Research

We work at the interface of material sciences, biology, and physiopathology, using the most advanced methodologies in each area to reveal which physicochemical or biological features of nanomaterials are the most likely to induce inflammation, genotoxicity or toxic reactions, with the ultimate aim to guide the production of safer nanomaterials using a safer-by-design approach.

Using carbon nanomaterials, in particular graphene based and two-dimensional materials, as case study, we have shown that dimensions, surface properties such as surface chemistry, and the ability of nanomaterials to adsorb biological molecules (bio-corona) are three essential parameters that can be used to predict the toxicity or inertness of manufactured nanomaterials.

Our team is currently contributing to one EU project funded under the H2020 programme, 

• PLASTICHEAL , in which we aim to understand better the fate and effects of micro and nanoplastics after inhalation and ingestion

Teaching

• Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health: MBChB, MPharm, UG biological sciences, and PGT programmes
• Faculty of Sciences and Engineering: CDT Graphene programme 

University of Manchester Roles

• Research Project Supervisor for UG and PG students
• Academic Advisor for UG and PG students
• Management Board Member, Centre for Doctoral Training GRAPHENE NOWNANO
• Academic Coordinator for public engagement activities, Centre for Doctoral Training GRAPHENE NOWNANO
• Biological Safety Advisor (BSA), AV Hill Building working group, FBMH committee
• Divisional H&S and wellbeing lead for DIIIRM, SBS

Affiliations

• National Graphene Institute
• Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials Research and Innovation  | Biomedical Materials
• Advanced Materials in Medicine Network (cross-cutting capability, biocompatibility, champion)
• Thomas Ashton Institute  for Risk and Regulatory Research (joint initiative of the University of Manchester and the Health and Safety Executive)
• Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation 
• Manchester Environmental Research Institute 
• Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre

Employment history

• 2022 - present | Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, School of Biological Sciences
• 2013-2022 | Lecturer at the University of Manchester
• 2011 - 2013 | Marie Sklodowska-Curie career development Fellowship (EU-FP7, NanoNeuroHOP project) at UCL School of Pharmacy, University College London, UK. Project aiming to reveal the neuro safety profile of different carbon based materials, modified for biomedical applications.

• 2010 - 2011 | Visiting Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Nanomedicine Lab, UCL School of Pharmacy, University College London, UK. Project aiming to assess the neuro safety profile of carbon nanotubes functionalised for biomedical applications. Project co-funded by French Government (Grenelle de l'Environment).

• 2007 - 2010 | C'NanoIDF Postdoctoral Research Fellow at INSERM (U955, Paris-Est University) and CNRS (UMR 8502, University of Paris-Saclay); visiting PDRA at CEA-CNRS (UMR 3685, University of Paris-Saclay), France. Project aiming to evaluate how the physico-chemical properties of carbon nanotubes influence their biological impacts on pulmonary macrophages, in the context of occupational exposure. This project was a collorative work between the Mondor Institute for Biomedical Research (IMRB, INSERM U955), the Laboratoire de Physique des Solides (CNRS UMR 8502), NIMBE unit: Nanosciences et Innovation pour les Matériaux, la Biomédecine et l'Énergie (Laboratoire Edifices Nanométriques; CEA-CNRS UMR 3685), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ID21 group), and the chemicals and advanced materials specialist group Arkema. This work received fundings from the French National Research Agency (research) and the Nanosciences Cluster of the Ile-de-France region (fellowship).

• 2006 - 2007 | Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Technology Compiegne (CNRS UMR 7338), France. Project aiming to investigate the biocompatibility of innovative pectin-based nanocoatings for implants and prosthesis. This industrial application-driven project was funded by the European Commission FP6 Pecticoat project (Nanobiotechnology for the coating of medical devices).

• 2002 - 2005 | PhD research candidate/engineer at IRSN (Radiotoxicology and Radiobiology Lab) and IRBA (Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées, former CRSSA, part of the French Defence Health Service), France. Project aiming to assess the neurotoxicity of radionucleides at environmental doses (project ENVIRHOM). This research was co-funded by the French Union Chamber of Mineral Waters (including Danone Group, Nestle Waters France, Neptune).

