Prof. Rui L. Reis
3B´s Research Group
I3Bs
University of Minho
Guimaraes
Portugal
Opening Lecture: Exclusive Cell/Material Interactions Platforms Leading to Novel Methodologies for The Elaboration of Innovative Complex 3D In Vitro Disease Models /strong>
Rui L. Reis, PhD, DSc, Hon. Causa MD, Hon Causa PhD, FBSE, FTERM, member of NAE, FAIMBE, FEAMBES, is a Full Professor of Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, Biomaterials and Stem Cells at University of Minho (UMinho), Portugal. He is the Founding Director of the 3B’s Research Group and the Dean/President of the I3Bs – Institute for Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, as well as the Director of the ICVS/3B´s Associate Laboratory, all based at UMinho. He is also the CEO of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. He has been (2015-2018) the Global President of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) and was the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (2007-2021), was an Associate Editor of PNAS-NEXUS (2022-2024), and is presently an Associated Editor of Bioactive Materials (2024-…), being also in the Editorial Board of several other relevant journals. He is a recognized World expert in the TERM and biomaterials fields, that has edited several books and has more than 1910 published works listed on ISI Web of Knowledge with an h index of 121 (1795 works and h=133 in Scopus and 2820 and h=159 in Google Scholar), being also an inventor of around 130 patents. He has more than 1300 publications with more than 10 citations each (i10). Based on those, he co-founded several companies that raised important private investments. According to Google Scholar his work has been cited more than 116500 times. He is listed in the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2022, 2023 and 2024 lists from Clarivate (responsible for the ISI Web of Science). This annual list identifies the top 6600 World researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index. He has been awarded many important international prizes, including among several others different innovation awards, the Jean Leray, George Winter and Klaas de Groot Awards (ESB), the Clemson Award for contributions to the literature Award (SFB), the TERMIS-EU contributions to the literature Award and the TERMIS-EU Career Achievement Award, the UNESCO- International Life Sciences Award, the IET A. F. Harvey Engineering Research Prize and the Chandra Sharma Award (India Society for Biomaterials). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (USA), Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE), Fellow of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (FTERM). He was the chair of the FTERM College of Fellows (2019-2021) and is presently (since 2020) the Chair of the Steering Committee of the International College of Fellows of FBSE. He was awarded 2 honouris causa degrees. He is/has been the PI of projects with a budget totalizing more than 140 MEuros of which around 65 MEuros are U. Minho funding.
Prof. Lino Ferreira
Faculty of Medicine
Pólo das Ciências da Saúde, Unidade Central
Azinhaga de Santa Comba
3000-354 Coimbra
Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology
University of Coimbra
Largo Marques de Pombal
3004-517 Coimbra
Portugal
Plenary Lecture: Drug Delivery Systems for Tissue Regeneration and to Reverse Ageing
Lino Ferreira (LF) BSc, Ph.D. (Portuguese, M, 53 years old) is a Coordinator Researcher (equiv. to Full Professor) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra and Vice-Director of the PT Government Associate Laboratory CIBB, University of Coimbra (Portugal). He is the associate editor of Biomaterials Science Journal (RSC), the founder of two technology-based companies, and the founder and current Director of the Collaborative Laboratory Colab4Ageing that currently integrates 6 associates (companies, academia, and innovation hubs). A key focus of his bioengineering laboratory is to develop platform technologies in the areas of biomaterials, drug delivery, and cell therapies to address unmet medical needs. The lab aims to investigate age-related diseases, particularly the ones related to the cardiovascular system, and to develop pharmacological interventions (including drug delivery systems) to attenuate the effects of aging. Lino Ferreira has been the ERA Chair holder in ageing at the UC since 2016 after a successful application to the European Widening program. He was the coordinator of a Twinning project in cell senescence called “Research for healthy ageing- RESETAgeing” (H2020-Twinn-2019; duration: 2021-2024) and he is now the coordinator of a pathfinder open project entitled “REGENERAR” (Ref: 101129812). His team is the first to be housed in a research infrastructure dedicated to ageing called MIA-Portugal, the first in South Europe. In the last 10 years, Lino Ferreira’s lab has made significant contributions at the interface of engineering with biology, in particular, in the development of tissue models for screening and aging modeling, in the evaluation of anti-senescence therapies in the context of aging and age-related diseases, and advanced nanoformulations for medical applications. As a result of his proficiency, he has published more than 170 scientific contributions in scientific journals with the referee and filled more than 25 International patents. He has an h-index of 63 and received so far ~ 15,500 citations. He has successfully supervised 27 PhD students and 26 post-docs. He was the recipient of numerous awards/prizes including the Crioestaminal prize (2008), the ERC consolidator grant (2012), the FCT Investigator award (2013 and 2015), the Bluepharma Innovation award (2016), ERA Chair award (2016), among others. He was President of the Portuguese Society of Stem Cells and Cell Therapies (2013-2015). Members of his group have founded companies (e.g. Tissium, Exogenus Therapeutics, Matera, Curemat) that attracted more than $250M in venture capital. He has been listed in the World TOP2% (Career) most cited researchers since 2020.
Prof. Joanna Natorska
Department of Thromboembolic Disorders
Institute of Cardiology
Jagiellonian University Medical College
Kraków
St. John Paul II Hospital
Kraków, Poland
Plenary Lecture: Immunothrombosis and Other Prothrombotic Mechanisms Involved in Biocompatibility Failures – Methods of Assessment
Joanna Natorska is the Professor of medical science. She obtained her PhD in 2006, her habilitation in medical sciences in 2017, and the title of professor in 2024. Since 2014, she has been the head of the laboratory at the Cracow Center for Medical Research and Technology. She is the recipient of three scientific grants obtained under the OPUS competition of the National Science Center and other smaller research grants within the Priority Research Areas (qLife). She has supervised numerous master's and doctoral theses. Her scientific achievements include over 130 research papers published in peer-reviewed international journals, including prestigious medical journals such as Diabetologia, Stroke, and the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis and participation in numerous international scientific conferences. The main scientific interests of Joanna Natorska include: (1) the pathomechanisms of aortic stenosis development and progression, (2) in vitro studies aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms of cellular interactions related to the activation of aortic valve interstitial cells (VICs), and (3) the impact of genetic and environmental factors on the phenotype of the fibrin network, i.e., clot permeability and its susceptibility to enzymatic degradation in patients at increased risk of thromboembolic incidents. .
