belac1848 t1_jckpfrv wrote on March 17, 2023 at 3:16 PM

Hello, Nazia, and thank you for joining!

Question for you: With all the fringe group hubub surrounding "micro chipping" in COVID vaccines and such, has your research received any scrutiny, harassment, disapproval from those who worry about "surveillance" and the likes? Don't support their stance at all, but curious if the whole idea of putting new technology into the human body has received significant push back, especially from online groups, in the last, say, five years or so.

UniversityofBath OP t1_jd3ju68 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:12 PM

Hello! An interesting question. My work is designed to help patients deal with problems that surgery often can't fix. The materials I create are tailored to address specific diseases or tissue damage to restore function for that patient and reduce pain/ discomfort. The materials are designed to mimic biological tissue and there are no microchips involved in the process and therefore reduced chance of 'surveillance'. In fact we take active steps so the body can't tell the difference between healthy tissue and our materials! I guess all new technologies and ideas receive some type of push back but this is why we include the 'end user' in our processes.