Professor of international MIT Portugal Program receives 2013 TERMIS-EU Young Scientist Award

For the first time, the European Chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS-EU) has presented awards at its annual conference to distinguished scientists in several categories. The award recipients represent excellence in Europe in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Manuela E. Gomes, Vice-Directors of the 3B's Research Group at Universidade do Minho and Invited Assistant Professor of the international MIT Portugal Program, was greeted with the 2013 TERMIS-EU Young Scientist Award in recognition for her contribution to the field, high quality publications in highly cited journals, leadership activities, grant income from major funding bodies and external recognition amongst the wider international TERM community.

Manuela E. Gomes research career has been truly interdisciplinary dedicated to the development of important skills in distinct areas such as materials science and stem cells biology. Her research interest focus on bone and cartilage and tendon tissue engineering strategies, namely in the development of scaffold materials based on biodegradable natural origin polymers, stem cells sourcing (bone marrow and adipose tissue), and dynamic cell culturing systems (bioreactors) for stem cells seeded onto 3D scaffolds; and translational aspects of Tissue Engineering, focusing on autologous approaches and cryopreservation of tissue substitutes. Recently she has been focused on specific TE approaches for the regeneration of tendon and periodontal tissue.

The researcher also participates in the teaching and research initiatives of the MIT Portugal Program Bioengineering focus area, and has been deeply involved in MIT Portugal's vanguard research in developing hybrid materials to serve as "scaffolding" in place of naturally-occurring tissue in order to facilitate growth and healing after trauma or illness. In addition, Gomes coordinates the project "Micro/nano design of functional stem cell-instructive materials for bone tissue regeneration," through the 2009 FCT-MIT Portugal Open Call for research and development projects.

Furthermore Manuela E. Gomes is also a supervisor on PhD thesis developed within the program.

Currently she is one of the Vice-Directors of the 3B-s Research Group and she is also on the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Associate Laboratory. Since 2007 she has been a faculty member of the MIT Portugal Program as Invited Assistant Professor.