Aparicio, Conrado
ICREA Research Professor
Engineering Sciences
Short biography
Dr. Aparicio is Group Leader of the Bioinspired Oral Biomaterials and Interfaces (BOBI) Lab and ICREA Research Professor at the Dpt. of Materials Science and Eng. of the UPC-Technical University of Catalonia. Dr. Aparicio is a materials engineer by training. After starting his academic career at UPC, he moved to the University of Minnesota (UMN) where he spent 12+ years in the Dpt. of Restorative Sciences and was the Deputy Director of the MDRCBB-Minnesota Dental Research Center for Biomaterials and Biomechanics.He returned to his hometown, Barcelona, as FBA-BIST-UIC fellow. Before starting his position at ICREA, he was Vice-rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at UIC Barcelona–Universitat International de Catalunya, Spain and director of the Research Group Study and Control of oral Infections. He is also associated researcher at IBEC-Institute for BioEngineering of Catalonia and elected fellow of AIMBE-American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Research interests
We are interested in bioinspired surfaces and interfaces for prevention of disease and promotion of tissue repair and regeneration. Using inspiration from nature’s molecules and structures, we design, modify and characterize bioinstructive materials tthat control supramolecular assembly, spatial-temporal bioactive responses and cellular colonization selectively to prevent infection and promote regeneration for dental, oral and orthopedic therapies. We further decipher mechanisms of bio/non-bio interactions and enable materials based on systematically mining and selecting recombinant and natural polymers and peptides. Tailoring physicochemical cues at bio interfaces we develop bioinstructive materials through harnessing extracellular matrix components and biological dynamic reciprocal interactions; including non-classical biomimetic processes of biomineralization for surfaces and scaffolds; and materials/biological agents to induce mucosal and hard tissue attachment.