Carla Arca and Mariola Cano undertake two research stays

Currently, two members of the Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering (BBT) research group are in Europe conducting research stays at collaborating universities to master new techniques and advance their doctoral studies.

PhD student Carla Arca-García has traveled to Belgium to join the Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology Lab (FACM) at the Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), part of the Université Catholique de Louvain. There, she will develop her project: "Interaction of Bacterial Co-cultures and Complex Biofilms with Calcium Phosphate Nanotopographies," under the supervision of Prof. Françoise Van Bambeke.

Carla is conducting her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Maria-Pau Ginebra and Dr. María Godoy-Gallardo, within the framework of the ERC-Advanced Grant BAMBBI (Bio-inspired AntiMicrobial Bone BIoceramics: Deciphering contact-based biocidal mechanisms). Her three-month stay, running from March to May 2026, focuses on learning how to prepare, optimize, and develop complex multi-species bacterial cultures to emulate realistic infection environments, as well as mastering long-term antibacterial testing and biofilm prevention.

Fellow PhD student Mariola Cano-Morenilla is conducting her research stay at the AG Selhuber-Unkel group within the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials (IMSEAM) at the University of Heidelberg (Germany). Under the supervision of Prof. Christine Selhuber-Unkel, Mariola will characterize NeoNectin (a newly created protein) as a functionalization strategy for cardiovascular stents using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and microfluidic assays.

Mariola, whose doctoral thesis is co-directed by Dr. Marta Pegueroles and Dr. Jordi Guillem-Martí, will remain in Heidelberg from February 9th to April 30th. Her stay is supported by a 2025 Santander/UPC Predoctoral Grant and a 2026 German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) grant.