Suzi Melotti Research Assistant/Lab Manager
As a research assistant, Suzi works primarily on the R01 grant from the National Eye Institue. The main aim of this grant is to develop an artificial cornea. The human cornea is made up of many sheets of orthgonally aligned collagen; this collagen is highly aligned, and it is this arrangement that offers the cornea its transparency.
Experimentally, we will attempt to replicate this by aligning collagen, and seeding it with corneal fibroblast cells, in the hope that the cells will use the already aligned collagen as a guide for producing their own collagen.
Once these constructs have been grown, they are subjected to a number of microscopy procedures, dynamic mechanical analysis and transparency testing, to see how well they compare to a normal human cornea.
As a lab manager, Suzi is responsible for the day to day running of the lab.
Undergraduate Education
BSc. Hons. Biochemistry and Physiology, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 1999
Work Experience
Suzi previously worked as a Research Assistant for Cambridge Polymer Group, a small biotechnology company in Boston. There she worked on grant funded projects and inhouse development, mostly on materials for implantation into the body, such as polyethylenes and gels.
Publications/Posters
- Ruberti, Guo, Melotti, Hutcheon, and Zieske. Three dimensional organization of cells and matrix in stromal constructs secreted by human primary corneal fibroblasts. Invest. Opthalmol. Sci. 2006 (47) Abstract.
- Ruberti and Melotti, Corneal and Scleral collagens assessed by modulated differential calorimetry, IOVS 45 (Suppl). Poster, 2003.
- Melotti, Braithwaite, Fudge and Gosline "The Rheology of Hagfish Mucins", Society of Rheology, Presentation 2003.
- Muratoglu, Ruberti, Spiegelberg, Melotti, Greenbaum and Harris. Optical analysis of surface changes on early retrievals of highly cross-linked and conventional polyethylene tibial inserts. Journal of Arthroplasty 2003. Oct; 18 (42-7)