Dr. Federica Barbugian

Short Bio

Federica Barbugian is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue engineering group, currently working on the project “Development of tailored 3D printed permanent and resorbable metallic scaffolds with biofunctionalized hydrogel for bone regeneration”, led by Prof. Josè Maria Manero at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).

Before this experience, Federica studied Biotechnology at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy). She defended a bachelor thesis on the design and development of advanced nanomedicine to overcome biological barriers. After her bachelor graduation, she moved into the 3D printing world with two internships in the synthesis and functionalization of hybrid hydrogels and scaffolds for cellular tests.

However, since her interest was more focused on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, during her master's studies she moved to the Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine (MERLN) – Maastricht University (NL) in the group of Prof. Lorenzo Moroni. There, she took part to a European Research Program (B2B) with a project entitled “Biofabrication of a vascularized 3D tissue in vitro model”. Motivated by her deep passion for bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration and her enthusiasm for teaching and supervising young minds, she pursued and won a Doctoral scholarship in Converging Technologies for Biomolecular Systems (TeCSBI) at the University of Milano-Bicocca under the Department of Excellence - CHRONOS (CHRonical multifactorial disorders explored by Novel integrated Strategies), in the BioOrganic Chemistry group chaired by Prof. Francesco Nicotra and Dr. Laura Russo.

She completed her Ph.D. in the latter group after working on the fabrication of 3D-bioprinted hybrid hydrogels simulating the extracellular matrix dynamics in vitro and after contributing as a visiting researcher at the Biological Design Center (Boston, MA) in the group of Prof. Christopher S. Chen by exploring the vascularization field and the role of biomaterial properties on angiogenic sprouting.