NOTICIAS / NOVAS / NEWS

Researchers Xián Farto and María Vivero from iMATUS win the ‘Julia Polak European Doctorate Award’

The “Julia Polak European Doctorate Award” is granted to doctoral theses with a high level in the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering.

iMATUS is proud to announce that two of its postdoctoral researchers have been honored with the prestigious “Julia Polak European Doctorate Award” during the 33rd Annual Congress of the European Society for Biomaterials, held in Davos, Switzerland.

María Vivero López and Xián Farto Vaamonde have received this prestigious recognition for their outstanding doctoral theses in the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering. These theses stood out for their high level of training and the generation of impactful scientific results, which were published in specialized journals.

Both research projects received predoctoral grants from the Xunta de Galicia and were supervised by prominent researchers from iMATUS, Carmen Álvarez Lorenzo and Ángel Concheiro Nine. María Vivero López focused her research on the development of novel techniques for loading active substances into medical devices, such as hearing aids and contact lenses, with the ability to sustainably release substances to prevent the formation of bacterial biofilms and treat established infections. Additionally, part of her work was carried out in collaboration with the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal.

On the other hand, Xián Farto Vaamonde’s thesis centered on 3D printing of support structures, known as “scaffolds,” used in tissue regeneration. His innovative research developed methods that allow the incorporation of multiple drugs at specific locations within these scaffolds, enabling the customization of drug release profiles according to therapeutic needs. It is worth noting that Farto Vaamonde also completed a research stay at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

This distinction demonstrates iMATUS’s commitment to excellence in research and its significant contribution to society and the advancement of materials science for health.