Qualifications

• 2005 | PhD. in Toxicology, University of Paris, France
• 2002 | MRes. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Technology Compiègne, Sorbonne University, France (research project at CNRS Biomechanics & Bioengineering in collaboration with Le Mans Technology Transfer Centre)
• 2001 | MSc. in Cell Biology, Physiology and Microbiology, University Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France (research project at Pasteur Institute, Rabies Virus Unit, Paris)
• 2000 | BSc. in Cell Biology, Physiology and Microbiology, University Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France (final year research project in private lab)

• nanosafety ; graphene safety
• nanomaterials and environmental health (nano-EHS)
• carbon-based nanomaterials
• carbon nanomaterial doped polymers
• biodegradation of carbon nanomaterials

• biomaterials ; biocompatibility of nanomaterials
• neuroscience
• neurotoxicology
• stem cells

• mammalian cell cultures
• primary cell cultures: lung and peritoneal macrophages, brain cells
• organotypic cell cultures
• in vivo studies
• cryo-/micro-/ultramicro-tomy
• histology
• immunohisto-/cyto-chemistry
• cytotoxicity assays
• RT-PCR
• fluorescence imaging (epifluorescence, confocal)
• electronic imaging (TEM, HR-TEM, S-TEM (EELS), SEM, env-SEM, cryo-TEM, cryo-SEM, FIB-SEM) and biological sample preparation

• chemical imaging (synchrotron X-Ray microfluorescence, lab-based X-Ray microfluorescence, particle induced X-Ray emission (ion microbeam), Raman microscopy) and biological sample preparation

• Prof. Kostas Kostarelos, National Graphene Institute and School of Biological Sciences, FBMH, UoM
• Prof. Cinzia Casiraghi, National Graphene Institute and Department of Chemistry, FSE, UoM
• Prof. Tracy Hussell, Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, School of Biological Sciences, FBMH, UoM
• Prof. Andrew McDonald, Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, School of Biological Sciences, FBMH, UoM
• Prof. Sheena Cruickshank, Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, School of Biological Sciences, FBMH, UoM
• Prof. Holly Shiels, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, FBMH, UoM
• Prof. Martie van Tongeren, Division of Population Health, Health Services Research & Primary Care, School of Health Sciences, FBMH, UoM
• Dr. Mark Miller, the University of Edinburgh, BHF Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, Edinburgh, UK
• Prof. Alberto Bianco, CNRS, UPR 3572, Strasbourg, France
• Dr. Cecilia Menard-Moyon, CNRS, UPR 3572, Strasbourg, France
• Prof. Emmanuel Flahaut, CNRS, CIRIMAT, Toulouse, France
• Dr. Frederic Taran, CEA, Saclay, France
• Dr. Sophie Lanone, INSERM U955, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomedicale, UPEC, France
• Prof. Jorge Boczkowski (MD, PhD, PU-PH), INSERM U955, Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomedicale, UPEC, France
• Dr. Diego Stefani Teodoro Martinez, CNPEM - National Center for Research in Energy and Materials, Campinas, Brazil
• Prof. Bengt Fadeel, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
• Prof. Peter Wick, EMPA, Switzerland
• Prof. Jose A Garrido, ICN2, Barcelona, Spain
• Prof. Alba Hernandez Bonilla, UAB, Barcelona Spain
• Dr Julia Catalan, FIOH, Helzinki, Finland
• Dr Irina Estrela-Lopis, ULEI, Leipzig, Germany 

• EU Research Cluster to Understand the Health Impacts of Micro- and Nanoplastics
• EU Nanosafety Cluster
• ARET, french toxicology society
• CIFRU, network of French Scientists working in the UK
• Marie Sklodowska-Curie Alumni association 
• UTC Alumni association

Research with impact beyond academia:

• Our review article on graphene published in 2013, titled: ‘Safety considerations for graphene: lessons learnt from carbon nanotubes’ is featured as a guide to help inform in a special thematic issue of Science for Environment Policy, a free news and information service published by the European Commission’s Directorate-General Environment, which provides the latest environmental policy-relevant research findings. More details here

Engaging our communities:

• The CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) has released in its online journal for non-experts a special issue on graphene safety (2015), including informations based on an interview with Dr. Bussy (in French)

• Research article on carbon nanotubes published in 2008, titled: ‘Carbon Nanotubes in Macrophages: Imaging and Chemical Analysis by X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy’ is featured in the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility ESRF Highlights public newsletter

• Lab members contribute regularly to public engagement activities @ Manchester museum (the University of Manchester Community Festival ; the European Researchers' Night ; the Manchester Science Festival)

• Some of our experimental work on the interactions of carbon nanotubes with brain cells is amongst the finalists of the Wellcome Image Awards 2015, under the title “Delivering medicine to the brain” submitted by Dr. Al-Jamal. The FIB-cryo-SEM (Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy) image is of primary brain cell cultures prepared by Dr. Bussy at the Nanomedicine Lab, UCL School of Pharmacy led by Prof. Kostarelos (now relocated at the University of Manchester) and exposed to functionalised carbon nanotubes. The samples were imaged under a FEI Quanta 3D ESEM at the Queens’ Mary NanoVision Centre with the help of Kenneth Png (now applications specialist at Carl Zeiss NTS Ltd). This work was performed in collaboration with King’s College London (Dr. Al-Jamal), and the Neuroscience Institute at the National Research Centre (CNR) in Italy (Prof. Pizzorusso).You can read the full article related to this work here. The Wellcome Image Awards 2015 were on display across the UK and USA, including the  Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.

Members of the Team  

PDRA

• Dr Haojie Chen
  

PhD students

Main supervisor

• Aswin Kuttykattil ; Funded by the University of Manchester (2022-2026)
  
• Daniel Butterfield ; Funded by the University of Manchester, Graphene NowNANO (2022-2026)
• Lewis Hodgetts ; Funded by the COLT foundation (2024-2028)

Co-supervisor

• Nur Azeyanti Norhashim; Funded by Malaysian's government (2020-2024); Main supervisor: Prof Holly Shiels
• Joseph Morris, UKRI-EPSRC-CDT in Aerosol Sciences (2021-2025); Main supervisor: Prof Holly Shiels
• Leah Costello, UKRI-BBSRC-DTP (2021-2025); Main supervisor: Prof. Holly Shiels
• Zahrah Alfahmi, UAE gov funding (2022-2026); main supervisor: Prof. Holly Shiels
• Samantha Hall, UKRI-EPSRC-CDT in Aerosol Sciences, funded by Health and Safety Executive (2022-2028); main supervisor: Prof. Martie van Tongeren
• Johanna Smithson, UKRI-MRC-DTP (2023-2027); main supervisor: Prof. Holly Shiels
• Ellie Wilson, Royce Institute-University of Manchester (2023-2027); main supervisor: Dr Thomas McDonald
• Armin Markazi Omidvar, UKRI-EPSRC-CDT in Aerosol Sciences, co-funded by the UK Health Security Agency (2023-2027); Main supervisor: Prof. Sheena Cruickshank

 MRes/MSc students (research project)

Undergraduate students (research project)

Alumni

• Dr Corinne Portioli (visiting PhD student 2014, from University of Verona)
• Dr Nickolas Surawy Stepney (BSc in Pathology, 2015)
• Robert S. McFarlane (BSc in Pathology, 2016)
• Dr Oliver Carnell (MRes Translational Medicine, 2016)
  
• Jafar Alsarraf (MBChB, APEP Y3, 2017)
• Zachary Khoudi (MBChB, APEP Y3, 2017)
• Kelsey Bohnert (MRes Translational Medicine, 2017)
• Ashley Saunders (research assistant, 2018)
• Alexander Fordham (MRes Biochemistry, 2018)
• Hannan Xu (MRes Cell Biology, 2018)
• Iona Thelwall (Summer intern 2018, from University of York)
• Dr Lidiane Silva Franqui, Visiting PhD student from FT UNICAMP, LNNANO, CNPEM, Brazil (2018-2019) - ORCiD 0000-0002-7018-51
• Dr Christopher J Bullock, MRC/EPSRC-CDT Regenerative Medicine (2014-2018)
• Dr Artur Filipe Rodrigues, EPSRC-CDT Graphene NOWNANO (2014-2018) - ORCiD 0000-0002-4078-3455
• Benjamin O'Connor (MBChB, APEP Y3, 2019)
• Joseph Morris (BSc Biomedical Sciences, 2019)
• Justin Duruanyanwu (MSc Pharmacology, 2018-2019)
• Sundus Mohamed (MRes TERM, intercalating MBChB, 2019)
• Alexandra Gkoutzidou (co-supervision MPhil Material Sciences, 2017-2018)
• Atta Arshad (research assistant, 2019-2020)
• Tanisha Gilbert (MSc Molecular Pathology, 2020)
• Wei-an Chien (MSc Molecular Pathology, 2020)
• Betul Tekin (MSc Molecular Pathology, 2020)
• Chloe Hutchings (MSc pharmacology in 4 years, 2021)
• Milda Kirvaityte (UG Biomedical Sciences, 2021)
• Malik Ahmed (MPHARM, 2021)
• Ross Curwen (MSc Pharmaceutical Technology and Quality Assurance, 2020-2021)
• Dengxu Liu (MSc in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, 2021)
• Felicity Southern (MSc in Precision Medicine, 2021)
• James Wootton (MSc in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, 2022)
• Reuben Hewish (UG Biomedical Sciences, 2022)
• Jacob Howard Taylor (MSc in Nanomedicine by Research, 2022)
• James Wotton (MSc in TERM, 2022)
• Wenxin He (MSc Molecular Pathology, 2022)
• Dr Luis Augusto Visani de Luna (PDRA, 2018-2022) - ORCiD 0000-0003-0375-1064
• Dr Thomas Loret (PDRA, 2018-2023) ORCiD 0000-0001-9171-9819
• Lisi Ai (MSc TERM, 2023)
• To Kee (MSc Nanomed, 2023)
• Korndanai Thongsukh (MSc Nanomed, 2023)
• Sonja Holme (RA, 2022-2023)
• Dr Alexander Fordham (2019-2023)

2026

Impact of microplastics ingestion

Aswin Kuttykattil

submission expected September 2026

Degree: PhD Inflammation

Supervisors: Cyrill Bussy, Clare Mills, Peter Gardner

2025

 Air Pollution and Heart

 Joseph Morris

 submission expected September 2025

 Degree: PhD Env. Biology

 Supervisors: Holly Shiels, Sheena Cruickshank, Martie von Tongeren, Cyrill Bussy

2024

 Impact of plastic pollution on benthics species

 Nur Azeyanti Norhashim

 submission expected September 2024

 Degree: PhD Env. Biology

 Supervisors: Holly Shiels, Ian Kane, Adam Stevens, Cyrill Bussy

2022

Impact of two-dimensional materials on innate immune cell activation and function

Alexander Fordham

submission expected September 2022

Degree: PhD Graphene

Supervisors: Cyrill Bussy, Andrew McDonald

2019

Effects of Lateral Dimensions on the Pulmonary Impact of Graphene-Based Materials

Artur Filipe Rodrigues, completed 04/03/2019.

Degree: PhD Graphene

Supervisors: Cyrill Bussy, Kostas Kostarelos, Tracy Hussell

Graphene-Based Cell Culture Substrates for the Investigation of the Impact of Electrical Stimulation on Pluripotent Stem Cell Differentiation

Christopher John Bullock, completed 02/04/2019.

Degree: PhD Regenerative Medicine

Supervisors: Cyrill Bussy, Kostas Kostarelos, Jose Garrido, Paul Kempt

2018

The Structural Biodegradation of Graphene Oxide In Vivo

Leon Newman, completed 02/03/2018.

Degree: PhD Graphene

Supervisors: Kostas Kostarelos, Cyrill Bussy