Maria completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s in the National Technical University of Athens (Greece), at the faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in 2018. Her Diploma thesis was focused on the use of swarm intelligence for the navigation of virtual nanorobotic swarms in brain networks. For this work, she was awarded the Thomaidis award for innovative research conducted by undergraduate students.

After finishing her studies at NTUA, she decided to gain a better understanding on biomaterials and biomechanics in order to stir her research focus towards biofabrication. For this reason, she joined the Biomedical Engineering Master’s programme at TU Delft. For her graduation project, she worked on 4D bioprinting of self-bending, cell-laden scaffolds for cartilage regeneration. She received her Master’s degree cum laude in 2021.

Inspired by the potential for innovative research in biofabrication, she decided to pursue a career in academia. In 2022, she joined the MERLN family as a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Lorenzo Moroni. Her research is focused on the biofabrication of stimuli-responsive scaffolds for osteochondral regeneration.