F.R. Maia earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Porto in 2014, collaborating with the University of Nevada and the University of Lisbon. She then joined 3B's Research Group as a Post-Doc fellow, focusing on developing bioengineered materials for 3D native microenvironments and physiologically relevant in vitro models-on-chip for cancer research. In 2015, she spent 8 months at the University of Auckland under Professor Jillian Cornish (Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds scholarship). By 2017, she secured an FCT Post-Doc fellowship, transitioning to a Junior Investigator position in 2019. International secondments included Xi’an Jiaotong University, China (1 month), and University College London (2 months). Although these absences hindered publication output, they enhanced her expertise in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. She has authored 55 publications, including 18 as first author, accumulating 1850 citations (h-index 23 - Google Scholar). Of these, 35 were published in the last 5 years, with 10 as 1st author and 8 as corresponding author in Q1 journals. Highlights include 1 supporting citation, a contribution to the “Best Biomaterials Books of All Time” (featured on CNN, Forbes, and Inc.), 1 highly cited paper, and 2 granted patents (WO/2018/225050). She also edited a major reference work, Handbook of the Extracellular Matrix: Biologically-Derived Materials (ISBN-10: 303156362X), and a special issue in Pharmaceutics on hydrogels for osteochondral lesions. Her research focuses on hydrogel development and polymer enhancement for cell encapsulation, protein/growth factor loading, and promoting cell differentiation. She is proficient in material functionalization and characterization methods (e.g., cryo-SEM, rheometry) and advanced techniques (e.g., µ-CT, XPS, XRD, HR-SEM, AFM). She has gained expertise in in vitro studies, from cell isolation to biocompatibility testing, and in physiologically relevant in vitro models-on-chip. For so, she provides cell culture lectures to new researchers. Notably, she developed a method for decellularizing cell-derived extracellular matrices, advancing silk scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and establishing a new research line. She has contributed to 11 completed projects FCT and European Commission (EC)-funded (total: €5M), primarily focusing on biological evaluation and developing biomaterials to mimic native tissue environments for drug testing, resulting in 18 publications. Currently, she is involved in an EU-funded project (ref. 101097036), leading to a diagnostic tool patent. She has also co-coordinated H2020 projects (BAMOS H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016-73415), prepared proposals for La Caixa Foundation, FCT, and ERC projects, and supervised 3 PhD students (1 completed, 2 ongoing), 3 MSc students (1 her in her research line), and 4 research trainees. She actively participates in international/national conferences, delivering oral and poster presentations. She has delivered invited talks on biomaterial development and organized workshops within EC-funded projects (e.g., FoReCaST and BAMOS). She has reviewed for 27 scientific journals, belongs to editorial board of 2 journals, served as an expert evaluator for an international funding agency, and acted as a jury member for PhD defenses and evaluations. Her international collaborations span institutions such as the University of Auckland (Jillian Cornish), University College London (Chaozong Liu), and UNESP (Ana Paula Alves). Five publications have emerged from these efforts. Recently, she partnered with Africa Gonzalez (UVigo) to apply for the CaixaResearch Health 2025 call. She has contributed to public science outreach through initiatives like “UPA-Universidade Portas Abertas da Universidade do Minho,” “SAW: School At Work,” and “Pint of Science.”