Keynote Speaker in Symposia
Luigi Ambrosio, Prof. Dr.
Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB), National Research Council, Naples, Italy
Email address: luigi.ambrosio@cnr.it
Luigi Ambrosio is Director of Institute of Polymer, Composites & Biomaterials, National Research Council, Naples, Italy. He received the doctoral degree in Chemical Engineering (1982) from University of Naples „Federico II‘.
He was Research Associate at University of Naples (1983-1985), Research Associate at University of Connecticut, USA (1985-1986), and Visiting Scientist at Kontron Medical Inc., USA (1986- 1988). Adjunct Professor of University of Connecticut, USA (1997-2003) and of University of Naples „Federico II“ (1997-2010). Qualified Full Professor in Bioengineering and in Materials Science and Technology.
Director of Institute of Composites and Biomedical Materials, National Research Council, Naples, Italy (2008-2012).
President of the European Society of Biomaterials (2007-2013), Past President (2013-2017), Honorary Member (since 2018).
Director of Chemical Sciences & Materials Technology Department, National Research Council, Rome, Italy (2011-2017).
Member of the High Level Group on Key Enabling Technologies, European Commission (2010-2015). Member of the International Advisor Board of Sichuan University and Co-Director of MPBRC, SCU-CNR Joint Research Centre. (since 2016).
He is recipient of the „G. Winter Award“, for the high worldwide contribution to the Biomaterials Science, European Society for Biomaterials (March 2015). China-Italy Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Contribution Award, China-Italy Technology Transfer Centre, Nov. 2017, Beijing, China.
Member of the Scientific Committee on Chemical and Biomolecular Research of the Microbiome: Nutritional Applications and Impact on Metabolic Health. Universitè Laval, Quebec, Canada. (since 2016).
co-Chairmen of the Working group on âAdvanced Materials and Nanotechnologiesâ Italy-USA Cooperation on Science and Technology, 12th Joint Commission Meeting. Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (since 2016).
He has been nominated Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2001), Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (2004) and Fellow of the European Alliance for Medical and Biomedical Engineering & Science (2018) and Member of the European Academy of Science (2019).
Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine (since 2017).
Research interests include design and characterisation of polymers and composites for medical applications and tissue engineering, structural properties of natural tissue, properties and processing of polymers and composites and nanostructures, hydrogels and biodegradable polymers, additive technologies.
Publications include over 320 papers on international scientific journals and book, 18 patents, over 170 invited lectures and over 500 presentations at international and national conferences, (Google Scholar H-Index: 73).
Daniel G. Anderson, Prof. Dr.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research / Institute for Medical Engineering and Science / Harvard and MIT Division of Health Science and Technology / Department of Chemical Engineering, Cambridge, USA
Daniel G. Anderson is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology at MIT. The research done in Prof. Andersonâs laboratory is focused on developing new materials for medicine. He has pioneered the development of smart biomaterials, and his work has led to advances in a range of areas, including medical devices, cell therapy, drug delivery, gene therapy and material science. Prof. Anderson received a B.A. in mathematics and biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of California at Davis. His work has resulted in the publication of over 400 papers, patents and patent applications. These advances have led products that have been commercialized or are in clinical development, as well as to the foundation of companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and consumer products space. Dr. Anderson is a founder of Living Proof, Olivo Labs, Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP), Sigilon Therapeutics, Verseau Therapeutics, Orna, and VasoRx.
Helena Azevedo, Dr.
School of Engineering and Materials Science & Institute of Bioengineering, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Helena S. Azevedo is a Reader in Biomedical Engineering & Biomaterials at the School of Engineering & Materials Science in Queen Mary University of London where she leads her own research group. Her work focuses on self-assembling hyaluronan-peptide biomaterials for cell culture, drug delivery, regenerative medicine, and biosensing. She is author of >100 publications, including papers in Science, Nat Chem, Nat Comm, Adv Funct Mater, Nano Lett, Adv Health Mater, and has edited 3 books on natural-based biomaterials, self-assembling biomaterials and soft matter for biomedical application. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Member of the Advisory Board of the RSC journal Molecular Systems Design & Engineering and Associate Editor of the Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (Wiley).
Aldo R. Boccaccini, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil.
