Rate My Professor Gabriella Lindberg

Dr. Gabriella Lindberg serves as a Research Fellow in the Christchurch Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering (CReaTE) Group within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch. She obtained her BSc and MSc in Biotechnology from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and her PhD from the University of Otago. Her research operates at the interface of molecular biology, chemistry, materials science, and technology, focusing on bioresponsive hydrogel biomaterials and 3D-biofabrication technologies to regenerate damaged cartilage and bone tissues. She designs cell-instructive photo-polymerisable hydrogel bioinks and bioresins that mimic native architectural organisation and biological niches, adapting to changing microenvironments during tissue formation. Key projects include bioinks for cartilage tissue engineering using thiol-ene and methacryloyl chemistries with components like heparin, vitreous humor, gelatin, and hyaluronic acid; 3D-bioassembly of clinically relevant orthopaedic replacement grafts; oxygen control in 3D-bioprinted osteochondral constructs; and personalised 3D tissue models to reduce health inequities in cartilage therapies.

Within three years post-PhD, Dr. Lindberg has secured $615,000 in contestable funding as principal investigator, including the Emerging Researcher First Grant ($250,000), holds a provisional patent, and is named on projects worth over $2.7 million. Awards include the 2021-2023 University of Otago Health Sciences Division Career Development Postdoctoral Fellowship; 2020 Best Emerging/Mid-Career Scientist Presentation (Bioengineering Showcase); 2019 First Place Young Investigator Award (International Society of Biofabrication); 2019 CMDT Award; 2017 Best Student Presentation (ASBTE); and others. Select publications are 'Spatial patterning of modular gelatin-peroxide microspheres in melt-electrowritten scaffolds provides controlled oxygen generation and mitigates hypoxia and cytotoxicity' (Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2025); 'Donor ethnicity, sex, and age impact chondrogenic re-differentiation capacity: A multi-demographic study of human articular chondrocytes in vitro' (Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2025); and abstracts in Tissue Engineering Part A (2024) on spheroid biofabrication and cartilage repair. She supervises PhD and Master's students, serves as affiliate investigator for the Centre of Research Excellence in Medical Technologies and Maurice Wilkins Centre, Early Career Representative for the Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, and Special Topic Editor for Bioengineering (MDPI).