Sofia Sirolli
Sofia Sirolli earned a B. Sc. in Electronic Engineering and a M. Sc. in Nanotechnology Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome. Since 2022, she is a PhD student in Biorobotics at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, working in the Regenerative Technologies Lab led by prof. Leonardo Ricotti. Her research activities focus on smart materials for ultrasound-responsive drug delivery, within the framework of the European project REBORN. She is currently working on acoustic droplet vaporization of drug-loaded perfluorocarbon droplets, optimizing formulation and triggering parameters for a safe ultrasonic activation.
Lino Ferreira
Lino Ferreira (LF) BSc, Ph.D. (Portuguese, M, 53 years old) is a Coordinator Researcher (equiv. to Full Professor) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Vice-Director of the PT Government Associate Laboratory CIBB, University of Coimbra (Portugal). He is the associate editor of Biomaterials Science Journal (RSC), founder of two technology-based companies and, founder and current Director, of the Collaborative Laboratory Colab4Ageing that currently integrates 6 associates (companies, academia and innovation hubs). A key focus of his bioengineering laboratory is to develop platform technologies in the areas of biomaterials, drug delivery, and cell therapies to address unmet medical needs. The lab aims to investigate age-related diseases, particularly the ones related with the cardiovascular system, and to develop pharmacological interventions (incluing drug delivery systems) to attenuate the effects of aging. LF is the ERA Chair holder in ageing at the UC since 2016 after a success application to the European Widening program. He was the coordinator of a Twinning project in cell senescence called "Research for healthy ageing- RESETAgeing" (H2020-Twinn-2019; duration: 2021-2024) and he is now the coordinator of a pathfinder open project entitled "REGENERAR" (Ref: 101129812). His team is the first to be housed in a research infrastructure dedicated to ageing called MIA-Portugal, the first in south Europe. In the last 10 years, LF lab has done significant contributions at the interface of engineering with biology, in particular, in the development of tissue models for screening and aging modeling, in the evaluation of anti-senescence therapies in the context of aging and age-related diseases, and advanced nanoformulations for medical applications. As a result of his proficiency, he has published so far more than 170 scientific contributions in scientific journals with the referee and filled more than 25 International patents. He has an h-index of 63 and received so far ~ 15,500 citations. He has successfully supervised 27 PhD students and 26 post-docs. He was the recipient of innumerous awards/prizes including Crioestaminal prize (2008), ERC consolidator grant (2012), FCT Investigator award (2013 and 2015), Bluepharma innovation award (2016), ERA Chair award (2016), among others. He was President of the Portuguese Society of Stem cells and Cell Therapies (2013-2015). Members of his group have founded companies (e.g. Tissium, Exogenus Therapeutics, Matera, Curemat) that attracted more than $250M in venture capital. He has been listed since 2020 in the World TOP2% (Career) most cited researchers.
Giorgia Montalbano
Biomedical engineer specialized in biomaterials for regenerative medicine and advanced manufacturing. Earned a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering in 2016, after research at Newcastle University developing hydrogel-based systems for encapsulating pancreatic β-cells to treat Type I diabetes. Completed a Ph.D. in Bioengineering and Medical-Surgical Sciences, with a focus on biomimetic scaffolds produced through 3D printing and electrospinning to support bone tissue regeneration. Engaged in major EU and ERC projects, collaborating with prominent international and national institutions and responsible of the research unit for the PRIN 2022 PNRR FOCAL national project. Currently Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Torino (Department of Applied Science and Technology), with expertise focused on multifunctional smart biomaterials for tissue regeneration and targeted drug delivery, recently extended to energy and environmental applications.
