hand, DW Lester, NR Cameron, DM Haddleton,* AM Eissa*Branched macromonomers from catalytic chain transfer polymerisation (CCTP) as precursors for emulsion-templated porous polymers”, Polymer Chemistry 2020, 11, 3841.

CE Severn, AM Eissa, CR Langford, A Parker, M Walker, JGG Dobbe, G Streekstra, NR Cameron, AM Toye* “Ex vivo culture of adult CD34+ stem cells using functional highly porous polymer scaffolds to establish biomimicry of the bone marrow niche”, Biomaterials 2019, 225, 1195332.

JL Ratcliffe, M Walker, AM Eissa, S Du, SA Przyborski, AL Laslett, NR Cameron* “Optimized peptide functionalization of thiol-acrylate emulsion-templated porous polymers leads to expansion of human pluripotent stem cells in 3D culture”, Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry 2019, 57, 1974.

SA Richardson, TM Rawlings, J Muter, M Walker, JJ Brosens*, NR Cameron*, AM Eissa*Covalent attachment of fibronectin onto emulsion-templated porous polymer scaffolds enhances human endometrial stromal cell adhesion, infiltration, and function”, Macromolecular bioscience 2019, 19(2), 1800351.

L Martin, P Gurnani, J Zhang, M Hartlieb, NR Cameron, AM Eissa*, S Perrier* “Polydimethylsiloxane-based giant glycosylated polymersomes with tunable bacterial affinity”, Biomacromolecules 2019, 20(3), 1297.

Y Luo, Y Gu, R Feng, J Brash, AM Eissa, DM Haddleton*, G Chen*, H Chen* “Synthesis of glycopolymers with specificity for bacterial strains via bacteria-guided polymerization”, Chemical science 2019, 10, 5251.

CJ Atkins, G Patias, JS Town, AM Wemyss, AM Eissa, A Shegiwal, DM Haddleton* “A simple and versatile route to amphiphilic polymethacrylates: catalytic chain transfer polymerisation (CCTP) coupled with post-polymerisation modifications”, Polymer Chemistry 2019, 10(5), 646.

AM Eissa*, FSV Barros, P Vrljicak, JJ Brosens*, NR Cameron* “Enhanced differentiation potential of primary human endometrial cells cultured on 3D scaffolds”, Biomacromolecules 2018, 19(8), 3343.

JG Binfield, JC Brendel, NR Cameron, AM Eissa*, S Perrier* “Imaging proton transport in giant vesicles through cyclic peptide–polymer conjugate nanotube transmembrane ion channels”, Macromolecular rapid communications 2018, 39(19), 1700831.

AM Eissa*, P Wilson, C Chen, J Collins, M Walker, DM Haddleton, NR Cameron “Reversible surface functionalisation of emulsion-templated porous polymers using dithiophenol maleimide functional macromolecules”, Chemical Communications 2017, 53(70), 9789.

C Chen, AM Eissa*, TL Schiller, NR Cameron*, "Emulsion-templated porous polymers prepared by thiol-ene and thiol-yne photopolymerisation using multifunctional acrylate and non-acrylate monomers", Polymer 2017, 126, 395.

A Kubilis, A Abdulkarim, AM Eissa*, NR Cameron* “Giant polymersome protocells dock with virus particle mimics via multivalent glycan-lectin interactions”, Scientific Reports 2016, 6, 32414.

AM Eissa,* A Abdulkarim, GJ Sharples, NR Cameron,* “Glycosylated nanoparticles as efficient antimicrobial delivery agents”, Biomacromolecules 2016, 7(8), 2672.

PM Antonik, AM Eissa, AR Round, NR Cameron, PB Crowley* “Noncovalent PEGylation via lectin–glycopolymer interactions”, Biomacromolecules 2016, 17(8), 2719.

AM Eissa*, E Khosravi* “Comb-like graft copolymers of poly(oxa)norbornene: efficient synthesis using a combination of ROMP and click chemistry”, Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics 2015, 216, 964.

AS Hayward, AM Eissa, DJ Maltman, N Sano, SA Przyborski, NR Cameron* “Galactose-functionalised polystyrene-based polyHIPE scaffolds for use in routine three dimensional culture of mammalian hepatocytes”, Biomacromolecules 2013, 14 (12), 4271.

AM Eissa, M Smith, A Kubilis, JA Mosely, NR Cameron* “Polymersome-forming amphiphilic glycosylated polymers: synthesis and characterization”, Journal Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry 2013, 51, 5184.

AM Eissa, NR Cameron “Glycopolymer conjugatesAdvances in Polymer Science 2013, 253, 71.

AM Eissa, E Khosravi*, AL Cimecioglu “A versatile method for functionalization and grafting of 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) via click chemistry”, Carbohydrate Polymers 2012, 90 (2), 859.

AM Eissa and E Khosravi,* “Synthesis of a new smart temperature responsive glycopolymer via click-polymerisation”, European Polymer Journal 2011, 47 (1), 61.