Dr Alessandro Polini
Preparation of bioinspired, mineral-binding nanofibres and nanofibrous matrices for application in bone regeneration
April 2014 until March 2017
Who is Alessandro Polini?
Dr Alessandro Polini worked in tissue engineering and biomaterials at the Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard Medical School Cambridge (USA). Dr Polini works at the Department of Biomaterials of Radboudumc/Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences.
What is his research project about?
Dr Polini aims to create a novel class of nanofibrous biomaterials that display a strong biochemical interaction with the bone micro-environment. Such materials could be used for bone regenerative purposes. Synthetic biomaterials generally lack the chemicaI, biological and physical features that are responsible for the unique functional properties of natural tissues. Alessandro Polini intends to use nanotechnology that mimics the structure and function of biological systems to achieve his goal. By enhancing the biochemical reactivity of electrospun nanofibres, he aims to improve interactions between synthetic biomaterials and the natural host bone tissue.
Why was he nominated?
Dr Alessandro Polini was nominated by professor John Jansen, Head of the Biomaterials Department, who also works on biomaterials and tissue engineering. In his nomination, Professor Jansen mentions Dr Polini's impressive track record from the very beginning of his academic career. His research proposal is, according to Professor Jansen, 'an elegant combination of his previous research on electrospinning and polymer functionalization with ongoing research at my laboratory on developing adaptive, self-healing nanocomposites made of calcium-binding polymers and calcium phosphate nanoparticles. This research will benefit greatly from the ample experience of the applicant in polymer functionalization and electrospinning.'
During his Radboud Excellence fellowship
Dr Alessandro Polini was a research fellow at the Radboud University Medical Centre from April 2014 until March 2017. He developed a novel class of nanofibrous biomaterials that display a strong biochemical interaction with the bone micro-environment. Such materials could be used for bone regenerative purposes. Synthetic biomaterials generally lack the chemicaI, biological and physical features that are responsible for the unique functional properties of natural tissues. Dr Polini exploited nanotechnology-based approaches to mimic the structure and function of biological systems and achieve this goal. By enhancing the biochemical reactivity of electrospun nanofibres, he aimed to improve interactions between synthetic biomaterials and the natural host bone tissue.
During his time in Nijmegen, Dr Polini gave the Seventh Radboud Excellence Exchange Lunch. Dr Polini was interviewed by Dutch newspaper de Gelderlander (in Dutch) which can be read here.
Publications with Radboud University affiliation
- Castro, A. G., Polini, A., Azami, Z., Leeuwenburgh, S. C., Jansen, J. A., Yang, F., & Van den Beucken, J. J. (2017). Incorporation of PLLA micro-fillers for mechanical reinforcement of calcium-phosphate cement. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 71, 286-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2017.03.027
- Polini, A., Petre, D. G., Iafisco, M., De Lacerda Schickert, S., Tampieri, A., Van den Beucken, J., & Leeuwenburgh, S. C. (2017). Polyester fibers can be rendered calcium phosphate-binding by surface functionalization with bisphosphonate groups. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, 105(8), 2335-2342. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm.a.36077
Visit his Google Scholar profile which includes his citation indexes.
Career after Radboud University
After his Radboud Excellence fellowship, Dr Polini worked as a researcher at the Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica "Ennio De Giorgi", Università del Salento in Lecce, Italy. His main research topics were organ-on-chip platforms and personalized medicine. Afterwards, he took a position as a Researcher Associate at Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) in Lecce, Italy. Since February 2019 until presently, he has been working as a researcher at CNR NANOTEC - Istituto di Nanotecnologia del CNR on organ-on-chip platforms and personalized medicine.
Since March 2016 until presently, Dr Polini has been a Managing Editor for Elsevier.