Joana Silva is a Junior Researcher in the Molecular Biomaterials Group at i3S. Her research work focuses on the development of supramolecular hydrogels combining peptides and natural polymers for different applications, for instance, cell culture, in vitro 3D models and regenerative medicine.

Joana graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) with a Master's degree in BioEngineering – Biomedical Engineering (2012). Her Master's thesis was entitled “Evaluation of different synthetic ligands ability to promote cell migration of ES-derived neural stem cells: a step forward to the development of molecularly-designed hydrogels for neural stem cell transplantation”. After finishing her studies, she joined the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in Porto (INEB) as a Research Assistant working on the design of fibrin hydrogels in the framework of spinal cord injury. In 2021, she earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Manchester (UK). Her thesis was entitled “Combining synthesis and industrial biotechnology for high-throughput biomaterials functionalization”.

With an interdisciplinary background, Joana’s areas of expertise include hydrogel biomaterials, drug delivery, cell culture, organic chemistry, and characterization and functionalization of biomaterials.