Can you tell us a little about your research interests? My main research interests are in bioinspired materials: learning about how nature and biology have developed complex materials with outstanding properties, and applying their design rules to new bioinspired materials to solve current technological problems.

What excites you about biomaterials research? I am excited about biomaterials as a very interesting way to interface synthetic and biological systems. As a society, we still have many challenges in different applications that lack good integration of synthetic and biological interfaces, from synthetic materials in bio and healthcare applications (medical devices facing problems of biocompatibility, infection, inflammatory responses, etc.) to biological materials in non-bio applications (robotics, sensing, sustainability, etc.). Biomaterials offer a very versatile toolbox to design new materials and innovative solutions to many of these challenges, bringing lessons from nature to modern science and engineering. It is very exciting and fun for our group!

What are you currently researching? We are currently working on biomaterials systems that can adapt to different environments, including self-healing materials (that can autonomously repair mechanical damage) and biomaterials in extreme conditions (performance in high/cold temperatures, growth of bacterial biofilms, etc.) to improve their durability, long-term performance, and overall reliability of devices.

What are your future research goals? I am most excited about our research projects on adaptive materials and about working with our amazing team of students, postdocs, and collaborators. We are looking forward to growing the group and exploring new ideas on bioinspired materials and devices and transitioning them out of the lab for testing and deployment.