Monica Soncini, PhD, Associate Professor

Associate Professor at the Department of Electronic, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB), PoliMI, and Director of the Advanced Technologies for Tissue Culture Laboratory (ATTiC Lab). Teacher of Cellular Bioengineering at MSc level. Member and vice-coordinator of the Bioengineering PhD School Committee.  Her main research interests are i) advanced cell/tissue culture systems for the generation of in vitro human-based tissue models as alternatives to animal models, including perfusion bioreactors, culture systems for vascular tissue engineering, cardiac tissue regeneration, tissue decellularization and regeneration;  ii) milli-fluidic and microphysiological platforms for conditioning the cellular microenvironment to recreate physiopathologically relevant in vitro cellular/tissue models; iii) subcellular structure biophysics and mechanotransduction. M. Soncini publication record accounts for >70 peer-reviewed Journal papers (Scopus H-index 26, 1958 citations). Co-inventor of 5 patents, two of which granted. Co-funder of TToP Technology s.r.l. a biotech spin-off of the Politecnico di Milano. Since 2021 she is Coordinator of the CARDIO-TECH Lab of the Joint Research Center between PoliMi and Centro Cardiologico Monzino.

Gianfranco Beniamino Fiore, PhD, Full Professor

Full Professor at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB), PoliMI, and head of the Micro and BioFluid Dynamics Laboratory since 2004. His main research interests are i) devices for extracorporeal blood treatment, involving numerous research collaborations of Academia with international biomedical Companies; ii) in-vitro study of treatments for heart valves diseases exploiting the use of excised animal samples within artificial mock loops, a field he pioneered in the past at PoliMI; iii) design of advanced cell/tissue culture systems as in vitro model systems for the biological laboratory. G.B. Fiore’s publication record accounts for >150 peer-reviewed Journal papers, (Scopus h-index = 27, >2200 citations), plus numerous conference proceedings and 14 patents. He co-founded two start-up companies, both accredited as PoliMI spin-off companies.

Lorenzo Pietro Coppadoro, PhD, Assistant Professor

Lorenzo Coppadoro was born in 1993 in Milan and is currently Assistant Professor (RTD-A). He graduated in July 2015 at Politecnico di Milano with a thesis focused on the design and evaluation of a thermo-fluid dynamic set-up for the selective cooling of rat brain ventricles. In April 2018 he received his Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, with a thesis focused on the development of TTOP, an innovative device for cell and tissue engineering at the μBs Lab of Politecnico di Milano. During the PhD, in collaboration with Ospedale San Raffaele, he co-founded a spin-off, TTOP Srl, aiming at translating the research into the market, providing advanced technology for in vitro studies. Currently enrolled as a Ricercatore a Tempo Determinato (RTD-A) he gives his support  in the courses of Technologies For Regenerative Medicine, Translating Your Research Into Med-Tech Business and in the new course Strumenti Per La Modellazione 3D Di Dispositivi Biomedici E Strutture Biologiche.

Elia Pederzani, PhD, Research Fellow

Elia Pederzani earned his bachelor’s degree (September 2016) and master’s degree (April 2019) in Biomedical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. During his master thesis, he developed a novel bioreactor for the application of controlled hydrodynamic stimuli to evaluate vascular endothelium dysfunction in collaboration with Ospedale San Raffaele.
He was a research fellow From June 2019 to October 2020 investigating the effects of compliance mismatch in vascular graft implantation, focusing on native vessels of a rodent model characterization.
From November 2020 to October 2023, he pursued a PhD in Bioengineering at Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri. He developed advanced culture systems for vascular engineering aimed at creating predictive and reliable in vitro models of physiopathological phenomena where complex stimuli are replicated for the evaluation of cellular mechanotransduction, new treatments and therapies. He spent five months from February 2023 to June 2023 at the Bioengineering Department of the Imperial College London (advisor Dr Joseph van Batenburg-Sherwood), improving his technical skills in culture system developing. In March 2024 he was awarded a PhD cum laude.
Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the ATTIC Lab of Politecnico di Milano, where he is developing innovative culture systems as advanced simulator for regenerative medicine application.

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Alessandra Maria Anna Rando, MSc, PhD Candidate

Alessandra Maria Anna Rando was born in 1998 in Messina. She obtained her Bachelor Degree in 2019 and her Master Degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2021 at Politecnico di Milano. She attended a double degree program and graduated in Bioengineering at University of Illinois at Chicago in 2021.  She is currently a PhD student at the ATTIC LAB of Politecnico di Milano. Her research interests include the design and validation of advanced in vitro culture systems and their adoption as pre-clinical models for drug screening studies. Her PhD project is focused on the development of an in vitro gut-vascular barrier model to better mimic the intestinal microenvironment. Her experimental activities involve biological studies, substrates characterization, design and prototyping of cell culture tools. During the PhD she spent 4 months at the Centre for the Cellular Microenvironment at University of Glasgow and joined Eurofins Biolab  as internship trainee for 6 months.

Martina Poppa, MSc, PhD Candidate

Martina Poppa was born in 1999 in Rome. In 2021 she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, with a thesis focused on the development of a microfluidic device for the evaluation of platelet activation. In 2023, she completed her Master’s studies focused on Cells, Tissues and Biotechnology Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, which included a 6-months experience at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology at Tampere University in Finland. Her Master’s thesis centered on the development of an in vitro model of intestinal epithelium integrating the oxygen gradient. She is currently a PhD Candidate in Bioengineering at Politecnico di Milano. Her research is focused on the development of an intestinal epithelium in vitro model for Cancer Research and is carried out in collaboration with the European Institute of Oncology (IEO).

Chiara Russo, MSc, PhD Candidate

Chiara Russo was born in Palermo in 1999. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Università degli Studi di Palermo in July 2021. In December 2023, she received her Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, with a thesis focused on replicating the microenvironment of intestinal barrier in vitro. She is currently a PhD student involved in an interdepartmental project between ATTIC lab (DEIB) and SBN Lab (DCMC) at Politecnico di Milano. Her research is focused on exploring the potential of innovative brominated elastomers for vascular applications, aiming at the development and preliminary validation of an electrospun vascular graft with physiological-like compliance and antimicrobic properties. Her experimental activities include scaffold production with electrospinning technique, characterization of the matrices, prototyping of cell culture systems, cell cultures and biological studies.

Alessandro Marchesini, MSc, PhD Candidate

Alessandro Marchesini was born in 1998. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Università degli Studi di Padova in July 2020, with a thesis on the study of deep learning techniques applied to super-resolution in optical microscopy. In October 2023, he received his Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano. His master’s thesis focused on the control and automation of a bicompartmental Micro Physiological System (MPS) for dynamic biological cultures. This research was conducted in collaboration with the startup True Tissue on Platform and Ospedale San Raffaele. Currently enrolled as a PhD researcher at the µBs and ATTIC LAB at Politecnico di Milano, his research aims to develop a multi-organ MPS capable of quantitatively predict Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic parameters observed in humans in vivo, with the goal of creating a valuable tool for in vitro preclinical assays in compliance with the 3Rs.