Curriculum Vitae
Summary
I am a Biotechnologist with a strong focus on Molecular Biology, Cell Culture, and Biofabrication. My PhD at the MERLN Institute has centered on developing complex 3D co-culture and organ-on-a-chip models, combining biology and engineering approaches. I co-developed a novel sacrificial templating method to create cell-laden microchannels in hydrogels and applied it to models of the blood–brain barrier and endometriosis. My work integrates materials science, cell biology, and bioengineering to design advanced in vitro systems for research and translational applications. I enjoy mentoring students and collaborating across disciplines, aiming to continue advancing tissue engineering technologies and bridging research with industry.
Education
- Universidad de León, BSc in Biotechnology Sept 2013 – June 2017
- Maastricht University, MSc in Biomedical Sciences – Regenerative Medicine track Sept 2017 – July 2019
Experience
- PhD candidate, MERLN Institute – Maastricht, The Netherlands Aug 2019 – Sept 2025
- Development of 3D in vitro co-cultures using various hydrogels and biofabrication strategies.
- Culture of iPSCs, sensory neurons, endometrial organoids, endothelial and stromal cells.
- Development of a novel hydrogel patterning technology and in vitro models for the blood–brain barrier and endometriosis.
- MSc Senior Internship, UMC+ – Maastricht, The Netherlands Sept 2018 – Aug 2019
- Thesis: Under pressure: Molecular response of primary rat Retinal Ganglion Cells to increased hydrostatic pressure as occurs in glaucoma.
- MSc Junior Internship, MERLN Institute – Maastricht, The Netherlands Sept 2018 – Aug 2019
- Thesis: The effect of hMSCs shape on macrophage polarization.
- Research assistant – BSc thesis, Universidad de León — León, Spain Sept 2016 – Aug 2017
- Thesis: Effects of bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) on zebrafish spermatogenesis.
- Molecular biology research using zebrafish for the study of the effect of BPA and EE2 as endocrine disruptors.
- Voluntary internship, IDIS Institute — Santiago de Compostela, Spain July 2016 – Aug 2016
- Worked with Molecular and Cellular techniques applied to stroke: rat dissection, Western blot, flow cytometry, microscopy, spectrophotometry, and magnetic resonance imaging analysis.
- Research assistant, Universidad de León — León, Spain Sept 2015 – June 2016
- Cell Biology department internship, this period laid the groundwork for my Bachelor thesis.
- Engaged in daily lab activities after lecture hours.
Teaching and student supervision
- Daily supervision of Master student projects and involvement in Bachelors and Masters teaching.
Skills
- Wet lab: qPCR, ELISA, Immunostaining, Western blot, Plasmid cloning.
- Cell culture: Organoid, iPSCs, 3D co-cultures, hydrogels, cell lines, transfection.
- Analytical: Statistical analysis (R Studio, GraphPad), Image processing and analysis (Fiji, NIS-Elements, Huygens — 3D Deconvolution).
- Microscopy: Confocal (Leica, Nikon), Two-photon (Nikon), Fluorescence (Zeiss, Leica, Nikon), Calcium imaging, hydrogel imaging and complex cultures imaging.
Certifications
- iPSCs Training Course — STEMCELL Technologies — 2020
- Introduction to (medical) (social scientific) Statistics — R Studio course by Maastricht University — 2021
Publications — In preparation / submitted
- Sacrificial Templating of 3D Cell-Patterned Structures (ST3PS) based on poly(2-oxazoline) for rapid fabrication of cell-laden microchannels in soft hydrogels. Adrián Seijas-Gamardo, Martin Purino, Enrique Escarda-Castro, Amit Chandrakar, M. van der Spoel, Victor R. de la Rosa, Lorenzo Moroni, Richard Hoogenboom and Paul Wieringa.
- A Practical PiggyBac Workflow for iPSCs: From Plasmid Design to Stable Fluorescent and Functional Reporter Lines for Tissue Engineering. Adrián Seijas-Gamardo*, Enrique Escarda-Castro*, Lorenzo Moroni, Paul Wieringa. *Equal contribution.
- Development of a modular chip platform with perfusable microchannels and organised complex coculture system for blood-brain barrier applications. Adrián Seijas-Gamardo, Pierpaolo Fucile, Jaehyeon Kim, Victor de la Rosa, Richard Hoogenboom, Sebastien Foulquier, Lorenzo Moroni, Paul Wieringa.
- Design and Implementation of an Endometriosis-on-Chip Model Recapitulating Lesion–Nerve Interactions. Adrián Seijas-Gamardo, Alicia Schulten, Michiel Vandenbosch, Andrea Romano, Lorenzo Moroni, Paul Wieringa.
- An automated pipeline for tracking and measuring cell spheroids encapsulated in 3D hydrogel systems. Monize Caiado Decarli*, Adrián Seijas-Gamardo*, Timo Radamakers, Paul Wieringa, Jorge Vicente L. Silva, Ângela Maria Moraes, Lorenzo Moroni, Carlos Mota. *Equal contribution.
- Highly tunable polysaccharide-based hydrogels to recreate cellular and organoid microenvironments for biofabrication. Julia Fernández-Pérez, Adrián Seijas-Gamardo, Antonio J. Feliciano, Panagiota Kakni, Anna M. Kip, Paul Wieringa, Stefan Giselbrecht, Matthew Baker, Lorenzo Moroni.
