Professor Karen Coopman has a long-standing interest in healthcare. After achieving her BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology at the University of Bristol, she completed her PhD exploring the expression and role of cannabinoid receptors in T lymphocytes at the University of Bath.

This was followed by a two-year Research Associate position at the University of Leicester, sponsored by AstraZeneca. She worked on a project which focused on the molecular pharmacology and cellular signalling of the GLP-1 receptor.

She has been an academic at Loughborough since 2008, helping to establish and run the Centre for Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine of which she has been the Director since 2015. Her Research Group works at the interface between biology and engineering, focusing on the manufacture of cell-based therapies and tissue engineered constructs.

Alongside her teaching and research, she is the School of Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering’s Associate Dean for Research and Innovation. She is the Chair of ESACT-UK, an Executive Editor for Biotechnology Letters, and is on the iUK Transforming Medicines Manufacturing Community of Practice Advisory Board.