Alvaro Mata is Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials in the School of Pharmacy and the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham. He is also Chief Innovation Officer of Ourobionics, Vice-President of the Mineralized Tissue Group of the International Association of Dental Research (IADR), and Co-Chair of the Manufacturing and Regulatory Committee of the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform (UKRMP2) – Smart Materials Hub, and Head of the Division of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapies in the School of Pharmacy.
Alvaro is originally from San Jose, Costa Rica. He holds a BSc. from the University of Kansas, an MSc. from the University of Strathclyde, and a DEng. from Cleveland State University working with Prof. Shuvo Roy at the Cleveland Clinic. He conducted his postdoctoral training with Prof. Samuel Stupp at Northwestern University from 2005-2008.
He started his independent research career as Head of the Nanotechnology Platform at Parc Cientific Barcelona in 2009 and moved to Queen Mary University of London in 2013 where he was Director of the Institute of Bioengineering at QMUL from 2014-2017.
His work has led to over 75 peer reviewed articles, 8 patents or patent applications; publications in leading journals such as Science, Nature Materials, Nature Chemistry, Nature Communications, and Science Advances; and awards such as a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship (2012), a Wellcome Trust Frontiers Innovator (2015), an ERC Staring Grant (2013), and 3 ERC Proof-of-Concept grants (2016, 2017, 2018).
His work on innovative biomaterial and biofabrication methods has received extensive media coverage including Sky News, The Times, The Times of India, The Telegraph, BBC radio, and the European Research Council; as well as scientific media outlets such as Chemistry World, Physics News, and Nature Chemistry News & Views.
