Dr. Francesca Gervaso is an engineer (PhD in Bioengineering and Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano) working as researcher at the Institute of Nanotechnology of National Research Council (CNR Nanotec), since 2018. From 2013 to 2018, Dr. Gervaso was a staff researcher in Bioengineering at the Department of Engineering for Innovation at the University of Salento, Italy. She is author of more than 60 papers on international peer-reviewed scientific journals, several conference proceedings (>30), 3 book chapters and 3 patent applications (H-Index 24, total citations > 2300, source Scholar). She has been coordinator of several national projects and serves as editor for international journals in biomaterial sciences. Dr. Gervaso supervised about 40 master/bachelor students and 8 PhD students. She was speaker at more than 20 international conferences. She is also promoter of two entrepreneurial projects focused on innovative customized solutions for the treatment of osteochondral defects and innovative processes for the production of medical-grade chitosan. Her main interest focuses on the design and development of biomaterials for tissue engineering and biomechanics. At the moment, she works within a multidisciplinary team on the development of 3D in vitro models, including organ-on-chip solutions, as potential drug testing tools, supervising the research activity on cell-laden hydrogel development.

Title of the talk: “Rebuilding tissues: the proper house for each cell” –  When a biological tissue injures because of trauma or pathological events, our body tries to self-repair the defect or to faith the disease, but not always this process is successful. To fully understand the mechanisms behind the tissue regeneration events and to provide advanced and physiologically relevant tools for testing new therapeutics, it is of paramount importance to rebuild tissues in vitro, by obtaining tissue analogues. Though cells are undoubtedly an essential component of a tissue, a 3D structure, mimicking the same architecture where the cells live in our body, i.e., the extracellular matrix, is crucial to recreate the spatial organization of the original tissue, supporting cell migration, proliferation and differentiation. 3D structures devoted to host cells, also called scaffolds, differ in material type, spatial architecture, porosity, degradation characteristics, mechanical and surface properties to meet the requirements of the tissue we want to rebuild and make the cells feel at home. This is the challenge of the tissue engineer.

Francesca Gervaso, PhD
CNR-Istituto di Nanotecnologia
c/o campus Ecotekne
73100 Lecce
Italy

Phone +39 0832 319305
Mob. +39 3284790936