The CeMi is growing!
The CeMi is happy to welcome it’s newest members to the team! Dr Miguel Pineda, Dr Donata Iandolo and Dr Lluis Oliver Cervello!
Miguel joins us a new Lecturer, moving to the CeMi from the School of Infection and Immunity:
‘I was originally trained in pharmaceutical sciences, and a Versus Arthritis Career Development Fellowship gave me the opportunity to start my independent group in the field of stromal immunology. More specifically, I work in a very sweet aspect of it, since my greatest passion is to understand how changes in cell glycans, or sugars, control inflammatory responses. Now, I look forward to integrate this with other research areas in the CeMi, TTL labs and other groups at the ARC and the School of Molecular Biosciences. Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss. If I am not around, there is a good chance that I escaped to the highlands trying to bag some Munros, but I will reply as soon as I get some signal!’
Contact Miguel: miguel.pineda@glasgow.ac.uk
Lluis joined the CeMi last week as a Research Associate, working with Dr Cristina Gonzalez-Garcia and Prof Delphine Gourdon:
‘I studied Industrial Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) in Spain, where I had the opportunity to do some research in Centro de Biomateriales e Ingeniería Tisular (CBIT) as well as a secondment in the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). In 2015, I started a two-year master’s in biomedical engineering at Université de Liège (Belgium) and in 2017 I moved to The Netherlands to perform my master thesis at MERLN Institute of Maastricht University. In 2018 I joined the Department of Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) to do my PhD, entitled “Novel multifunctional biomimetic peptides for bone tissue engineering”, under the supervision of Dr. Carles Mas Moruno. My main research focus was the functionalization of biomaterials (in 2D and 3D) using integrin-binding motifs and BMP-2-derived peptides to improve cell-material interactions, in particular, in the field of bone regeneration. During my PhD, I was a visiting researcher at Max Plank Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg (Germany) for 3 months and at the University Sains Malaysia (2 months).
I recently joined the University of Glasgow as a Research Associate, where I will be involved in two different projects. On one hand, I will be working with hydrogels to control cell fate in tissue regeneration and repair, such as wound healing. On the other project, I will investigate the mechanobiology of the extracellular matrix in cancer.
Apart from work, I love travelling as well as running, cooking and meeting with friends.’
Contact Lluis: lluis.olivercervello@glasgow.ac.uk
Donata joined the CeMi as a new Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering.
‘By training I am a biotechnologist having got a PhD in Industrial Biotechnologies at the University “Federico II” in 2010 in Naples. Since then I have been working at different research and academic institutions in Italy, Sweden, Singapore, France and the UK.
Throughout my research career to date I have been working on diverse topics including the isolation and characterization of hydrolytic enzymes to be used for bioremediation, material science (nanofiber fabrication by electrospinning), bone tissue engineering bringing together, bioelectronics, stem cell biology and lately bone physiology.
For the near future I will focus on understanding the bioelectric code of stem cell differentiation into bone-forming cells and of bone crosstalk to the immune system. To this end we will be adopting bioelectronics materials and devices to stimulate and monitor cell responses. I would love to explore new electroactive materials, devices and investigate crosstalk between different cell types.
I am also part of the elected board of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.
Out of the lab and in my free time, I do enjoy spending time with friends, going to the cinema, and pottery. I also love plants!’
Contact Donata: donata.iandolo@glasgow.ac.uk