ROCÍO CÁRDENAS

Doctoral researcher (co-PI Dr. Fernando López)

After studying Biotechnology at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, Rocío completed a 9-month internship at the University of Trieste (Italy) in the field of Nutritional Biochemistry, thanks to the Erasmus+ program. Her love for cellular biology led her to pursue a Master’s in Tissue Engineering and Advanced Therapies at the University of Granada, where she discovered her passion for the fields of regenerative medicine and advanced therapies. With the aim of contributing to this ground-breaking fields, she decided to join Amaia Cipitria’s group, where she is pursuing her doctoral thesis in collaboration with Fernando López at CIC biomaGUNE, with the aim of developing biocatalytic materials for their application in biomedicine. In her leisure time, she enjoys reading as well as traveling and exploring new places.

LAURA FALLERT

Doctoral researcher (co-PI Dr. Dorleta Jiménez)

Laura obtained her BSc in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Maastricht and pursued her MSc in Oncology at the Vrije University of Amsterdam. During her Master´s, she performed her minor internship at the Leiden University Medical Center to evaluate the performance of a enzyme-activatable fluorescent probe for breast cancer resection. For her Master’s Thesis at the Cancer Center Amsterdam, she developed a 3D cell culture model to explore the potential of exosome inhibition to restore treatment response in breast cancer cells. Determined to be a driving force in this field of research, she joined Amaia Cipitria´s group as a doctoral researcher and in collaboration with Dorleta Jiménez at CIC biomaGUNE. She will develop 3D printed breast cancer models to monitor drug response and investigate bone as well as lung metastatic events, aiming to develop a platform for personalized therapy. During her free time, she likes to get creative on paper as well as in the kitchen and enjoys any beach related activity.

DR. OIHANE MITXELENA

Postdoctoral researcher

After obtaining a BSc in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Navarra, Oihane moved to London to increase her knowledge with the MSc in Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine at the University College London (UCL). She returned to her hometown to do her PhD in Applied Engineering at the University of Navarra, where she developed microfluidic platforms for the validation of new targeted therapies in personalized medicine against osteosarcoma. Following her passion for regenerative medicine, she joined Amaia Cipitria’s group as a postdoctoral researcher. She loves nature and adventures, so you can find her excited in any amusement park or thinking about new experiences such as skydiving!

UNAI HERAS

Doctoral researcher

After finishing his Master’s Thesis in our group working with bone mimicking 3D-printed scaffolds for breast cancer models, Unai decided to start his PhD on 3D-bioengineered models to analyse cell-ECM interactions in dormancy-inducing and early metastasis engineered microenvironments. He graduated in Industrial Engineering at University of the Basque Country, where he worked as an intern student with 3D printers, 3D scans and digital software for biomedical applications. His strong interest in biomedical research led him to study a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering, expanding his knowledge to biomaterials, cell culture or cancer. Born in the Basque Country he loves the mountains and the sea, but where you could best know him is in any event with music.

DANIELA S. GARSKE

Research Assistant

After her training as a biological technical assistant, Daniela’s continued interest in Biology led her to study Medical Biotechnology at the TU Berlin. During this time she joined Amaia Cipitria’s group (then still located at the Julius Wolff Institute at the Charité Berlin) as a student helper. She decided to stay for her diploma thesis and then continued as a research assistant. She supports the doctoral students of the group in their projects in aspects like cell culture, hydrogel synthesis, in vivo experiments and histology. She loves reading, being crafty and creative and if it’s windy you can also spot her windsurfing across Berlin waters.

CLAUDIA A. GARRIDO

Doctoral researcher (co-PI Dr. Katharina Schmidt-Bleek)

Claudia carried out her bachelor studies in Chemistry in her home country, Ecuador, and pursued her Master’s degree in Toxicology in Potsdam University. Her main research interests are material science and tissue regeneration. She looked for a PhD project in biomaterials and enrolled at the Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies graduate school as a member of Amaia Cipitria’s group. She is working on the project patterned hydrogels for bone regeneration.

NICKY TAM

Doctoral researcher (co-PI Dr. Rumiana Dimova)

Hailing from Vancouver, Canada, Nicky obtained a BSc in Physiology and Physics from McGill University in Montreal and a MSc in Biomedical Engineering from Dalhousie University in Halifax, where he worked on the development of a 3D cell culture model to study prostate cancer cell interactions. Moving ever eastward, he crossed the Atlantic in 2020 Anno Domini and now works at the MPI of Colloids and Interfaces with synthetic model lipid membranes to develop a bottom-up model system to study how extracellular environments affect exosome formation. Nicky is passionate about food, especially eating it and is a big fan of finding fractal patterns in vegetables.