- Packed for Ossification: High-Density Bioprinting of hPDC Spheroids in HAMA for Endochondral Ossification. Ane Albillos Sanchez, Maria Paula Marks, Paula Casademunt, Adrián Seijas-Gamardo, Lorenzo Moroni and Carlos Mota.
- Soft Scaffolds for Nerve Repair: Investigating Glycerol-Plasticized Chitosan Microstructures with In Vitro Complex Models. Scaccini L, Escarda-Castro E, Seijas-Gamardo A, Wu H, Cecchini M, Moroni L, Wieringa P, Tonazzini I.
Publications — Published
- Dimethyl sulfoxide conditions induced pluripotent stem cells for more efficient nephron progenitor and kidney organoid differentiation. Stem Cell Reviews and Reports — 2025 — Helen Kearney, Aleksandra Rak-Raszewska, Adrián Seijas-Gamardo, Enrique Escarda-Castro, Florian Caiment, Paul Wieringa, Lorenzo Moroni, Carlos Mota. DOI: 10.1007/s12015-025-10971-z
- The Importance of Coating Surface and Composition for Attachment and Survival of Neuronal Cells Under Mechanical Stimulation. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A — 2025 — Pascal A. M. M. Vroemen; Adrián Seijas‐Gamardo; Roy Palmen; Paul A. Wieringa; Carroll A. B. Webers; Lorenzo Moroni; Theo G. M. F. Gorgels. DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.37919
- Bioprinting of stem cell spheroids followed by post-printing chondrogenic differentiation for cartilage tissue engineering. Advanced Healthcare Materials — 2023 — Monize Caiado Decarli; Adrián Seijas-Gamardo; Timo Radamakers; Paul Wieringa; Jorge Vicente L. Silva; Ângela Maria Moraes; Lorenzo Moroni; Carlos Mota. DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202203021
- Phosphodiesterase (PDE) 4 inhibition boosts Schwann cell myelination in a 3D regeneration model. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences — 2023 — Melissa Schiavo; Annelies Schoppet; Adrián Seijas-Gamardo; … ; Martin Vanmierlo; Paul Wieringa. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejps.2023.106441
- A Humanized In Vitro Model of Innervated Skin for Transdermal Analgesic Testing. Macromolecular Bioscience — 2023 — Afonso Malheiro; Maria Thon; Ana Filipa Lourenço; Adrián Seijas-Gamardo; Amit Chandrakar; Susan Gibbs; Paul Wieringa; Lorenzo Moroni. DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202200387
- Development of an In Vitro Biomimetic Peripheral Neurovascular Platform. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces — 2022 — Afonso Malheiro; Adrián Seijas-Gamardo; Abhishek Harichandan; Carlos Mota; Paul Wieringa; Lorenzo Moroni. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c03861
- 3D culture platform of human iPSCs-derived nociceptors for peripheral nerve modeling and tissue innervation. Biofabrication — 2022 — Afonso Malheiro; Abhishek Harichandan; Joyce Bernardi; Adrián Seijas-Gamardo; … ; Lorenzo Moroni. DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac36bf
Patents
- Kit-of-parts and method for creating a three-dimensional structure for cell growth using a three-dimensional sacrificial template (submitted).
Peer-review activities
Industry collaboration during my PhD
- Regen Biomedical (2025) and TissUse GmbH (2023)
Invited talks and lectures
- GLIA Symposium — July 2022
- Berlin, Germany
- A biofabrication technology for complex 3D in vitro neural co-cultures containing microchannels in hydrogels
- The Importance of Biobanking and Biomarker Discovery — Oct 2023
- Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Modeling the innervation in endometriosis: A biofabrication strategy for organizing complex cocultures on a chip
- STEMCELL Symposium — June 2022
- Maastricht, The Netherlands
- A biofabrication hydrogel system containing microchannels for complex 3D cocultures
Selected conference abstracts
- TERMIS World 2024 – Poster presentation – Seattle, USA — June 2024
- NBTE 2023 – Oral presentation – Lunteren, The Netherlands — Dec 2023
- 2nd Belgian Brain Barriers Symposium – Oral presentation – Leuven, Belgium — Nov 2023
- 2nd MPS World Summit – Poster presentation – Berlin, Germany — June 2023
- TERMIS Europe 2022 – Oral presentation – Krakow, Poland — June 2022
- NBTE 2022 – Poster presentation – Lunteren, The Netherlands — June 2024
- TERMIS World 2021 – Poster presentation – Maastricht, The Netherlands (online) — Nov 2021
Outreach and workshops
Community involvement
- PhD representative — Oct 2022 – Feb 2023
- Elected by the PhD students of MERLN Institute.
- Blender scientific illustration workshops
- Gave workshops about Scientific illustration using Blender 3D rendering software at different events hosted by European Society of Biomechanics (ESB), MERLN Institute and BIOMAT.
- Board of directors of the Biotechnology Association — Jan 2017 – Dec 2018
- Involvement on the communication and scientific outreach in ABLe and FeBiotec associations.
