BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:IMX Colloquium - Instructive soft biomaterials for tissue response
  by design: steering events at the biointerface
DTSTART:20260504T131500
DTEND:20260504T141500
DTSTAMP:20260430T125547Z
UID:1f4e77e712935d9308b928f218279e44afd0031df13f545225c39055
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Katharina Maniura\, EMPA\nDynamic structural changes in
  cellular microenvironments are critical factors for development\, tissue 
 homeostasis\, and disease progression. These changes are enabled by the me
 chanical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and its susceptibili
 ty to cleavage by proteolytic enzymes such as matrix metalloproteinases (M
 MPs). Instructive hydrogels allow living cells to interact with an ECM mim
 icking environment\, which brings the great potential of hydrogels in tiss
 ue engineering and regenerative medicine. Medical challenges in numerous a
 reas can be tackled through smart design and engineering of hydrogel syste
 ms: from implant or deep wound related bacterial infections\, tissue regen
 eration to advanced microphysiological in vitro models.\nDifferent hydroge
 l-based strategies will be discussed.\n\nBio: Katharina Maniura is head o
 f the Biointerface lab and Co-Head of the Research Focus Health at Empa\, 
 the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology\, an i
 nterdisciplinary research institute within the ETH Domain. She is affiliat
 ed with the Health Science and Technology Department at ETH Zürich. Empa
 ’s research activities focus on meeting the needs of society and the req
 uirements of industry\, and thus link applications-oriented research with 
 the practical implementation of new ideas.  Trained as a Chemist at Marbu
 rg University\, Germany\, and after completing her graduate research at th
 e University of Newcastle upon Tyne\, UK\, she worked as postdoctoral fell
 ow in the Physiology Departments at the Universities of Heidelberg and Col
 ogne (both Germany) before relocating to Switzerland.\nHer scientific inte
 rest focuses on biomaterials\, biointerfaces\, surface modification\, hydr
 ogel functionalization\, drug delivery systems and\, the characterization 
 of the biological response to materials. For this\, predictive in vitro mo
 dels for mammalian cell and tissue response and models for bacterial respo
 nse are being developed. Her team members come from disciplines ranging fr
 om biology to materials science and engineering and the team closely colla
 borates with clinicians. The Biointerface team works towards a comprehensi
 ve understanding of a selection of medical challenges which helps to devel
 op novel\, multidisciplinary solutions and novel treatments.
LOCATION:MXF 1 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MXF%201
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR