Prof. Amaia Cipitria is an IKERBASQUE Research Professor, head of the Bioengineering Area at Biogipuzkoa Health Research Institute, Spain, and leads the group “Bioengineering in Regeneration and Cancer”. Her group aims to understand how biophysical and biochemical properties of native extracellular matrix and synthetic biomaterials guide cell response in tissue regeneration, cancer dormancy and bone metastasis. Amaia obtained her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, UK (2008). Since then, her scientific career has evolved from Engineering and Classical Materials Science (UK), to Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) (Australia) and Charité University Hospital Berlin (Germany). Relevant scientific contributions include the use of 3D printed scaffolds to regenerate critical-sized bone defects in sheep (Sci Transl Med 2012), or the use of advanced materials science methods to investigate the effect of curvature on in vivo tissue formation (Acta Biomater 2017). As a junior PI at the Charité, her group focused on engineering the cell microenvironment, modulating biophysical and biochemical cues (Biomaterials 2018, Biomaterials 2019, Acta Biomater 2020, Biomat Adv 2023). More recently, Amaia has embarked in the field of Biomaterials and Cancer, first with a DFG Emmy Noether grant (2017) as group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPI-CI) (Germany), later as a tenured IKERBASQUE researcher (2021) (Spain). Her interdisciplinary team investigates cancer dormancy and early bone metastasis, combining (i) in vitro models with hydrogels and microfluidics (Soft Matter 2021, PNAS 2022, Lab on a Chip 2023, Science Advances 2024, ACS Nano 2024) with (ii) in vivo mouse models of breast cancer bone metastasis (Science Advances 2024). She also serves as associate editor of the journal Biomaterials Advances. In 2024, she was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant (DORMATRIX, 101123883) to bioengineer cancer dormancy as a collective emergent phenomenon, and the Ikerbasque Prize – Recognition of Women Researchers. Originally from San Sebastián located on the Atlantic coast, she loves traveling with her family in a van to the mountains and seaside.
