Liam Grover is Professor in Biomaterials Science at the University of Birmingham. He is a materials scientist by training and completed his PhD in Birmingham before moving to McGill University (Montreal) to work as a CIHR skeletal health scholar. He returned to Birmingham in 2006 to establish a research group within the School of Chemical Engineering. He is expert in the interactions that occur between materials and biological environments, investigating how materials influence biology and vice-versa. He has developed innovative methods that allow for the structuring of ceramic and polymeric materials to significantly change their mechanical and release properties. He has published widely on the development of new materials to replace the function of tissues (more than 200 papers) and has filed more than twenty patents to protect technologies that range from osteogenic cements through to scar reducing dressings. He has given well over 50 invited talks outside the UK. Since starting his career, he has moved four technologies from concept through to clinical trial. Since returning to Birmingham, he has raised over £30m to fund his research on the development and translation of novel medical technologies (EPSRC, MRC, BBSRC, ERDF, EU, NC3Rs, NSFC – China, NIHR, RCDM, and industry) and is the Founder-Director of the Healthcare Technologies Institute, which works to help move novel technologies through the translational pipeline. He was recently elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for his work in understanding the interfaces between materials and biological systems.