Head, Institute of Biomaterials; Chair, Department of Materials Science and Engineering University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
Title of the talk: Applications of inorganic materials in soft tissue regeneration: progress and challenges
Aldo R. Boccaccini is Professor and Head of the Institute of Biomaterials at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. He is also visiting Professor at Imperial College London, UK. He holds a nuclear engineering degree from Instituto Balseiro (Argentina), Dr-Ing. (PhD) from RWTH Aachen University (Germany) and Habilitation from Technical University of Ilmenau (Germany). Prior to his current position, he spent 10 years at Imperial College London, Department of Materials, as Lecturer, Reader and Professor of Materials Science. He has held post-doctoral positions at University of Birmingham (UK) and University of California, San Diego (USA). He was Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Erlangen (2017-2019). The research activities of Prof. Boccaccini are in the field of ceramics, glasses and composites for biomedical, functional and/or structural applications. He is the author or co-author of more than 900 scientific papers and 25 book chapters. His work has been cited more than 46,000 times (h = 94, Scopus, âHighly cited researcherâ 2014 and 2018). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal âMaterials Lettersâ (Elsevier). He serves in the editorial board of more than 10 international journals. Boccaccini has been a visiting professor at different universities around the world. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) (UK), the American Ceramic Society, the Society of Glass Technology (UK) and the European Ceramic Society. His achievements have been recognized with several awards including the Materials Prize of the German Materials Society (DGM) in 2015, the Turner Award of International Commission on Glass (2016) and Friedberg Lecture Award (2016) of American Ceramic Society. Boccaccini is also an elected member of the World Academy of Ceramics and of the National Academy of Engineering and Applied Sciences of Germany (acatech) and advisor to the Science and Technology Ministry of Argentina. Boccaccini serves in the Executive Committee of the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS) representing the German Materials Society and he has been a member of the Council of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB) since 2015. He has served in several review panels of the European Research Council (ERC) and of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Jan de Boer, Prof. Dr.Â
Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Title of the talk: Digitalizing the interface between biomaterials and cells
Jan de Boer is chair of the BioInterface Science lab at the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and department of Biomedical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology. He studied biology at the University of Utrecht and obtained his PhD in the lab of Jan Hoeijmakers at the Erasmus MC Rotterdam on mouse models for premature ageing in 1999. After a postdoc at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, he started as a research associate at IsoTis B.V. where his research focused on bone tissue engineering, which was continued as associate professor at the University of Twente and as full professor at the University of Maastricht.
Jan studies the interplay between cells biomaterial, and how to use molecular circuits to control cell and tissue function. With a background in mouse and Drosophila genetics, he entered the field of biomedical engineering in 2002 and has since focused on understanding and implementing molecular biology in the field of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and medical devices interface biology. His research is characterized by a holistic approach to both discovery and application, aiming at combining high throughput technologies, computational modeling and experimental cell biology to streamline the wealth of biological knowledge to real clinical applications.
He is former chair of the Netherlands Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, CEO and co-founder of Materiomics b.v., co-founder of the Platform for Therapeutic Biomaterials Discovery and co-founder of the Merln Institute for Technology-inspired Regenerative Medicine.
Gianni Ciofani, Dr.
Senior Researcher Tenured, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Smart Bio-Interfaces, Principal Investigator Center for Materials Interfaces, Coordinator, Pontedera (Pisa), Italy
Titel of the talk: Piezoelectric nanoparticles for biomedical applications: From tissue engineering to cancer nanomedicine
Gianni Ciofani is Senior Researcher Tenured at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology, IIT, Italy), where he is Principal Investigator of the Smart Bio-Interfaces Research Line (https://www.iit.it/research/lines/smart-bio-interfaces) and Coordinator of the Center for Materials Interfaces (https://www.iit.it/centers/cmi-sssa).
He received his Ph.D. in Innovative Technologies (with honors) from the Scuola Superiore SantâAnna (Italy) in 2010. From January 2010 to August 2013 he was Post-Doc at the IIT, Center for Micro-BioRobotics, where, from September 2013 to October 2015, he was Researcher in the framework of the Smart Materials Platform. From October 2015 to October 2019 he was Associate Professor at the Polytechnic University of Torino (Italy), maintaining at the same time his research activity in IIT, where he is Senior Research Tenured since November 2019. His main research interests are in the field of smart nanomaterials for nanomedicine, bio/non-bio interactions, and biology in altered gravity conditions. He is coordinator or unit leader of many grants/projects, and he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant and an ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Gianni Ciofani is author of more than 140 papers on international journals (H-index 38), 3 edited books, and 16 book chapters. He serves as Reviewer for more than 180 international journals, and as Editorial Board Member of Nanomedicine UK, Scientific Reports, International Journal of Nanomedicine, Journal of Physics: Materials, Bioactive Materials, and Advances in Nano Research; he is Specialty Chief Editor (Nanobiotechnology) for Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology.
Matthew Dalby FRSE, Prof. Dr.
Centre for the Cellular Microenvironment, Institute of Molecular, Cell & Systems Biology, MVLS, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland
Title of the talk: Nanoscale control by materials of mesenchymal stem cells for identification of bioactive metabolites.
After a PhD at Queen Mary University of London on osteoblast response to bioactive composites. I moved to Glasgow to study cell-nanoscale interactions. In 2003 I became an independent researcher securing a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to explore mesenchymal stem cell response to nanotopography. Appointed to a lectureship in 2008 and a Readership in 2010, I became Professor of Cell Engineering at the University of Glasgow in 2014. I hold grants from EPSRC, MRC, BBSRC, Leverhulme Trust and Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation. I am director of the EPSRC-SFI lifETIME centre for doctoral training.
My research has focussed on developing insight into MSC differentiation and self-renewal using materials and mechanotransductive cues, making contributions in journals such as Nature Materials, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Advanced Materials, Chem, Science Advances etc (>200 papers). More recently I have become interested in using materials to find activity metabolites that can be used to control MSC phenotype. As well as basic science, I am interested in translational science and have been involved in veterinary bone regeneration trials and am working now towards a human bone regeneration trail.
