Rate My Professor Cathy Ye

Professor Cathy Ye, officially known as Hua (Cathy) Ye, holds the position of Professor of Tissue Engineering in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. She also directs the Oxford Centre for Tissue Engineering and Bioprocessing (OCTEB) within the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Ye earned her BEng in Chemical Engineering from Dalian University of Technology in China and her DPhil in Biochemical Engineering from University College, Oxford, in 2005. After completing her doctorate, she served as a Post-doctoral Research Assistant in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. She then joined the University of Oxford as University Lecturer in Engineering Science and became a Fellow of Linacre College. In 2025, she was promoted to full Professor.

Ye's research specializes in tissue engineering and stem cell technologies, with particular focus on in vitro cancer models, biomaterials, and bioreactors for tissue engineering and stem cell expansion. Her group is engaged in several key projects, including SimCells for Cultured Meat, Engineering human neural networks funded by BBSRC for five years, and the development of a smart bioreactor for mammalian adherent cell expansion supported by an EPSRC First Grant (EP/H021442/1) from 2010. Other initiatives encompass the development of bone-cartilage interfaces via EPSRC Studentship and in vitro three-dimensional tumour models funded by the John Fell Fund from 2008. She contributes to teaching through lectures on Biosystem Modelling (C10), Tissue Engineering (C23/BME2), and Biomechanics (B17/BME1), as well as lab organization for the MSc in Biomedical Engineering and supervision of DPhil students. Notable publications include 'Neural tissue engineering with structured hydrogels in CNS models and therapies' (Biotechnology Advances, 2020), 'Two-dimensional MXene incorporated chitosan mixed-matrix membranes for efficient solvent dehydration' (Journal of Membrane Science, 2018), '3D bioprinting for artificial cornea: Challenges and perspectives' (Medical Engineering & Physics, 2019), 'Rapid and efficient differentiation of functional motor neurons from human iPSC for neural injury modelling' (Stem Cell Research, 2018), 'Fibrin scaffolds for angiogenesis in soft tissue models: a systematic review', and 'Proteome constrained metabolic modeling of Sus scrofa muscle stem cells for cultured meat production'.