Cercle Gutenberg

João Mano

João F. Mano, PhD in Chemistry (1996, Technical Univ. Lisbon), D.Sc. in Tissue Engineering Regenerative
Medicine and Stem Cells (2012, Univ. Minho), is a full professor at the Department of Chemistry of the
University of Aveiro (Portugal). During his career he has been teaching courses related to biomaterials
science and technology, tissue engineering and physical chemistry of polymers and materials, in both
undergraduate and graduate levels. He is the director of both Master and Doctoral Degrees in
Biotechnology at the Univ. of Aveiro. He has also an appointment as Invited Professor (classe
exceptionelle, since 2014) at University of Lorraine (France), and Visiting Professor in KAIST (South Korea)- 2019.
He belongs to the associate laboratory CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials where he is directing the
COMPASS Research Group, founded in April 2016. His current research interests include the use of
biomaterials and cells towards the development of transdisciplinary concepts especially aimed at being
used in regenerative and personalised medicine. In particular, biomimetic and nano/micro-technology
approaches have been applied to natural-derived biomaterials and surfaces in order to obtain biomedical
devices with improved structural and (multi-)functional properties, or in the engineering of
microenvironments to control cell behaviour and organization, to be used in therapies or in drug
screening.
João F. Mano is author of 630+ original research or review papers in international journals (25400+
citations, h=80 – Web of Science), about 40 book chapters, and 6 patents as senior inventor. João F.
Mano co-edited 9 special issues in international journals and 3 books. João F. Mano has been invited to
review manuscripts from 275+ different international journals and to routinely evaluate projects from
numerous private and state funding agencies from 18 different countries. João F. Mano supervised or cosupervised 60 MSc, 22 PhD students, and 40+ post-doctoral fellows.
He is the Editor-in-Chief of Materials Today Bio (Elsevier). He has been also part of a series of scientific
societies and editorial boards of international journals, including Tissue Engineering (parts A, B and C),
Advanced Healthcare Materials, Advanced Engineering Materials, Materials Today, Materials Letters,
Materials Today Chemistry, Materials Today Advances, Journal of Tissue Engineering and Journal of
Bioactive and Compatible Polymers. He has been coordinating or involved in many national and
European research projects and participated in the organization of scientific events in the area of
polymer/materials science and biomaterials/tissue engineering.
Professor João F. Mano has been member of scientific committees, organizing committees, referee and
chairman in different international meetings. He was invited to present more than 100
invited/keynote/plenary talks in international conferences including EUROMAT, ESTAC, TERMIS (EU and
AP chapters and World conferences), BIOMED, FBPS, NANOMED, COLAOB, ESB, SFB, World
Biomaterials Conference, E-MRS, ESAO, EPF, ACS, CBECIMAT, NICE, Inter. HYMA, APME, APCChE,
PPM, EPNOE, SELECTBIO.
João F. Mano has received different honours and awards: (i) fellow of the IUPAC (International Union of
Pure and Applied Chemistry) since 2004; (ii) the Stimulus to Excellence Award by the Portuguese Minister
for Science and Technology in 2005; (iii) the Materials Science and Technology Prize, attributed by the
Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS) in 2007 (iv) UNESCO Chair on Biomaterials attributed
in 2008 from the University of Havana (Cuba); (v) the major BES innovation award in 2010 (at that time,
one of the most recognised innovation prize in Portugal); (vi) recipient an Advanced Grant from the
European Research Council (ERC-AdG), in 2015; (vii) received the title of Professor@Lorraine from the
University of Lorraine, France, in 2018; (viii) recipient a Proof of Concept Grant from the European
Research Council (ERC-PoC), in 2018; (ix) title of Doctor Honoris Causa, given by University of Lorraine,
in 2019; (x) awarded with a Gutenberg Chair, supported by the Great East Region of France, in 2020; (xi)
recipient a second ERC-AdG, in 2020; (xii) recipient a second ERC-PoC, in 2020.

CARDIOGEL – Advanced bioinspired hybrid hydrogels for cardiac regeneration

On compte près de 120 000 infarctus chaque année en France, soit plus de 320 chaque jour. Les risques d’infarctus du myocarde augmentent avec l’âge, la surcharge pondérale et la sédentarité. Les coûts de cette « maladie » invalidante vont être de plus en plus importants du fait de l’allongement de la durée de vie et du nombre de plus en plus grand de patients. Et, il n’existe pas, à l’heure actuelle, de médicaments efficaces et/ou de stratégies de régénération efficace. La nécessité d’une approche thérapeutique qui pallie non seulement la phase aiguë de l’infarctus du myocarde mais induit également une réparation tissulaire du myocarde est devenue un défi médical très sérieux.  Le projet CARDIOGEL vise à utiliser l’ingénierie des macromolécules et/ou des biomolécules dans le développement d’hydrogels bioinspirées, adhésifs, malléables et naturels pour développer des produits (des gels injectables ou des membranes par exemple) pour des applications pour ce problème de santé crucial et à forts impacts sociétaux.

Representative Publications

  • J. Borges, J.F. Mano - Molecular interactions driving the layer-by-layer assembly of multilayers. Chemical
    Reviews, 114, 8883 (2014)
  • C.A. Custódio, M.T. Cerqueira, A.P. Marques, R.L. Reis, J.F. Mano - Cell selective chitosan microparticles
    as injectable cell carriers for tissue regeneration. Biomaterials, 43, 23 (2015)
  • A.M.S. Costa, J.F. Mano - Highly robust hydrogels via a fast, simple and cytocompatible dual crosslinkingbased process. Chemical Communications, 51, 15673 (2015)
  • C.R. Correia, R.P. Pirraco, M.T. Cerqueira, A.P. Marques, R.L. Reis, J.F. Mano - Semipermeable capsules
    wrapping a multifunctional and self-regulated co-culture microenvironment for osteogenic differentiation.
    Scientific Reports, 6, 21883 (2016)
  • S. Azevedo, A.M.S. Costa, A. Andersen, I.S. Choi, H. Birkedal, J.F. Mano - Bioinspired ultratough hydrogel
    with fast recovery, self-healing, injectability and cytocompatibility. Advanced Materials, 29, 1700759
    (2017)
  • M.B. Oliveira, H.X.S. Bastos, J.F. Mano - Sequentially Moldable and Bondable Four-Dimensional
    Hydrogels Compatible with Cell Encapsulation. Biomacromolecules, 19(7), 2742-2749 (2018)
  • L.P. Ferreira, V.M. Gaspar, J.F. Mano - Bioinstructive microparticles for self-assembly of mesenchymal
    stem Cell-3D tumor spheroids. Biomaterials. 185, 240-275 (2018=
  • L.F. Santos, A.S. Silva, C.R. Correia, J.F. Mano - Physical immobilization of particles inspired by pollination.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 116(12), 5405-5410 (2019)
  • I. Bjorge, I. Choi, C.R. Correia, J.F. Mano - Nanogrooved microdiscs for bottom-up modulation of osteogenic differentiation. Nanoscale, 11(35), 16214-16221 (2019)
  • A.S. Silva, L.F. Santos, M.C. Mendes, J.F. Mano- Multi-layer pre-vascularized magnetic cell sheets for bone regeneration. Biomaterials, 231, 119664 (2020)
  • A.R. Sousa, C.M. Cruz, M.B. Oliveira, J.F. Mano - One-Step Rapid Fabrication of Cell-Only Living Fibers. Advanced Materials, 32(2), 1906305 (2020)

see complete list of publications in http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-4418-2009