In 2016 I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and have won a number of awards â most recently the Biochemical Society Industrial-Academic Collaboration Award.
Paul Dalton, Prof. Dr.
University of Oregon, USA
Paul Dalton is an Associate Professor at the University of Oregon who specializes in manufacturing technologies for biomedical applications. An early adopter of melt electrospinning and pioneer of melt electrowriting, his research targets advanced biomaterials that can translate to the clinic. Graduating from Curtin University in Perth, Australia, he was part of a bioengineering team at the Lions Eye Institute that successfully took an artificial cornea from concept to the clinic. His academic career has an international perspective, with post-docs at the University of Toronto and RWTH-Aachen followed by positions at the University of Southampton, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and University of WĂźrzburg. He invented and developed melt electrowriting as a distinct class within 3D printing with the Queensland University of Technology and has over 25 yearsâ experience across several disciplines.
Nicola DĂśbelin, Dr.
RMS Foundation, Bettlach, Switzerland
Nicola DĂśbelin studied Earth Sciences at the University of Bern, Switzerland, from 1998 to 2002. In 2000 he spent three months in South Africa for a field work project before receiving his Masterâs degree in 2002 for a thesis on the thermal stability of ion-exchanged natural zeolites studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. From 2002 to 2006 he worked on his PhD thesis on ion exchange in synthetic titanosilicate phases under supervision of Prof. Thomas Armbruster at the University of Bern. During this time, he became an expert on X-ray powder diffraction and Rietveld refinement. After receiving his PhD in 2006, Nicola started working as a senior scientist at RMS Foundation in Bettlach, Switzerland, with a focus on research, development, and characterization of bioceramics, specifically of calcium phosphate bone-graft substitutes. In 2010 he became deputy quality manager at RMS and specialized on validation of analytical methods. From 2015 tp 2019 he took a part-time position as a senior lecturer at the Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern. Since 2016, Nicola leads the bioceramics team at RMS. Thanks to his many years of research on synthetic bone graft substitutes, he is now a recognized expert for the synthesis and characterization of calcium phosphate bioceramics.
Silvia Farè, Prof. Dr.
Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering âG. Nattaâ, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
Silvia Farè obtained her Master of Science degree in Management and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, in July 1994. In May 1998, she obtained her PhD degree in Biomaterials (X^ cycle), Politecnico di Milano, with a thesis on the investigation of the mechanisms related to the in vitro oxidative degradation of medical-grade polyurethanes. Silvia Farè obtained a Post-doc research Fellowship (1998 â1999) within the project âThird generation artificial heartâ and she was Research Assistant from 1999 to 2003, at the Bioengineering Department, Politecnico di Milano. From 2005 to 2014, she was Assistant Professor at the Bioengineering Department (2005-2012), and at the Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering âG. Nattaâ (2013-2014), Politecnico di Milano. From December 2014 to March 2021, she was Associate Professor in Industrial Bioengineering at the Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano. Starting from April 2021 she is Full Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering âG. Nattaâ, Politecnico di Milano.
From February 1993 to February 1996, she was visiting Master and PhD student at the Joint Research Centre, Institute for Advanced Materials, Ispra (VA), Italy. From March 1996 to September 1996 and from January 1997 to March 1997, she was visiting PhD student at the University of Laval and Quebec Biomaterials Institute, Quebec, Canada under the supervision of Gaetan Laroche and Diego Mantovani.
She was Member of National and International Congress Committee. From 2012 she is Associate Editor for the Journal of Applied Biomaterials and Functional Materials (JAB-FM) Sage Ed.
In 2005 she was elected as member of the Council of the Italian Society for Biomaterials (SIB), in charge as treasurer, and now she is in charge as President. From 2017 she is one of the members of the Council of the European Society for Biomaterials.
From 2001 and up to the current academic year Silvia Farè has been in charge of different courses in biomaterials and regenerative medicine fields at Master and Bachelor in Biomedical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano.
Silvia Farè is author and co-authors of one hundred international and national scientific publications related to materials science, in particular to biomaterial and regenerative medicine fields.
AndrĂŠs J. GarcĂa, Prof. Dr.
My research program centers on integrating innovative engineering, materials science, and cell biology concepts and technologies to generate (i) novel insights into the regulation of adhesive forces and mechanotransduction, and (ii) biofunctional materials (hydrogels, coatings, and nanoparticles) to control protein/cell delivery and tissue repair. This cross-disciplinary effort has resulted in new biomaterial platforms that elicit targeted cellular responses and tissue repair in various applications (bone repair, therapeutic vascularization, pancreatic islet delivery, and infection), innovative technologies to exploit cell adhesive interactions, and new mechanistic insights into the interplay of mechanics and cell biology. My research has been funded by the NIH, NSF, Coulter Foundation, Arthritis Foundation and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I have supervised 28 Ph.D. graduates and 13 postdoctoral fellows who have continued onto successful careers in academia, industry and government agencies. I currently supervise 11 Ph.D. students and 4 postdoctoral fellows. I am a co-inventor on 5 issued and 8 pending U.S patents and a co-founder of 3 companies (CellectCell, CorAmi Therapeutics, iTolerance). I am a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering of the International Union of Societies of Biomaterials Science and Engineering, AIMBE, ASME, and AAAS. I served as President for the Society for Biomaterials for 2018-2019. I am an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors. Â
Maria Pau Ginebra, Prof. Dr.
