Overview
Dr. Lívia Santos is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanobiology and Tissue Engineering at the School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University (NTU).
She joined NTU in 2016 as an Independent Research Fellow after extensive post-doctoral training in Prof. Molly Stevens’s lab at Imperial College London, UK and with Prof. Rui Reis at the European Headquarters for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Portugal.
Lívia’s post-doctoral training at Imperial College London was supported by a prestigious Intra-European Marie Curie Fellowship and allowed her to investigate the impact of extracellular stiffness on the formation of new blood vessels within the context of bone regeneration. While an active member, the research group received the prizes Research Group of the Year 2014 and Best European Research Group Led by PI Under 40s. Before this, she was awarded a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Minho, Portugal, where she investigated the interactions between microbes and contact lens materials.
Her research lab develops muscle and bone models in vitro to understand the cellular and molecular events associated with ageing, regeneration and exercise. Recent studies on muscle ageing and bone regeneration were published by top quartile journals including the Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine and njp Regenerative Medicine and on hundreds of mainstream media outlets.
Lívia and her team recently patented a technology that allows to significantly upscale the production of tissue-engineered muscle and heart aiming to advance regenerative medicine, drug discovery and the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement of animal use in research).
The access to top-notch facilities and equipment as well as experts can facilitate the transfer of technology at various stages of maturation to the industry and health sectors. My ambition is for industry and the NHS to adopt the recent technology we developed and patented. Adoption of this technology should accelerate the discovery of new therapies to provide patients with earlier access to better treatments.
Dr Livia Santos
Specialises in
Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology