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.

In 2021, I joint the UT as Assistant Professor, and was proomoted to Associate Professor in 2023. 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, to fabricate, characterize and validate advanced tissue models for regenerative medicine. Current application examples of our biomaterials are hydrogels that release nitric oxide for cardiac tissue repair, and animal-free scaffolds for tumor-on-chip modelling.

Organisations

I am an enthusiastic teacher in the chemical science and biomedical engineering programs at the University of Twente, both at the bachelor and master levels. I recently obtained my University Teaching Qualification.

Courses academic year 2025/2026

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Address

University of Twente

Horst Complex (building no. 20), room ZH252
De Horst 2
7522 LW Enschede
Netherlands

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