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Barcelona, Spain
Maria-Pau Ginebra is Professor and Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Director of the Biomaterials Division of the Biomedical Engineering Research Center of UPC (CREB) and Associate Researcher at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). She is the author of more than 200 articles published in indexed international journals and 10 patents. In 2013 she founded the company Mimetis Biomaterials, a spin-off of the UPC. Her research lines include the design and development of new biomaterials for bone regeneration, tissue engineering and drug delivery, and the fundamental study of the biological mechanisms that control the interactions of biomaterials with cells and tissues. Her research group has made relevant contributions in the development and characterization of a new generation of biomimetic calcium phosphates, capable of mimicking the extracellular matrix of bone, which may incorporate synthetic or natural polymers, and / or bioactive molecules. She is also working on new biofabrication strategies, including injectable foams for bone regeneration and 3D printing of implants for regenerative medicine, as well as on the design of multifunctional surfaces with bioactive and antimicrobial properties. In 2013 she received the Racquel LeGeros Award from the International Society for Ceramics in Medicine for her contribution to the research in the field of calcium phosphates and in 2019 the Klaas de Groot Prize of the European Society for Biomaterials in recognition of her mentoring of young scientists.
Manuela E. Gomes, Prof. Dr.
Manuela E. Gomes is Associate Professor and President of the I3Bs Research Institute of the University of Minho, Portugal. She graduated in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal in 1997, obtained a MSc in Polymer Engineering, Univ. of Minho in cooperation with the company Isotis, Bilthoven (Holland), and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering â Tissue Engineering/Hybrid Materials in collaboration with the Rice University (USA), in 2005. She was a co-founder of the 3Bâs Research Group and one of the vice-directors of the group since 2011. Her research interests currently focus on tendon tissue engineering strategies, namely in the development of scaffold materials and bioinks based on biodegradable natural origin polymers, stem cells sourcing and differentiation (using biochemical and physical methods). Manuela Gomes has been involved in numerous European and national/regional projects as PI or team member. She currently coordinates a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC CoG) to develop magnetically assisted tissue engineering technologies for tendon regeneration and with an EC funded Twinning Project â âAchilles: Overcoming specific weaknesses in tendon biology to design advanced regenerative therapiesâ, among others. Manuela Gomes is editor 2 books and co-editor of the Tissue Engineering Encyclopaedia (Elsevier, 2019) and author of 44 book chapters, over 200 full papers published in international refereed journals, and more than 300 communications in international conferences (7.900 citations, H-index of 47). She has received several awards, including the 2013 Young Investigator Award of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society â European Chapter (TERMIS-EU). Manuela Gomes is an active member of several international scientific organizations, being currently a member-at -large and chair of the membership committee of TERMIS, and Portugal Ambassador for the EORS.
Jinlian Hu, Prof.
Director of Laboratory of Wearable Materials for Healthcare; Joint Professor of Materials Scuience and Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, China
Title of the talk: Shape memory biomaterials and their applications
Prof. Jinlian HU is a shape memory polymers, textiles and biomaterials scientist. Graduated from Donghua University in textile materials and received a PhD from Manchester University, she recently joined the Department of Biomedical engineering, City University of Hong Kong where she established a Laboratory of Wearable Materials for Healthcare. The laboratory focuses on unearthing scientific principles and providing solutions to key problems in Healthcare of Wearable Materials in three major areas: Traditional Chinese medical therapies and their materials, energy materials and healthcare as well as spider silks and their relatives as biomaterials as well as personal protective integration . As such, we apply advanced methods including custom-made wearable electronics as basic tools to examine materials, their application methods, and particularly their interactions with human body in terms of physical, chemical, biological, philological and informational relations. From the discoveries and models of basic research, applied investigation, product developments and standardization are envisaged, which can produce societal as well economic impact in addition to scientific advances. Before CityU, professor Hu worked at Hong Kong Polytechnic University for more than 20 years. Professor Jinlian HU is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Hong Kong Institution of Textile and Apparel and the British Textile Institute. She is the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Health Science and Technology Park, the executive vice chairman of the Hong Kong Invention and Innovation Federation and a Council member of the Hong Kong Far Infrared Association
Sang Jin Lee, Prof. Dr.
Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, USAÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Title of the talk: 3D Bioprinting Strategies to Bioengineer Skeletal Muscle Constructs that Accelerate Muscle Function Restoration
Sang Jin Lee, Ph.D. is currently a tenured Associate Professor at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), Wake Forest School of Medicine. Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea in 2003 and took a postdoctoral fellowship in the Laboratories for Tissue Engineering and Cellular Therapeutics at Harvard Medical School and Childrenâs Hospital Boston and the WFIRM where he is currently a faculty member. He is also cross-appointed to the Virginia Tech-WFU Biomedical Engineering and Science. Dr. Lee has authored more than 150 scientific publications and reviews, has edited 2 textbooks, and has written 34 chapters in several books. Dr. Lee has extensive knowledge and experience in biomaterials science, especially, biodegradable polymers and tunable hydrogels, with specific training and expertise in key research areas for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. His research team has developed various biomaterial systems that improve cellular interactions by providing appropriate environmental cues. These biomaterial systems consist of drug/protein delivery systems, nano/micro-scaled topographical features, and hybrid materials that can actively participate in functional tissue regeneration. Recently, his team is utilizing automated 3D bioprinting technology to manufacture complex, multi-cellular living tissue constructs that mimic the structure of native tissues. This can be accomplished by optimizing the formulation of biomaterials to serve as bioinks for 3D bioprinting, and by providing the biological microenvironment needed for the successful delivery of cells and biomaterials to discrete locations within the 3D structure.
Jonathan Massera, Prof. Dr.
Tampere University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere, Finland
Title of the talk: Bioactive glasses-based biomaterials with potential in soft tissue engineering
Jonathan Massera is Professor at Tampere University, Finland, in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology. He graduated his BSc in Materials Science and Engineering, from the university of Grenoble. He then received a double MSc degree from PolytechâMontpellier (France) and Politecnico di Torino (Italy). He obtained his PhD from Clemson University (SC, USA), in 2009. During his PhD he studied tellurite based fibers for Mid-IR applications. He then received a scholarship to perform his post-doctoral research on the crystallization of bioactive glasses and its impact on bioactivity at Ă bo Akademi, Finland. He then was granted a post-doctoral researcher grant from the Academy of Finland. The aim of the project was to combine photonic and bioactive glasses for sensing application. Finally, he became assistant researcher (tenure) at Tampere University, in 2014, where he was also granted the Academy Research Fellow from the academy of Finland. He became full professor in 2021.
As of today, Jonathan Massera is head of the bioceramics, bio-glasses and bio-composites research group and head of the international MSc degree programme in Biomedical Sciences and Engineering. His research group focuses on inorganic biomaterials development and their composites/hybrids as well as cell/materials and protein/materials interactions. Another axis of research deals with combining photonic into bioactive glasses to develop new biophotonic materials for low light therapy, sensing and imaging. Currently his research is funded by the Academy of Finland, The Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation and EU-H2020.
Clara Mattu, Ph.D.
PolitoBIOMed Lab, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
Title of the talk: Leveraging polymer biomaterials to improve the design of nanomedicines
Dr. Clara Mattu is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. She completed her Ph.D. in the group of Industrial Bioengineering at Politecnico di Torino in 2012. She has been visiting scientist at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 2011, visiting postdoctoral fellow in the department of Traslational Imaging (2014) and in the department of Nanomedicine (2016-2018) at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, and co-founder of the spin-off Company Geltis. In 2012, she was awarded the Italian Working Capital National Innovation grant (30.000 âŹ) to perform research on injectable hydrogels for drug delivery. In 2015, she received the prestigious Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship from the European Commission to design hybrid drug delivery systems for intra-cranial treatment of brain tumors. Her research interests are highly super-disciplinary, and span from biomedical polymer synthesis to cancer nanomedicine.
Lorenzo Moroni, Prof. Dr.
Maastricht University, MERLN Institute, Dept. of Complex Tissue Regeneration, The Netherlands
Prof. Dr. Lorenzo Moroni studied Biomedical Engineering at Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy, and Nanoscale Sciences at Chalmers Technical University, Sweden. He received his Ph.D. cum laude in 2006 at University of Twente on 3D scaffolds for osteochondral regeneration, for which he was awarded the European doctorate award in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering from the European Society of Biomaterials (ESB). In 2007, he worked at Johns Hopkins University as a post-doctoral fellow in the Elisseeff lab, focusing on hydrogels and stem cells. In 2008, he was appointed the R&D director of the Musculoskeletal Tissue Bank of Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute, where he investigated the use of stem cells from alternative sources for cell banking, and the development of novel bioactive scaffolds for skeletal regeneration. From 2009 till 2014, he joined again University of Twente, where he got tenured in the Tissue Regeneration department.
Since 2014 he works at Maastricht University, where he is a founding member of the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine. In 2016, he became full professor in biofabrication for regenerative medicine.
His research group interests aim at developing biofabrication technologies to generate libraries of 3D scaffolds able to control cell fate, with applications spanning from skeletal to vascular, neural, and organ regeneration.
In 2014, he received the prestigious Jean Leray award for outstanding young principal investigators from the ESB and the ERC starting grant. In 2016, he also received the prestigious Young Scientist Award for outstanding principal investigators from TERMIS. In 2017, he was elected as faculty of the Young Academy of Europe and in the top 100 Italian scientists within 40 worldwide by the European Institute of Italian Culture. Since 2019, he is chair of the Complex Tissue Regeneration department and vice-director of MERLN. From his research efforts, 3 products have already reached the market.
Email: l.moroni@maastrichtuniversity.nlÂ
website: http://merln.maastrichtuniversity.nl/content/lorenzo-moroni
             http://www.moronilab.org
Willem J. M. Mulder, Prof. Dr.
