The Spanish Society of Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering (SEMIT) is dedicated to promoting research and innovation in the fields of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering in Spain. Our mission is to drive scientific and technological advancement by fostering a collaborative environment that bridges research, education, clinical applications and technology transfer. By uniting experts and stakeholders, SEMIT facilitates the exchange of cutting-edge knowledge, techniques and experiences. We organize key scientific events, including our flagship annual conference, and actively partner with national and international organizations to strengthen collaboration, disseminate advances and build closer ties among experts in the field.
Dr. Pedro J. Díaz Payno is currently working at IMDEA Materials Institute (Madrid) as a MSCA Fellow leading the RECoil3D project and assistant Professor at Francisco de Vitoria University. Originally from Madrid, Dr. Díaz Payno got his BSc in Biotechnology from AIT (Ireland) and UFV (Spain) in 2012 and 2013, respectively. He then joined Prof. Daniel Kelly lab where he was awarded an Irish Research Council PhD Fellowship to do his PhD. His PhD focused on “The development of biomimetic scaffolds for osteochondral tissue engineering” and defended in 2019. After his PhD, he moved to the Netherlands to work with Prof. Gerjo van Osch (ErasmusMC) and Prof. Amir Zadpoor (TUDelft) on the development of advanced 4D Bioprinting technology, part of the Medical Delta project REGMED4D. From 2020-2023, he was elected Secretary of the Student and Young Investigator Section (SYIS) of the European Chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS). Then, in 2022, he moved back to Spain and worked as a Scientific Advisor in Pharmaceutical Laboratories Rovi, S.A, before joining IMDEA Materials to work on the development of biodegradable metals for tissue restoration, as part of the BIOMET4D project. He was organizer of WAB 2024, the first workshop on additive Biofabrication in Spain.
Dr. Jesús Ordoño is a researcher at IMDEA Materials Institute and adjunct professor in Bioengineering at the University Carlos III of Madrid. Originally from Barcelona, he holds a BSc in Biotechnology (2014) and a MSc in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2015) from the University of Barcelona, and he obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia in 2020. During his thesis, he worked on the development of new biomaterials and regenerative strategies for cardiac tissue engineering at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC, Spain), under the supervision of Prof. Elisabeth Engel, and as a visiting researcher at the laboratory of Prof. Aitor Aguirre at Michigan State University (USA). In 2021, Dr. Ordoño joined the biomedical startup Kintsugi therapeutics SL, where he worked on the evaluation of novel drugs for the treatment of neurological disorders on in vitro cellular models, while also contributed to the Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology laboratory of Dr. Teresa Gasull at Germans Trias I Pujol Research Institute (Spain). In 2022, he joined the labs of Prof. Jon Molina and Dr. Monica Echeverry at IMDEA Materials Institute to work on the characterization of 3D-printed metamaterials and the development of new in vitro models for cardiovascular applications. Among others, Jesús was selected by the European Space Agency and the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research to participate in the 3rd ESA-FAIR Space Radiation School, in Germany, and he was organizer of WAB 2024, the first workshop on additive biofabrication celebrated in Spain.
Dr. María Puertas Bartolomé is currently a researcher at Technical Proteins Nanobiotechnology, S.L. (TPNBT), and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Valladolid. She holds a BSc in Chemistry (2014), an MSc in Polymer Science (2015), and she obtained her PhD in Biomaterials from the University of Valladolid in 2020. Her doctoral research, conducted at the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP-CSIC) under the mentorship of Prof. Julio San Román and Prof. Blanca Vázquez Lasa, focused on developing bioinspired functional polymers for regenerative medicine. She further expanded her expertise as a visiting researcher at the laboratories of Prof. Joachim Kohn in the USA (2018) and Prof. Aránzazu del Campo in Germany (2019), where she was introduced to different biofabrication techniques. Her thesis was recognized with the prestigious Julia Polak Award from the European Society for Biomaterials. After completing her PhD, Dr. Puertas moved to Germany, where she joined Prof. Aránzazu del Campo’s group at the Leibniz Institute for New Materials. Over three years, she specialized in engineered living materials and biofabrication. In 2023, she returned to Spain as the Scientific Manager at TPNBT focusing on developing smart biomaterials from protein polymers for tissue regeneration. Currently, Dr. Puertas holds a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship to lead the PROINK4D project at the Bioforge Lab (Valladolid). Her research continues to advance protein-polymer biomaterials, with an emphasis on applications in regenerative medicine and soft robotics through cutting-edge 3D printing technologies.
Dr. Sergio Acosta is currently working at the Bioforge lab at the University of Valladolid as a postdoctoral researcher. Dr. Acosta holds a BSc in Biotechnology from the University of Leon (Spain) and a MSc in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology from the University of Valladolid (2015). In 2020, he obtained his PhD in Biomedical Research from the University of Valladolid. During his thesis, he worked on the development of self-assembling antimicrobial biomaterials under the supervision of Prof. Rodríguez Cabello and completed two research stays at the MDRCBB of the University of Minnesota (USA), where he worked with Prof. Conrado Aparicio. He received the Julia Polak Award from the European Society for Biomaterials, recognizing his thesis as one of the best in Biomaterials in Europe. That same year, he began working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex) Department at the university hospital Uniklinik RWTH Aachen in Aachen (Germany), alongside Dr. Alicia Fernández Colino and Prof. Stefan Jockenhoevel. He worked for over two years on the development of biomaterials for cardiovascular implants and the study of interactions between blood components and the biomaterial surface. Since December 2022, he has rejoined the Bioforge lab, where he works on the development of new smart biomaterials from protein polymers for tissue regeneration.
Dr. Zaida Alvarez currently leads the Biomaterials for Neural Regeneration group as a Ramon y Cajal Group Leader at the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Spain. She completed her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 2014. In 2015, she joined the laboratory of Professor Samuel Stupp at Northwestern University in Chicago as a self-funded postdoctoral fellow to work on peptide amphiphiles for neural regeneration. In 2019, she was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Feinberg Medical School at Northwestern University, where she continued her research on supramolecular biomaterials for in vitro modeling of human IPS-derived neurons in injury and disease. Since 2019, she has also served as a consulting engineer for various technology firms in the US, contributing her expertise to four active patents related to innovative biomaterials for neural repair. Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards including the Young Baxter investigator award in 2019 and the Rafael Hervada award in 2021. Her current research with the IBEC group focuses on understanding the molecular dynamics of regenerative failure in the central nervous system and leveraging this insight to devise biomaterial-based strategies aimed at overcoming paralysis.
IMDEA Materials Institute
Calle Eric Kandel, 2
Tecnogetafe
28906, Getafe – Madrid
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