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Aline Miller

Prof

 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2731-3536

Accepting PhD Students

Personal profile

Biography

Aline is Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, and Associate Dean for Business Engagement and Innovation within the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Chief Scientific Officer of Unit M at the University of Manchester. She is Director of the NW Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst – a £5m flagship programme supercharging the growth of careers, business and our regional economy, while delivering sustainable products and processes.

Aline studied Chemistry at Strathclyde University and carried out her PhD research at Durham University, followed by postdoctoral work in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University where she held a Junior Research Fellowship with Murray Edwards College. In 2002, she joined Manchester as Lecturer and was promoted to Chair in 2014. In her role she has led academic and commercial R&D teams working at the life-science interface where her research interests converge on understanding the self-assembly of peptides, proteins and polymers across the length scales for material design and application. This work has led to several academic awards, including recognition from the Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society of Chemistry, Women in Engineering, The Leverhulme Trust and Great British Entrepreneur Awards. She has a strong track record of raising funds and translating academic research into the commercial and clinical setting through industrial collaboration with a range of industrial partners from SMEs to corporates, and through establishing a spin out company, Manchester BIOGEL. Under her leadership the company raised £4M+ in investment from Innovate UK, Venture Capital, Private and Catapult Venture Funds, grew to a team of 10 and became revenue generating. This led to Manchester BIOGEL being listed as one of the Top 10 BioTech Start-Ups in Europe by Start-Up City in 2021, winning Best New Life Science Product 2021 and navigating a successful exit, with the company technology being sold onto Cell Guidance Systems in 2023.

Aline is also Elected Trustee of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Trustee of The Humane Research Trust, Member of the Industrial Committee for the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) and Director of the Bio-Based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA).

Qualifications

1997 - 2000    PhD in Polymer Science, Durham University. Viva date 18.12.2000.
Thesis title: Organisation and Dynamics of Well-Defined Graft Copolymers at the Air-Water Interface. Supervisor Prof. Randal Richards.
 
1993 - 1997    B.Sc. First Class Honours in Chemistry, Strathclyde University.
Awarded 14.06.1997.
 
1995 - 1996    Undergraduate exchange year, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA.

Prizes and awards

2025     Royal Society of Chemistry MacroGroup UK Medal

2025     Northern Power Women’s Award

2022     Top 50 Women in Engineering Award from the UK Women’s Engineering Society

2021     Recognised as the Top Ten European Biotech Start-Up Companies – Manchester BIOGEL Ltd

2021     Most Impactful Emerging Technology for our PeptiGels® at Lab Innovations

2021     Finalist for Great British Start Up Entrepreneur

2019     Alderley Park Accelerator – Business Pitch Winner

2014     Philip Leverhulme Prize for Engineering

2008     Royal Society of Chemistry Macro Group UK Young Researchers Medal

2008     Institute of Physics PPG / American Physical Society DPOLY Young Researchers Award

2004     Exxon Mobil Teaching Fellowship

2001     New Hall Junior Research Fellowship

2000     First prize for oral presentation at the Young Persons Macro Group conference

1999    ICI-Dupont Prize.

1999    D. H. Richards Award.

1997    Sir George Beilby Memorial Medal.

1996    Hackman Scholarship Research Award.

1996    Dean’s Honours Award.

1995    William Marr Dux Award.

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

  • Elected Trustee of the Royal Society of Chemistry 2023 –

                            Member of the Finance Resource Board

    Director and Trustee of The Humane Research Trust 2023 –

    Member of EPSRC College.

    Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

                            Elected Biomaterials committee member 2008-14

    Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

                            Elected onto the Polymer Physics Group, Institute of Physics; Member (2009-20), Secretary & Treasurer (2012-17) and Chair (2017-20)

    Elected Biological Physics Group Member 2010-2012

    Recent Appointees in Polymer Science.  (2002-2007).

                            Elected Committee Member & Treasurer 2002-2007

  •  

Research interests

Work is currently split into three themes as described below:
Understanding and Exploiting Protein Self-Assembly

We are exploring the specific rules and general paradigms that govern protein self-assembly. In particular we are concentrating on how proteins un-fold, and self-assemble into fibrillar structures, and subsequently into an array of higher ordered supramolecular structures on the micro, meso and macroscopic length-scales. We are mapping out the phase behaviour of such systems to understand the influence of concentration, pH, ionic strength, temperature and presence of the denaturing agents such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). This has particular relevance for biopharmaceutical applications and we are also using the knowledge to design novel biomaterials for therapeutic and tissue engineering applications.

The organisation and dynamics of such systems at the air-water interface are also of interest.

From Fibres to Networks Using Self-Assembling Peptides.

Molecular self-assembly is a powerful tool for the preparation of materials with a wide variety of properties. This is illustrated by the abundance of self-assembled proteins and polysaccharides encountered in nature. In particular peptide materials are attracting increasing attention as small peptides are easy to design and synthesise with defined structure and function that self-assemble into 3D structures that are able to support the growth of a wide of variety of cell types. However their effective design and application is currently limited as the fundamental link between building block structure, mesoscopic structure, material properties and cell response has yet to be elucidated.

Our group is working towards addressing this by focussing on a number of key-issues to enable understanding and control of peptide self-assembly. Consequently we will be able to direct the morphology (e.g.: fiber size, porosity, roughness) and mechanical properties (e.g.: modulus, viscosity) of our materials and tailor them to specific application needs. In particular we are elucidating the molecular drivers for peptide self-assembly across the length scales by synthesising octa peptides with different amino acid sequences to systematically examine the effect of hydrophobicity, charge distribution and amino acid size/type. We are also fully characterising the structure and properties of the functional self-assembled networks and exploring their potential for therapeutic and clinical application.

Surfaces and Interfaces:
We are interested in understanding and manipulating molecular behaviour at the air-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces. One avenue we are exploring focuses’ on the ability of surfactants and polymers to promote, or inhibit, crystallization of small molecules. For example we are using surfactant and hydroxyl based polymers to promote ice crystallisation at the oil-water and air-water interfaces which has implications for the ice-cream industry. This work will be extended to investigate the effect of antifreeze proteins on ice crystal morphology

My group

Teaching

CH20141 Second Year Chemical Reaction Engineering

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Manchester Regenerative Medicine Network
  • Advanced materials
  • Advanced Materials in Medicine
  • Sustainable Futures
  • Christabel Pankhurst Institute
  • Manchester Institute of Biotechnology

Keywords

  • polymer
  • hydrogel
  • interface.
  • biopolymer
  • peptide protein
  • self-assembly

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