Willem Mulder, Ph.D., a biomedical engineer with a background in chemistry, is Professor of Precision Medicine at the Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc) and the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), The Netherlands. Mulder obtained an M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Utrecht University (2001) and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from TU/e (2006). He was professor and founding director of the Nanomedicine Lab at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York from 2006 to 2020.
Mulderâs research focus is on nano-immunotherapy and precision imaging in cardiovascular diseases, cancer, infectious diseases and transplantation. He pioneered the exploitation of nanomaterials as highly tunable immunotherapeutics. Mulder established proprietary technology encompassing nanomaterials devised from natural apolipoproteins named nanobiologics. Using modular nanobiologic functionalization approaches and through in vivo screening and immuno-imaging, his team meticulously builds precision immunotherapies. When appropriately designed, such nanobiologic immunotherapeutics can be applied to empower the immune systemâs ability to fight disease by targeting myeloid cell dynamics, by promoting or inhibiting molecular programs that regulate immune responses, or by âtrainingâ macrophage function.
Mulder has published more than 175 scientific publications in top scientific journals, including Science Translational Medicine, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Immunity and Cell. His H-index is 73 and his work has been cited nearly 15.000 times. Mulder was the principal investigator of multiple National Institutes of Health grants. In 2013, Mulder received a Vidi grant and in 2018 he was awarded a Vici grant, both from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). In 2021, he won the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant.
Mulder is a Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Trained Therapeutix Discovery (https://ttxdiscovery.com) and a Founder and Chief Technology Officer of the Radboudumc-TU/e biotech incubator BIOTRIP (https://biotrip.nl)
Mariana B. Oliveira, Dr.
CICECO â Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry. University of Aveiro, Portugal
Mariana B. Oliveira is a Junior Researcher at the COMPASS Research Group, part of CICECO â Aveiro Institute of Materials of the University of Aveiro, Portugal. She studied Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minho (Portugal), and obtained a PhD in 2014, from the same institution. Mariana Oliveira has focused her research on the development of biomaterials for the modulation of cellular response. She is the principal investigator and coordinator of two active research projects (>480 kEuros) focused on the exploitation of mesenchymal stem cells as scaffold-free and low-biomaterial structures to tailor pancreatic islet acceptance on transplantation scenarios, and for the promotion of tissue regeneration. She authors or co-authors 52 research and review publications, which include papers in Advanced Materials, Biomaterials, Trends in Biotechnology, and Advanced Healthcare Materials. She serves in the Young Career Board of ACS Biomaterials Sci & Eng, and is an Associate Editor of Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology and Frontiers in Materials.
Abhay Pandit, Prof.
Scientific Director, CĂRAM, Centre for Research in Medical Devices, National University of Ireland, Ireland
Professor Abhay Pandit is an Established Professor in Biomaterials and Scientific Director of CĂRAM, the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), funded Research Centre for Medical Devices at NUI Galway, Ireland. Prof Pandit has over thirty years of experience in the field of Biomaterials. After a seven-year stint in industry, he has worked in academia for the last twenty-three years. Prof. Pandit’s research has been funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the 7th EU Framework programme, Enterprise Ireland, Health Research Board, the AO Foundation and industry sources to the tune of âŹ150 million. Prof Pandit built a critical mass of biomaterial expertise in Ireland by establishing the Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB). Later the centre was incorporated into a Strategic Research Cluster (SRC) in 2007 with funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to establish collaborative partnerships with national and international universities and industries. Building on this critical mass of expertise and enormous success of CĂRAM  Phase I, Prof. Pandit now leads phase II of CĂRAM. CĂRAM brings together more than 520 researchers with synergistic expertise in biomaterials, biomechanics, regenerative medicine, glycobiology, drug delivery and medical implant design, in addition to 50 plus industry partners.
Prof. Pandit has developed next-generation reservoir delivery vehicles with high payload capacity, programmable degradation profiles and inbuilt gradients of physical, chemotropic and protective cues, facilitating spatiotemporal localised sustained delivery of multiple biomolecules to target injury mechanisms at the molecular and cellular levels. His research integrates material science and biological paradigms in developing solutions for chronic diseases.
Prof. Pandit was elected to the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows to recognise his outstanding contributions in creating a national centre to develop innovative device-based solutions to treat global chronic diseases. He is the first Irish academic to earn this distinction. He was inducted as an International Fellow in Biomaterials Science and Engineering by the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering (IUSBSE) and Fellow of the Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine International Society. Prof Pandit is the first Irish academic to receive these honours. He was also inducted as a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering.
Prof Pandit is the author of 27 patents and has licensed three technologies to medical device companies. Prof Pandit has published >305 papers in peer-reviewed high impact journals, >700 conference abstracts, and has over 15K citations. Prof. Pandit has successfully supervised 36 PhD students, 24 postdoctoral researchers with a current cohort of 8 Postdoctoral researchers, 20 PhD students and three research associates.
Julietta V. Rau, Prof. Dr.
Institute of the Structure of Matter of the Italian National Research Council (ISM-CNR), Rome, Italy
Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia
Julietta V. Rau (Dr, PhD, Prof.) is currently Principal Investigator, Head of the laboratory and research group at the Institute of the Structure of Matter of the Italian National Research Council (ISM-CNR, Rome, Italy) and Associate Professor at the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Moscow, Russia).
Dr. Rau has authored +160 international peer-reviewed journal publications and presented her research as Invited and Plenary talks at +30 International Conferences.
She supervised PhD and MSc students and is involved in mentoring of postdoctoral research fellows.
Dr. Rau received several international awards for her research achievements.
She is the CHAIR and organizer of the biennial BioMaH âBiomaterials and Novel Technologies for Healthcareâ International Conference (https://biomah.ism.cnr.it) and the Member of the International Scientific Committees of various International Conferences in the field of Materials Science, Nanoscience, Biomaterials and Medical devices.
Dr. Rau is Associate Editor of the Bioactive Materials journal and the Member of the Editorial Boards of numerous scientific journals.
Her present research interests regard biomaterials and novel technologies for healthcare, innovative biomaterials for regenerative medicine, among them calcium phosphates and glass-ceramic based materials for tissue engineering applications. One of her research topics is focussed on coatings for biomedical implant applications and, namely, on nanostructured coatings for orthopaedic and dental implants, which are developed via an interdisciplinary international collaborative network team.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julietta_Rau
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7953-1853
Alberto Saiani (AS), Prof., PhD, FRSC, MInstP
The University of Manchester, Department of Materials & Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, Manchester, UK
Alberto Saiani is currently Professor of Molecular Materials at the University of Manchester (ORCID: 0000-0002-5504-8306). He graduated PhD in Polymer Physics from the University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France. Following his PhD he held several post-doctoral positions in Japan, UK and Belgium before joining in 2002 the University of Manchester where he established the Polymers & Peptides Research Group (polymersandpeptides.co.uk). His work includes fundamental, industrial, and translational research and spans a wide area of experimental polymer and biopolymer science. In 2014 he co-founded a start-up company, Manchester BIOGEL (manchesterbiogel.com), which develops and commercialises advanced gel-based combination products for the life science and biomedical sector.
Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez, Prof. Dr.
James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow , UK
Title of the talk: Mechanochemical processes at the cell/material interface
Prof Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez, FRSE is Head of Biomedical Engineering and co-director of the Centre for the Cellular Microenvironment at the University of Glasgow. He did a PhD in Valencia and postdoctoral work at the Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry in Prague and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 2005 he was appointed as Assistant Professor at Universitat Politècnica de València, promoted to Associate Professor in 2008 and Full Professor in 2010. He did a sabbatical year at the Georgia Institute of Technology and moved to the University of Glasgow in 2013 as the Chair of Biomedical Engineering. Manuel is an ERC (European Research Council) investigator. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburg, Scotland national academy of science and letters, in 2017. He is visiting Professor in Valencia (Spain) and Kyushu University (Japan). His work on materials for growth factor delivery has set up the basis for a programme of research to help civilians affected by landmines, funded by the Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation. Overall, his work spans fundamental mechanisms at the cell/material interface as well as translational research that saved from amputation the leg of a first veterinary patient, a dog called Eva (https://goo.gl/1Z3r8t ). He has authored more than 160 papers in major journals including PNAS, Science Advances, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Metabolism and Advanced Materials. He has had his research featured in newspapers, websites and TV channels around the world. He is editor-in-chief of Materials Science and Engineering C: Materials for Biological Applications.
Federico Soria GĂĄlvez, Dr.
ENIUS Chairman European Cooperation in Science & Technology
Endoscopy Coordinator Centro de CirugĂa de MĂnima InvasiĂłn JesĂşs UsĂłn, CĂĄceres, Spain
Dr. Federico Soria is the European Network of Multidisciplinary Research to Improve the Urinary Stents (ENIUS) Chairman, European Cooperation in Science & Technology (COST Actions, CA16217) and Endoscopy Coordinator in Jesus Uson Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre (CĂĄceres-Spain). He leads a multidisciplinary research group focus in Biomaterials and new design in ureteral stents. Research topic: Ureteral stents, Biodegradable Ureteral stents and Ureteral Drug Eluting Stents. Principal investigator in more than 20 Research Grants in the area of Ureteral Stents and Translational Research (1999-2021). He is editor in two books and author of over 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers. He serves on the Editorial Board in BMC Urology and Act Urol Esp. Inventor of three patents in Urology medical devices. 12 Master´s Thesis Director and 4 PhD Thesis Director. Â
Marianna Tryfonidou, Prof. Regenerative Orthopedics, DVM, PhD, dipl ECVS.
RMCU, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Professor Tryfonidou (1973) joined the department of Clinical Sciences of Companion of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (1998), followed an annual Internship and finished thereafter her PhD (2002) Cum Laude. In 2007 she certified as a veterinary surgeon (European College of Veterinary Surgeons (ECVS)), in 2015 was appointed as Associate Professor and as off February 2018 appointed as Professor Regenerative Orthopedics. The focus of her research is on understanding the underlying pathophysiology, unravelling cellular communications and on developing treatment strategies for musculoskeletal diseases, including back pain and osteoarthritis. Challenges are addressed by combining their multidisciplinary clinical background, involving unique spontaneous diseased canine models, with cutting edge biomolecular techniques. Results of in vitro and in vivo studies are interpreted with a clinical directive; experiments are designed with the translation from bench to bed in mind.
