Alvaro MATA

Costa Rica

Alvaro Mata’s research aims to bridge supramolecular chemistry, out-of-eqiulibrium processes, engineering, and biology to develop supramolecuar bioengineering strategies to develop new biofabrication strategies and materials that exhibit strutural complexity, hierarchical order, and dynamic propertie such as the capacity to grow and self-heal. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Kansas, a Master’s Degree from the University of Strathclyde, and a Doctor of Engineering Degree from Cleveland State University. During his doctorate he worked at The Cleveland Clinic with Prof. Shuvo Roy and from 2005-2008 as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Samuel Stupp at Northwestern University. From 2008-2013 he was Head of the Nanotechnology Platform at Parc Científic Barcelona in Spain and is currently Professor in Biomaterials and Bioengineering and Director of the Institute of Bioengineering at Queen Mary University of London.

2016:Highlighted by the Government of Costa Rica as an exemplary national talent.

2016: Member of the Board of the Biomedical Engineering Association (BmEA) at IMechE.

2015: Frontiers Innovator Award, Wellcome Trust.

2015: Member of the Board of the Centre for Inflammation and Therapeutic Innovation (CiTI) at QMUL.

2014-16: External Examiner of the MRes in Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London.

2012: ERC Starting Grant, European Research Council.

2010: Ramon y Cajal Award, Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain.

2010: Invited by the Royal Society of Chemistry to write an article for Chemical Society Reviews.

2009: Torres Quevedo Award, Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain.

2009: Images of the Year Selection, Biomaterials Journal.

2007: MRS Award for an oral presentation at the MRS Spring Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

2006: Baxter Early Career Development Award in Bioengineering.

2005: Costa Rican National Technology Award Clodomiro Picado Twight.

2004: Graduate Student Award for Applied Science at The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH.

2004: Ribbon Award for Best Paper Nominations, MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, MA.

2004: MRS Student Travel Award to attend the MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, MA.

2003: Student Travel Award, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

2002: Student Travel Award, BioMEMS and NANOtech World 2003 Conference, Columbus, OH.

2002: Graduate Student Award for Applied Science at The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH.

1. Mata A, Lipka M, Aguilar JP. New 3DEAL device. Patent application GB1608674.6, filed May 17, 2016.
2. Mata A, Elsharkawy SAA. Crystal structures. Patent application GB1605629.3, filed April 1, 2016.
3. Mata A, Inostroza K, Smith KH. Self-assembling peptides. Patent application PCT/GB2013/053432, National phase entry into Europe (EP20130817950) and US (US 14/655090).
4. Mata A and Aguilar JP. Method for manufacturing a three-dimensional biomimetic scaffolds and uses thereof. Patent application PCT/EP2013/051465; National phase entry into Europe (EP20130702949) and US (US 14/386804).
5. Mata A, Stupp SI. Self-assembling peptide amphiphiles for tissue engineering. Application US 11/937,171; Patent US8114835, Granted.
6. Stupp SI, Zhang S, Mata A, Greenfield MA. Aligned nanofibers and related methods of use. Application US 12/031,250; Patents US8772228 and US9512404 Granted.

2017

• Keynote lecture. Supramolecular engineering of novel biomaterials and biofabrication methods for regenerative medicine. Future Investigators of Regenerative Medicine (FIRM), Girona, Spain. September 2017.
• Keynote lecture. Supramolecular engineering of advanced biomaterials based on peptides and proteins. Annual European Society for Biomaterials Conference, Athens, Greece. September 2017.
• Plenary lecture. Enabling biomaterial and biofabrication technologies for complex tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. EURO BioMAT 2017, Weimar, Germany. May 2017.
• Engineering materials from supramolecular interfaces. Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Interfaces, Jerusalem, Israel. April 2017.

2016

• Keynote lecture. Novel biomaterials for regenerative medicine. Future Investigators of Regenerative Medicine (FIRM), Girona, Spain.
• Keynote lecture. Enabling biomaterial technologies for complex tissue engineering. TERMIS Europe, Uppsala, Sweden.
• Precise bioengineering for complex tissue engineering. Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
• Enabling technologies for tissue engineering and biomimetic environments. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Materials, Harvard University, Boston, USA.
• Enabling technologies for tissue engineering and biomimetic environments. Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University, North Carolina, USA.
• Peptides and proteins for precise engineering of materials. Karolinksa Institutet Seminar Series, Stockholm, Sweden.

2015

• Peptides and proteins for rapid prototyping of 3D scaffolds. International Symposium for Additive Biomanufacturing and Regenerative Medicine, Munich, Germany.
• Peptides and proteins for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Academic Leaders Programme, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico.
• Keynote lecture. Peptides and proteins for nanoengineering materials for tissue engineering. Istanbul, Turkey.

2012

• Keynote lecture. Hierarchical biomaterials for tissue engineering. 5^th International Conference on Biomaterials “Biomaterials & Medical Devices” BiomMedD’2012, Bucharest, Romania.
• Keynote lecture. Bioactive scaffolds for bone and cartilage regeneration. The International Conference of Young Researchers on Advanced Materials (IUMRS – ICYRAM), MRS Singapore, Singapore.

2011

• Plenary lecture. Bottom-up and top-down fabrication strategies for developing scaffold for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. 8^th International Conference on Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies, Thessaloniki, Greece.
• Keynote lecture. Bottom-up and top-down fabrication strategies for developing scaffold biomaterials for regenerative medicine. Second Semi-Annual Symposium on Biomaterials. The Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron. Akron, Ohio.

2016

Interview by The President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis: The President of Costa Rica interviews me as part of the Costa Rican Government visit to the UK, May 2016. https://youtu.be/YhqCmN_gTy8

Interview by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine: http://www.wakehealth.edu/Research/WFIRM/News/Podcast.htm

Forces TV: Forces TV features the work of our lab focused on tissue engineering from the bottom-up (after min 3). http://forces.tv/18689077

Don Ingber Public Lecture: Summary of the Public Lecture given by Donald Ingber and hosted by Robin Ince on March 29th, 2016. https://vimeo.com/164723531/cc0a62ec08

2015

NowThis: NowThis reports on our Nature Chemistry 2015 paper and is viewed more than 500,000 times in two weeks. https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/919977778092347

Chemistry World: Chemistry World reports on our peptide-protein co-assembly system. Comment by Prof. Stephen Mann and Prof. Rein Ulijn.

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/09/self-assembly-healing-protein-scaffold-cell-growth

Phys.org: Report on our Nature Chemistry 2015 paper. Comment by Prof. Dietmar Hutmacher. http://phys.org/news/2015-09-self-assembling-material-artificial-arteries.html

QMUL News: Summary of the dynamic properties exhibited by our self-assembling material. http://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/items/se/164051.html

IoB Launch Event: Summary of the Launch of the Institute of Bioengineering at QMUL on October 7th, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4nSRzTtfU0

2014

Science Daily: Highlight to our work on use of teeth proteins to grow bone. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140702122426.htm

Young Bioengineers: Opening young minds to bioengineering. Engaging school children with the research of the Institute of Bioengineering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIHrtoSJT08