Dr. Laura Poole Warren

Biography

Professor Laura Poole-Warren leads a research group focused on the design and development of novel materials for neural electrodes and soft-tissue interfaces, as well as 3D engineered neural tissue models. A key theme of her work is the design of new biosynthetic materials and understanding the interactions between materials, devices, cells, and tissues. Over her career, she has worked in academia, industry, and with government bodies. She was a research professor at the New Jersey Centre for Biomaterials based at Rutgers University in the USA, where she served as a preclinical scientist in the biomedical industry specializing in the development of wound dressings and embolic agents for cancer treatment from 1999 to 2001. Between 2003 and 2013, she served as a member of the Australian Government's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) statutory expert committee on the safety of medical devices. From 2005 to 2018, Laura held leadership appointments within the UNSW Faculty of Engineering, including Associate Dean of Research and Pro Vice-Chancellor, and was the Dean of Graduate Research. She is also the inaugural chair of the Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR) and represents Australia at the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering. Laura was awarded the honour of Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in January 2020 for her service to Biomedical Engineering education and has been recognized as a Fellow of four academies, including ATSE, AIMBE, IUSBSE, and the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Research Interests