CeMi around the world – Ioanna in Buenos Aires!

In this series of blogs we hear from students recently returned from academic placements about their experiences. Ioanna Rigou is a third-year PhD student under the supervision of Prof Matt Dalby.

Hi, I’m Ioanna, a third-year PhD student at the University of Glasgow, and in September 2024, I embarked on an incredible journey with Bio-Tune. Through this opportunity, I travelled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to collaborate with Diego Pallarola at the National University of San Martín (UNSAM).

At Glasgow, my research focuses on differentiating human bone marrow stem cells (hMSCs) into hyaline cartilage using the innovative Nanoking technique, a pioneering approach that utilizes frequency modulation to drive cartilage regeneration. During my placement at UNSAM, I worked on evaluating cell behaviour in three-dimensional (3D) versus two-dimensional (2D) culture conditions to better understand how physical environments influence chondrogenesis. By employing electrochemical biosensing techniques (EIS), we monitored real-time changes in cell impedance to assess how hMSCs interact within micromass cultures compared to monolayers. These insights are crucial for optimizing scaffold-free tissue engineering strategies, where the formation of a functional extracellular matrix plays a key role in cartilage regeneration. Understanding how frequency-modulated stimuli affect cellular differentiation could lead to breakthroughs in regenerative medicine, particularly for treating osteoarthritic cartilage defects.

This placement has been a once-in-a-lifetime adventure both about the people and the places. The incredible secondees I met and the unforgettable trips we shared made my time in Argentina truly special. Exploring Argentina with such a fantastic group of researchers made this journey even more meaningful.

A heartfelt thank you to Bio-Tune, and everyone who contributed to this unforgettable experience. I look forward to continuing this exciting research and applying the knowledge gained during this incredible opportunity.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 872869.