Dr Poornima Ramburrun (BPharm, PhD) is currently a lecturer at the School of Pharmacy, University of the Western Cape, where she teaches and supervises research projects primarily in the discipline of pharmaceutics. Her PhD thesis entailed the design, synthesis and experimental analysis of a neurodurable biosimulated hydrogel nerve repair device for the repair and therapeutic drug delivery of severed peripheral nerve injuries. Dr Ramburrun’s research focus involves the design and biofabrication of biomimetically-inspired polysaccharide hydrogels featuring bioresponsive and controlled-release mechanisms for a range of pharmaceutical actives and growth factors for targeted drug delivery strategies in tissue regeneration applications. She is interested in the modification of natural-based polysaccharide materials as “smart” biomaterial matrices via the formation of polyelectrolyte complexes, interpenetrating polymeric networks and ionic-covalent entanglements.