Elizabeth Ratcliffe

Dr Elizabeth Ratcliffe is a Senior Lecturer in Bioengineering at Loughborough University, serving as Academic Lead for Inclusive Engineering and the People to Products Research Cluster. She directs the Royal Academy of Engineering-funded Inclusive Engineering Excellence Hub, focusing on biological engineering solutions for Regenerative Medicine, Gene Therapies, and Antimicrobial Resistance challenges.

Her academic qualifications:

• PhD in Molecular Medical Biology, University of Nottingham (2004-2007)
• MSc Molecular Medical Microbiology, University of Nottingham (2002-2003)
• BSc (Hons) Microbiology, University of Nottingham (1999-2002)

Ratcliffe pioneers Synthetic Biology applications in cell-based product engineering and implements Quality Engineering tools like Response Surface Methods to enhance stem cell bioprocessing consistency. Her work develops advanced automated cell culture platforms for regenerative medicine manufacturing with industry partners including Pfizer and GE Healthcare.

Key honors include:

• Vice Chancellor’s Lectureship (2016)
• EPSRC Impact Acceleration Enterprise Fellowship (2014-2016)
• IChemE Global Awards High Commendation (2022)
• FHEA (2018), CSci and CBiol (2014)

She secured major funding including £400k VC Research Cluster award and £480k DIGILabs Project grant, leading multiple PhD studentships and collaborative projects within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative Medicine.

Dr Ratcliffe contributes to Loughborough's Centre for Biological Engineering and Biotechnology research groups, advancing inclusivity in engineering through the Excellence Hub's virtual reality biolab initiatives and curriculum development.