Manuel Mazo
Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona
My PhD in Biochemistry kicked off at the University of Navarra under the question: Can we use stem cells to regenerate the human heart? Our choice, adult stem cells, failed in the task but nevertheless proved extremely informative. It was clear to me that something was missing. The first roadblock was lifted with the derivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC), and I became actively involved in setting up the technology in my home institution. After that, I secured my own funding (Ramón Areces and Marie Curie fellowships) to spend 4 years in the Stevens Group (Imperial College London) gaining expertise and knowledge in Tissue Engineering. After that, I was recruited by the University of Navarra to open and lead a new research line centred on cardiac Tissue Engineering in combination with hiPSCs. During the last 4 years, our team has been intensively collaborating to advance our understanding of how the interface cell-biomaterial affects the fabrication of human cardiac tissue in the laboratory, either for therapeutic or in vitro applications.