Media links

• Andrew's TED Talk (Website and Video)

• Profile by Vice Motherboard (Website and Video)

• Profile on the History Channel (Video)

• Global National News - Everyday Hero (Video)

• BBC World News (Video)

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Biography

Award winning Scientist, Professor, Entrepreneur, TED Senior Fellow and TED speaker, Andrew Pelling has built a career on unapologetic curiosity, creativity and serendipity. Andrew is a Professor at the University of Ottawa, where he founded and directs a curiosity-driven research lab that brings together Artists, Scientists, Social Scientists and Engineers. The lab uses low-cost materials and methods to explore speculative living technologies of the future. The highly experimental Pelling Lab was the first in the world to develop plant-derived cellulose biomaterials for regenerative medicine and has even grown skins of living cells on LEGOs – innovations with the potential to redefine the limits of biology. Andrew's lab has spun out several companies including Spiderwort Inc, a company dedicated to developing plant-derived cellulose biomaterials for repairing and regenerating the human body. Andrew’s work has been in the international media spotlight for many years, with recognition in outlets such as Wired, Vice, Motherboard, The Atlantic, Scientific American, PBS, NBC, BBC and many others. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including being named a member of the TED Fellows program, a global network of visionaries chosen based on remarkable achievement, their strength of character and their innovative approaches to solving the world’s toughest problems. Andrew's leadership and experience are highly sought-after and he serves in a variety of advisory roles in many community, industry and government organizations.

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Career and education

• Full Professor, Department of Physics, University of Ottawa (2018-Present)

• Co-Founder, Incuvers, Inc. (2018-Present)

• Founder and Consultant, Pelling Creative Inc. (2017-Present)

• Co-Founder and CEO, pHacktory Inc. (2016-Present)

• Co-Founder and CSO, Spiderwort Inc. (2015-Present)

• Honorary Research Fellow, SymbioticA, University of Western Australia (2015-Present)

• Raine Medical Research Foundation Visiting Professor, University of Western Australia (2014)

• Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Ottawa (2013-2018)

• Affiliate Member, Institute for Science, Society and Policy (2011-Present)

• Cross-Appointed in the Department of Biology (2010-Present)

• Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Ottawa (2008-2013)

• Senior Research Fellow, the London Centre for Nanotechnology University College London (2007-2008)

• Research Fellow, Department of Medicine and the London Centre for Nanotechnology University College London (2005-2007)

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• Ph.D. Physical Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, USA, 2005.

• B.Sc. (Hons), Biological Chemistry, University of Toronto, Canada, 2001.