The Third school of the European Twinning project SupraLife (Grant Agreement No. 101079482), entitled " Supramolecular Multifunctional Biomaterials", took place at the University of Aveiro from March 9 to 14, 2025.
This event featured an excellent scientific program from March 9 to 11, including twelve plenary lectures delivered by internationally recognized scientists from eight European countries: E.W. “Bert” Meijer (Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands), Mark Tibbitt (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Matthew Baker (Maastricht University, Netherlands), José Carlos Rodríguez-Cabello (University of Valladolid, Spain), Elisabeth Garanger (University of Bordeaux, France), Aránzazu del Campo (Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Germany), Anna Rising (Karolinska Institute, Sweden), Sandra Camarero-Espinosa (POLYMAT, Spain), Sander Wezenberg (Leiden University, Netherlands), Sandra Van Vlierberghe (Ghent University, Belgium), Laura De Laporte (Aachen University, Germany), and Cristina Barrias (Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto, Portugal).
The lectures focused on topics including injectable, dynamic, adaptive, and self-healing polymeric hydrogels; soft biomaterials responsive to multiple stimuli; multifunctional 3D and 4D (bio)printed (bio)materials; multiscale/hierarchical biomaterials; bio-instructive surfaces and structures; biomimetic and bioinspired supramolecular molecular systems and structures; and their applications in nanomedicine, drug delivery, biosensors, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. The scientific program also included oral and poster presentations by PhD students and early-career researchers, with over 112 participants in attendance. Awards were presented for the best oral presentation (Cátia Monteiro, University of Aveiro, Portugal), sponsored by Metatissue, a spin-off of the University of Aveiro, and for the three best posters (Hugo Brummer, University of Groningen, Netherlands; Chloé Manseau, University of Bordeaux, France; Andreia Malafaia, University of Aveiro, Portugal), sponsored by the scientific journals Journal of Materials Chemistry B, Biomaterials Science, Chemical Communications, and Materials Advances of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
The scientific program also included an activity entitled "Meet the Mentor", where plenary speakers were invited to share their career paths and research experiences, as well as interact with and answer questions from young scientists in an informal setting during lunch.
The event also hosted the 3rd edition of the transferable and transversal skills training program from March 12 to 14, which featured twenty-seven invited speakers and over 345 registered participants. This program aimed to support capacity building, professional development, and career advancement for students and early-career researchers, regardless of their field of study or research domain. It included workshops and discussion panels on topics such as job searching in science; tips on structuring a CV for industry; pathways to leadership; strategies for success; networking and career development; the power of volunteering in career advancement; regeneration in action for a greater good; the use of social media for science communication; innovation management; and artificial intelligence tools and their benefits in research. This program was developed by the SupraLife project team in collaboration with two other Twinning projects – EPIBOOST (Grant Agreement No. 101078991) and FONDA (Grant Agreement No. 101079134) – and with the European ERA Chair BESIDE project (Grant Agreement No. 951389), all of which are ongoing and coordinated by the University of Aveiro.
Participants highlighted, as in the first and second schools, the excellence of the event, the opportunity to learn, share their work, and interact with internationally renowned speakers in the field of multifunctional supramolecular biomaterials, as well as the value of the transferable and transversal skills workshops for their personal and professional development.
More information about the Third School, SUPRALIFE project and upcoming training activities can be found here: https://www.supralife.eu/thirdschool; https://www.supralife.eu.