Her work is embedded in international scientific networks and the âDutch Arthritis Societyâ (ReumaNederland) recognized the Tryfonidou lab as a Research Centre of Excellence.
She has participated in large public-private partnerships (e.g. BioMedical Materials IDiDAS, LSH ArIADNE, AO Spine Research Spine Network) where she coordinated translation of therapeutic strategies, being successful at the cross road of industry, academia, clinicians and patients. She leads the Horizon 2020 consortium (iPSpine; Â 2019-2023) bringing a transdisciplinary team of 21 partners together to address the challenges and bottlenecks of iPS-based advanced therapies towards their transition to the clinic. Here, chronic back pain due to intervertebral disc degeneration is employed as a show case.
Sandra Van Vlierberghe, Prof. Dr.
Polymer Chemistry & Biomaterials Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, Belgium
Brussels Photonics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Prof. Dr. Sandra Van Vlierberghe holds a 10% professorship at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and a full professorship (100%) at Ghent University (Polymer Chemistry & Biomaterials Group, Belgium). She has acquired expertise related to the synthesis, the modification and the processing of (bio)polymers including thermoplasts (e.g. polyesters) and hydrogels (e.g. proteins and polysaccharides) for a variety of tissue engineering applications. She is experienced in the field of polymer processing using 3D printing, electrospinning and two-photon polymerization (2PP). She received her PhD in Sciences in 2008 at Ghent University. She authored >170 Web of Science Core Collection cited papers, she has a h-index of 34 (WoS), is promoter of 20 PhD students (in addition to 12 defended PhDs) and she edited three books, authored 7 chapters in books of which 5 invited. She is treasurer of the Belgian Polymer Group (BPG), former spokesperson of the âYoung Scientist Forum (YSF)â, TERMIS-EU council member and member of the independent ESB Awards Committee. She serves on the editorial board of several journals focussing on tissue engineering. In 2017, she received the Jean Leray award from the European Society for Biomaterials. She is also very active in research valorization as reflected by two ongoing spin-off projects (XpectINX (Xpect-Inx | Your Support in Bioprinting (xpect-inx.com) which will be launched in September 2021 and GelGraft Medical which is focussing on the translation of an injectable biomaterial for breast reconstruction from in vivo animal testing towards first in-human trials).
Sebastian A. J. Zaat, Prof. Dr.
Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Dr. S.A.J. Zaat is Principal Investigator at the Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention. His research line „Biomaterial-associated infection and novel antimicrobial strategiesâ, is focused on pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of biomaterial-associated infections, both in soft tissue (catheters, surgical meshes) and bone (implants, fixation devices). Based on research on the pathogenesis involving the (molecular) interactions between the pathogen, the host response and the biomaterial, novel preventive strategies are being developed. These include anti-infective coatings not subject to bacterial resistance development, prevention of biofilm formation, influencing the host immune response and enhancement of killing of bacteria hiding in tissue surrounding inserted or implanted medical devices. These approaches are aimed at maximally reducing the risk of biomaterial-associated infection for patients.
Dr. Zaat has been work package leader in the BMM NANTICO âNon-adherent ANTImicrobial Coatingsâ project, Principal Investigator of the BMM IBIZA âImaging of Biomaterial-associated Infection using Zebrafish Analysisâ project, coordinator of the EU FP7 BALI âBiofilm Allianceâ project developing novel Synthetic Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Peptides, and vice Working Group Chair of the EU COST Consortium IPROMEDAI âImproved PROtection Of Medical Devices Against Infectionâ. Currently he is leading or involved in a number of National and international consortium projects, including EU Horizon2020 Marie Curie training networks PRINT-AID and STIMULUS, EU Horizon 2020 Twinning project CEMBO, and Dutch National consortia SUPER-ACTIVE, PHOTO-TREAT, GDST, NESDAP and DARTBAC
Marcy Zenobi-Wong, Prof. Dr.
Full Professor of Tissue Engineering and Biofabrication and Director of the Institute for Biomechanics, ETH ZĂźrich, ZĂźrich, Switzerland
Marcy Zenobi-Wong is a tenured Full Professor of Tissue Engineering and Biofabrication and Director of the Institute for Biomechanics at ETH ZĂźrich in Switzerland. She is a Mechanical Engineer by training, and received her Bachelor degree from MIT and Master/PhD from Stanford University.  She leads a multidisciplinary team with strong focus on biofabrication technologies including bioprinting, two-photon polymerization, and casting, and on the development of advanced biomaterials for tissue regeneration. She is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications (cited over 5000 times) and co-inventor on several licensed patents.  She is currently President of the Swiss Society for Biomaterials and Regenerative Medicine (SSB+RM) and General Secretary for the International Society of Biofabrication (ISBF). She serves on the editorial board for Biofabrication and Advanced Healthcare Materials. In 2019 she was elected as Fellow to the European Alliance for Medical & Biological Engineering and Science (EAMBES).Â
