Sebastião van Uden

PhD student @BEL on Development of scaffold and bioreactor technologies for the engineering of heart valve models

Sebastião van Uden (born in 1988) concluded, in 2014, his Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering. Although certified by the Catholic University of Portugal, his Master thesis was developed at the Associate Laboratory ICVS/3B’s (Biomaterials, Biodegradables & Biomimetic) at the University of Minho. Its main focus was on the development of a biofabrication strategy to tackle intervertebral disc degeneration by developing a custom-tailored annulus fibrosus scaffold, by means of three dimensional (3D) printing, as well as an injectable hydrogel to regenerate the nucleus pulposus. This research work covered different scientific and laboratory techniques within cell culture, polymer chemistry, and materials’ processing, as well as 3D modelling and computer-aided design. Currently, Sebastião is working as part of the Research & Development team of Bioengineering Laboratories S.r.l. (BEL), in Cantù, under the MUSICA (MUltiSectoral Integrative approaches to CArdiac care) project as a Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher, while taking his PhD in Bioengineering at Politecnico di Milano. His research is focused on the development of novel technologies for the engineering of reliable 3D heart valve models, as a platform for the development of new therapeutic tools and for the screening of new drugs.