The scientist and Técnico alumnus João Mano has been awarded a EUR 2,5 million European Research Council (ERC) grant to work on bone tissue regeneration. This is the second time that the professor and researcher at University of Aveiro (UA) has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-AdG). This year, professor João Mano was the only Portuguese researcher who has been awarded an advanced ERC grant.

According to professor João Mano, “this shows that the new research is moving in the right direction, that our ideas can have an impact on scientific progress and, also very important, this is a financial boost for our project, which involves a lot of costs”. “ERC is an extremely competitive and very prestigious grant, which is crucial to ensure the crebility of our research work, thus allowing us to reinforce collaboration with top research groups and participate in other European projects”, says the Técnico alumnus. This is the second time that João Mano has been awarded an advanced grant. The first one is still running. Professor João Mano has also been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept grant (ERC-PoC) in 2018.

The grant will allow the scientist to develop work in the field of bioengineering of human tissues and advanced biomaterials for five years. The project “REBORN – Full human-based multi-scale constructs with jammed regenerative pockets for bone engineering” earned him this ERC Grant.

The main goal of this project is to create solutions to regenerate bone tissue in patients who need it. “This type of technology, involving the combination of biomaterials and cells, will always take a considerable time to reach clinical applications”, says professor João Mano. However, as the professor explains, “we can use the same type of approach to produce diseased human tissues in laboratory, in a controlled manner. If we use the patient’s own cells, we can create models with biological characteristics much closer to that individual, and propose a more suitable treatment”.

At the moment, the project is at a very advanced stage, and the REBORN team “is preparing cell encapsulation systems and biomaterials that can provide appropriate signals to form a tissue”. “In addition, we have already had some development in the new biomaterials that we want to use in this project, as well as methodologies to create structures at the macro scale. When this project starts, which will only take place in 2021, we will already have some data that will help us at the implementation stage”, says the Técnico alumnus.

This year, ERC awarded advanced grants to 185 researchers from 20 countries. In total, 1881 researchers applied to ERC grants. The countries that have received more ERC grants were: Germany (35), the United Kingdom (34) and France (21). “I would like that more grants were awarded to Portuguese researchers or to researchers working in national institutions; this would encourage other researchers, in particular the youngest, to apply and obtain funding for their projects ”. “That is the only way we can be more competitive”, says professor João Mano.

“Técnico is my Alma Mater and I am very grateful for all that I learnt at Técnico. The chemical engineering course gave me a set of tools on Chemistry-Physics and Mathematics and helped me develop my problem-solving skills, which were very important for my research career”, says professor João Mano. “If I had chosen a career in the industry sector, I would have felt equally prepared. I had very good professors, fantastic colleagues and the academic atmosphere always stimulated our creativity and our critical and comprehensive thinking”, he recalls.

The Técnico alumnus is the director of the COMPASS Research Group. His interest in Regenerative Medicine arose when he went to University of Minho as a professor, after finishing his PhD at Técnico. There, he began to work and teach topics related to polymeric materials. “Gradually, I started to use these materials for biomedical purposes, which led us to move towards a field of medicine that has become very important for tissue engineering ”, he recalls.

“It is very rewarding to be working in something that could have a real impact on people’s lives”. “I personally believe that creativity can make a difference. We can get inspired in many ways”, says the Técnico alumnus.