Bringing together nature-inspired engineering and intelligent automation

UCL East hosted “Nature-Inspired Engineering: From Biological Principles to Intelligent Automation” on 24 February, bringing together researchers across biology, materials science, chemical engineering and automation.

It was the sort of event that exemplifies the multidisciplinary thinking at the core of what we do at our East Campus, bringing academics from differing fields together to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

The event opened with a keynote from Professor Marc‑Olivier Coppens, who highlighted how natural principles—such as hierarchical transport networks, force balancing and self‑organisation—are driving new innovations in manufacturing, architecture and medicine.

The programme featured speakers from across UCL:

• Dr Nidhi Kapil presented innovations in nano-material manufacturing, including antimicrobial surfaces engineered using gold nanoparticles.
• Dr Leonardo Rios-Solis showcased advances in automated bioprocess engineering and cellular agriculture, demonstrating how integrated biology–automation workflows are accelerating scalable biomanufacturing.
• Dr Diego López Barreiro explored how protein-based structural materials—shaped by precise control of amino acid sequence and processing conditions—are paving the way for next-generation applications such as soft robotics.
• Jacob Danks highlighted robotics-driven, fully automated high-throughput workflows that enable rapid synthesis and characterisation of novel nanomaterials.

A special invited talk by Professor Christopher C.W. Hughes highlighted vascularised cancer models that closely mimic human tissues, reducing reliance on animal testing.

Two structured “perspective sessions” explored how automation enables nature-inspired engineering and how biological principles can improve automation design.

The event concluded with laboratory tours, showcasing UCL East’s facilities and reinforcing its leadership in nature-inspired and automated manufacturing research.

The event was delivered in collaboration with the London Lab Automation Community and co‑organized by Dr Solomon Bawa. Dr Su Jerwood and Dr David Brown. Special thanks to Professor Gary Lye, Director of the Manufacturing Futures Lab (MFL), and Dr Max Besenhard, Programme Lead for the Digital Manufacturing of Advanced Materials MSc, as well as the team of volunteers.