"Consider what your motivations are for doing a PhD, not just doing something for the sake of it."

Dr Imanda Jayawardena is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Science Foundation Ireland Research Fellow at the Irish Photonics Integration Centre (IPIC). Her current research focuses on developing a bone-on-a-chip device for monitoring osteogenesis with the use of non-invasive, label-free, non-ionising spectroscopic techniques such as Raman and Diffuse Reflectance spectroscopy. This allows for longitudinal data acquisition from implants used for fracture healing, with minimal damage inflicted upon patients. It also enables gaining insight into bone formation mechanisms on hydrogel surfaces at a cellular level and surface properties of hydrogel substrates.