Sara Maria Giannitelli

She is Assistant Professor of Chemical Fundamentals of Technologies (SSD: CHIM/07) at the Department of Engineering. Her research activity mainly focuses on the application areas of the chemistry of materials with particular regards to biomaterials and to their processing through microfabrication and additive manufacturing techniques. She is currently head of the research unit for a POR-FESR project on the 3d bioprinting of human skin and squamocellular carcinoma as advanced models for precision medicine. She is also key staff of several regional/national projects in the field of biofabrication and organ-on-chip.

She is a Board Member of the Italian Centro3R (Inter-University Center for the Promotion of the 3Rs Principles in Research and Education) and founding member of the Italian Organ-on-Chip Society (SIOoC).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Since 2018: Assistant Professor of Chemical Fundamentals of Technology (SSD: CHIM/07) at UCBM.

2017 – 2018: Post-Doctoral fellowship in the framework of the project “Development of biomaterials and high content screening platforms for biomedical applications”.

2016 – 2017: Post-Doctoral fellowship on the “Development of biomicrosystem based on lithographic and additive manufacturing technologies”.

2012 – 2015: Post-Doctoral fellowship on “Bioartificial materials and biomimetic scaffolds for a stem cells-based therapy for myocardial regeneration".

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

a.y. 2022/2023: Lecturer of “Chemistry”, CdLM Medicine and Surgery 'MedTech' (LM-41), UCBM

a.y. 2022/2023: Lecturer of “Chemistry”, CdL in Biomedical Engineering (L-8), UCBM

a.y. 2018/2019 – present: Lecturer of “Biomicrosystems”, MSc program in Biomedical Engineering, UCBM

a.y. 2018/2019 – 2021/2022: Co-lecturer of “General and Organic Chemistry”, BSc program in Industrial Engineering, UCBM

EDUCATION

2012 - Ph.D. Degree in Biomedical Engineering

2009 - Licensed Engineer, National Engineering Council (A30972)

2008 - MS in Biomedical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude

2005 - BSc in Biomedical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude

AWARDS

- ESB-ITA poster award at the 26th Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics. Title: “3D bioprinting of a photocurable and thermosensitive bioink for skin tissue engineering”.

- Inside front cover of Advanced Healthcare Materials (volume 9, issue 21) with the paper: M. Gori*, S.M. Giannitelli* et. al. “Biofabrication of hepatic constructs by 3D bioprinting of a cell-laden thermogel: and effective tool to assess drug-induced hepatotoxic response” Adv. Healthcare Mater. (2020) 2001163. DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202001163.

- Poster prize for the potential applicative relevance of the presented results of the work “Bioprinting di costrutti epatici come piattaforma per test tossicologici in vitro” authored by F. Abbruzzese, M. Gori, S.M. Giannitelli, M. Torre, P. Mozetic, M. Trombetta and A. Rainer. XI AICIng Congress - Congresso Nazionale dell'Associazione di Chimica per l'Ingegneria (2018).

- Best poster presentation at the Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine (AFPM) 2015 Conference, Galway. Poster entitled "Additive Manufacturing of Pluronic/Alginate Thermogels", authored by Alberto Rainer, Pamela Mozetic, Sara M. Giannitelli, Marcella Trombetta.

The complete list of publications can be found at the following link (Scopus ID: 23488511100, ORCID: 0000-0002-3616-5953):

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=23488511100

• Droplet-based microfluidic synthesis of nanogels for controlled drug delivery: tailoring nanomaterial properties via pneumatically actuated flow-focusing junction. Nanoscale, (2022), 14: 11415–11428.

• A Soft Zwitterionic Hydrogel as Potential Coating on a Polyimide Surface to Reduce Foreign Body Reaction to Intraneural Electrodes. Molecules, (2022), 27: 3126.

• Hyaluronic Acid–Polyethyleneimine Nanogels for Controlled Drug Delivery in Cancer Treatment. ACS Applied Nano Materials, (2022), 5: 5544–57.

• Dystrophic Muscle Affects Motoneuron Axon Outgrowth and NMJ Assembly. Advanced Materials Technologies, (2022), 7(7): 2101216.

• Synthesis of Nanogels: Current Trends and Future Outlook. Gels, (2021), 7(2): 36.

• Nano-encapsulation of hydroxytyrosol into formulated nanogels improves therapeutic effects against hepatic steatosis: An in vitro study. Materials Science and Engineering: C, (2021), 124: 112080.

• Quercetin and Hydroxytyrosol as modulators of hepatic steatosis: a NAFLD‐on‐a‐chip study. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, (2021), 118(1): 142-152.

• Direct-Write Deposition of Thermogels. Methods in Molecular Biology, (2021), 2147: 37–142.

• Additive manufacturing of biomaterials. Advances in Chemical Engineering, (2021), 57: 233–260.

• Biomedical and Tissue Engineering Strategies to Control Foreign Body Reaction to Invasive Neural Electrodes. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, (2021), 9: 659033.

• Biofabrication of hepatic constructs by 3D bioprinting of a cell-laden thermogel: and effective tool to assess drug-induced hepatotoxic response. Adv. Healthcare Mater. (2020), 9(21): 2001163.

• Biomechanical characterization at the cell scale: present and prospects. Frontiers in physiology, (2018), 9, 1449.

• Surface functionalization of polyurethane scaffolds mimicking the myocardial microenvironment to support cardiac primitive cells. PLoS ONE, 13 (2018) e0199896.

• Post-bariatric brachioplasty with postero-medial scar: physical model, technical refinements and clinical outcomes. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 141 (2018):344-353.

• Hyaluronan: an overview. Journal of biological regulators & homeostatic agents. 31 (2017): 9-22.

• Computationally Informed Design of a Multi-Axial Actuated Microfluidic Chip Device. Sci. Rep. 7 (2017): 5489. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05237-9.

• Engineering muscle cell alignment through 3D bioprinting. J Biomed Mater Res A, 105 (2017): 2582-2588. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.36117.