Laura Wells
- Researcher, KHGRI
- Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen's University
- Drug delivery
- Tissue engineering
- Cataracts
- Macular degeneration
Dr. Laura Wells:
Dr. Wells graduated with a BSc (Eng) in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University in 2003, where she worked under the supervision of Dr. Brian Amsden in biomedical engineering. She completed her Master’s of Applied Science and PhD degrees in 2005 and 2010 respectively under the supervision of Dr. Heather Sheardown at McMaster University. Her doctoral work focused on smart drug delivery for ophthalmic applications. Dr. Wells completed a postdoctoral fellowship under the supervision of Dr. Michael Sefton at the University of Toronto, where she investigated the design of therapeutic polymers to improve device integration and promote vascular healing responses. She held a post-doctoral fellowship from the Canada Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and an NSERC postgraduate scholarship for her doctoral studies.
- PhD, MASc, McMaster University
- BSc (Eng.) Queen’s University
Dr. Wells is an accomplished researcher in the field of biomedical engineering, focusing on the development of new types of polymeric materials for drug delivery and tissue engineering in wound healing and treatments for eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts. She is particularly interested in how cells and materials interact, and is developing strategies for designing and synthesizing polymers that respond to biological and physical stimuli. Ultimately she hopes to create intelligent materials for use in implantable devices – such implantable lenses – capable of delivering drugs at rates and dosages that respond to these physical and biological cues.
