dr. J.I. Paez (Julieta)

I am an organic and polymer chemist by training. I obtained my PhD in chemistry at UNC Argentina, on the synthesis of polymeric materials for sensing and antifouling applications. Then, I moved to the FU Berlin for a short stay to investigate biofunctional polymeric-protein surfaces. Afterwards, as Postdoc, I joined the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, where I developed photoactivatable peptides for cell-instructive materials and functional polymers for tissue gluing applications.

I was looking into applying chemical concepts and tools for health technologies, thus, I moved to INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken, first as Research Scientist and then as Project Leader. There, I developed novel coupling chemistries for bioconjugation and gelation under physiological conditions.

Since 2021, I am Assistant Professor at the department of Developmental Bioengineering (DBE) at the University of Twente. Together with my team, we develop chemical strategies to (macro)molecularly engineer smart hydrogels that interact with living cells and tissues for healthcare applications. For this, we employ tools from synthetic organic and polymer chemistry, biomaterials science, engineering and cell biology. In collaboration with colleagues from the TechMed Centre and the MESA+ Institute, University of Twente, we explore the combination of our materials with various key enabling technologies, for example, to fabricate, characterize and validate advanced tissue models for regenerative medicine. 

Organisations

• Faculty of Science and Technology (TNW), Developmental BioEngineering (DBE)