I took my PhD at Leeds University (UK). I am Full Professor at the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, where my area of lecturing is bioengineering. From 2015 to December 2019, and following an application led by me, I was the Director of the I3S (Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde) of Porto University. I3S was evaluated by the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) with the highest marks (Outstanding in 2015 and Excellent in 2019). I3S is the largest R&D research institute in Portugal, with >1300 investigators, 460 of them holding a PhD degree.
The main topic of my research is the modulation of inflammation in tissue repair/regeneration, namely through the design of immunomodulatory microenvironments. At i3S I lead the Microenvironments for New Therapies (MiNT) group. MiNT bioengineers microenvironments that promote tissue regeneration/functional restoration through modulation of the host response.
My participation in research projects financially supported by a diversity of sources (e.g, European Commission), has fostered collaborations with China, USA, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Present and past collaborators include: Jim Anderson, Buddy Ratner, Andres Garcia, Ji Jian, Bill Bonfield, Klaas de Groot, Clemens van Blitterswijk Gino Ambrosio, Josep Planell, Elizabeth Engel, James Kirpatrick, Charles Baquey, Joelle Amédée, Geoff Richards and Mauro Alini.
At the post-graduate level I have taken a leading role in launching undergraduate and post-doctoral programmes (e.g. the Doctoral Programme in Biomedical Engineering, in 1996, one of the first to operate in Portugal). I am the Director of the International Doctoral Programme on Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology Applied to Health Sciences (now in its 7th edition), that provides research training in bioengineering in top level institutions. I have been always strongly committed to provide advanced training in the area of biomaterials. For instance, from 1988 to 1992 I run a series of European Intensive Courses, funded by the European Commission, and that resulted in the publication of four books published by Elsevier (1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994). During 10 years in a row (1999-2009), I organized Advanced Summer Course in Cell/Material Interactions, with an important hands-on component and a large number of international participants. After a short break in 2010, the Summer Schools re-emerged under the general topic of Interrogations at the Biointerface with the goal of bringing together different fields around one topic of interest. The 7th edition took place in 2019.
Among several awards is the George Winter Award of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB), the ESB award for outstanding work of an established researcher, received in 2001. I am also the recipient of the Klaas de Groot 2020 Award, the ESB award for scientists who have shown a distinct ability to provide excellent mentorship and guidance to young researchers, helping them to establish their own independent career. I am a Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering. From 2007 to 2016 I was the representative of the ESB for the Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal award and from 2007 to 2013 the chairman of the awards committee of the ESB. I was a member of the Directive Council of the ESB (1991-1995). I organized several international conferences, including the 12th European Conference on Biomaterials (1995) and Bioceramics 16 (2003). Recently, I have been elected Secretary of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering (IUSBSE).
Former postdocs and students have leading positions in research institutes, both in Portugal and abroad (e.g. China, USA, Brazil and Spain). I was a founding member of Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica (INEB) set up in 1989, which is part of the i3S consortium.
I have taken leading positions in Portugal, namely as President (1992 to 1994) and Chairman of the Engineering Sciences Scientific Council (2002 to 2005) of the national agency for research (2002 to 2005).
I have published more than 280 papers in refereed journals (Scopus data base), most of them in leading journals in biomaterials science. Associated to these are > 8200 citations and a h index of 51.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3568-7482
Web page: https://www.i3s.up.pt/research-groupx=32