MDR Colloquium November 2023

During the MDR Colloquium MDR researchers will share their latest findings and outcomes to the rest of the consortium and ISAB members. Every month one junior and one senior researcher will take the floor to show their work and get feedback.

The MDR October colloquium will be on Wednesday November 15th from 4:00 pm-5:00pm (CET), online via TEAMS. You can join the meeting via the Outlook invitation you received.

During this colloquium we will have 2 speakers:

Dr. Hamidreza Jafarinia – Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine (MERLN) – “A stochastic spatial model for adhesion-based YAP phosphorylation”
Hamidreza holds a bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechanical engineering. In his Ph.D. at the University of Groningen, he developed computational molecular dynamics models to study underlying molecular mechanisms in ALS disease. Following his interest in developing mechanistic models of biological processes, but this time at a different scale, he joined MERLN as a post-doc in June 2022. At cBITE, he works on modeling the cell-ECM interface using different computational techniques. To improve the design of synthetic biomaterials, it is crucial to understand the physiological cell-ECM interactions and how this influence cell behavior.

Dr. Livia Angeloni – Eindhoven University of Technology – ” Investigating macrophage mechanics by atomic force microscopy”
Livia Angeloni obtained a B.Sc. in Clinical Engineering and an M.Sc. cum laude in Nanotechnology Engineering at Sapienza University (Italy). She performed her Ph.D. (2012-2017) in Biomaterials Engineering in international joint supervision between the Laval University (Canada) and Sapienza University (Italy). In 2018, Livia started a postdoc on cell biomechanics at TU Delft, investigating the effects of surface topographies on the mechanical properties, viability, and fate of bone cells and bacteria. She developed Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Fluidic Force Microscopy (FluidFM) techniques to analyze single cells’ mechanics, adhesion, and morphology. In 2019, she obtained the MCSA (Cofund) LEaDing Fellowship. Driven by her interest in macrophage mechanics, Livia joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at TU Eindhoven (2022). Here, she is investigating the effects of physical cues on macrophage mechanics and biological function, also developing AFM and correlative methods for single-cell mechanical characterization.

Moderator: Matilde Marradi