João F. Mano, full professor of Biotechnology, is the director of the Doctoral Program on Biotechnology at the Univ. of Aveiro. He has been also appointed with Invited/visiting Professor positions in University of Lorraine (France), KAIST (South Korea) Ajou University (South Korea) and Nat. Univer. of Malaysia (Malaysia). Since 2022 he is a vice-director at CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials. His research focuses on the application of advanced biomaterials and cells to advance multidisciplinary concepts in the field of regenerative and personalized medicine. Specifically, he utilizes biomimetic and nano/micro-technology approaches to develop polymer-based biomaterials and surfaces for the creation of biomedical devices with enhanced structural and multi-functional properties. He also engineers microenvironments to regulate cell behaviour and organization, with the goal of clinically applying these technologies in advanced therapies and drug screening, or in the bioengineering of disease models. João F. Mano is author of 775+ original research or review papers in international journals (42000+ citations, h=103 – Web of Science) and 40+ book chapters. João F. Mano co-edited 9 special issues in international journals and 5 books. João F. Mano has been invited to review manuscripts from 340+ different international journals and to routinely evaluate projects from numerous private and state funding agencies from 19 different countries. He was the LS9 panel chair for the peer review ERC Advanced Grants (2019-2023). João F. Mano supervised or co-supervised 80+ MSc, 29 PhD students, and 40+ post-doctoral fellows. He filed 15+ patents (10+ as senior inventor). João F. Mano is the co-founder and chairman of: METATISSUE (2018), and CELLULARIS Biomodels (2021). He is the Editor-in-Chief of Materials Today Bio (Elsevier). He has been also part of a series of scientific societies and editorial boards of 12 international journals. Professor João F. Mano has been member of scientific committees, organizing committees, referee and chairman in different international meetings. He was invited to present more than 120 invited/keynote/plenary talks in international conferences. João F. Mano has received different honours and awards: (i) fellow of the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) - 2004; (ii) the Stimulus to Excellence Award by the Portuguese Minister for Science and Technology - 2005; (iii) the Materials Science and Technology Prize, attributed by the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS) – 2007; (iv) UNESCO Chair on Biomaterials, University of Havana (Cuba)- 2008; (v) the major BES innovation award in 2010 (at that time, one of the most recognised innovation prize in Portugal); (vi) recipient by the European Research Council of two Advanced Grants (ERC-AdG) -2015, 2021, and three Proof-of-Concept Grants (ERC-PoC) - 2018, 2020, 2022; (vii) title of Professor@Lorraine from the University of Lorraine, France, in 2018; (viii) title of Doctor Honoris Causa, given by University of Lorraine, in 2019; (ix) awarded with a Gutenberg Chair, supported by the Great East Region of France - 2020; (x) elected fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (FEurASc) 2019; (xi) Bluepharma | University of Coimbra Innovation Award 2019; (xii) Inducted Fellow Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE) - 2020; (xiii) Researcher Award University of Aveiro 2020 (first edition); (xiv) George Winter Award 2020: European Society for Biomaterials. (xv) Madinaveitia-Lourenço Prize, from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry - 2021; (xvi) elected fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (FAIMBE) - 2022; (xvii) title of Doctor Honoris Causa, given by University of Utrecht - 2022; (xviii) the European Materials Gold Medal, attributed by the Federation of European Materials Societies (FEMS) - 2023; (xix) the EPNOE Science Award 2023 from the European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence.