MERLN Speaker Series | Cristina Barrias
We are very honoured to welcome Cristina Barrias on the 29th of January at MERLN.
Cristina Barrias is a Principal Investigator and Leader of the Bioengineered 3D Microenvironments (BEMIC) group at i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto (www.i3s.up.pt) and an Invited Associate Professor at the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto. She also serves as Vice-President of the Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica (INEB), Vice-President and Journal Liaison Officer of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB), and is Managing Editor of Materials Today Bio.
Her research focuses on engineering bioinspired 3D in vitro microenvironments to recreate and investigate the dynamic processes of tissue morphogenesis and remodeling in health and disease. Her group integrates molecularly designed biomaterials, microtissues, organoids, and advanced biofabrication technologies to model human tissue development, regeneration, and pathology. A central goal is to recreate functional, large-scale microvascular networks that reproduce the structural and functional interplay between blood and lymphatic microvessels, thereby addressing the vascularization bottleneck that still limits tissue and organ engineering. In parallel, her team develops next-generation human-based 3D in vitro models, including organ-on-chip systems, to advance fundamental research, therapeutic discovery, and screening.