Dr Ilaria Stefani specialises in Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering

Ilaria research interest is focused on all the aspects of tissue regenerations, from 3D culture environment development to biomaterial study and mechanical characterization and stem cells culture and differentiation. She has also strong interest in biological-tissues mechanical properties and decellularization techniques.

Ilaria Stefani obtained her M.Sc. degree in Bioengineering  at the Politecnico di Milano, in Italy, in 2009, with a Master Thesis on tubular tissues regeneration. After one year working as a research assistance, in 2010 she was accepted as one top 10 students for the MIT/Portugal executive master program in Bioengineering System. She received her PhD degree from the Politecnico di Milano under the supervision of Professor Sara Mantero, in 2014. During her PhD, partially carried out at AIBN under the supervision of prof. Cooper-White, she designed and validate a multifunctional bioreactor for the regeneration of small-diameter hollow organs; carried out biological validation using Mesenchymal stem cells and primary chondrocytes;  produced and mechanically characterized a novel electrospun tubular scaffold for vascular regeneration; investigated Mesenchymal Stem Cell differentiation into smooth muscle cells. She furthermore collaborated to a study on decellularized tissues mechanical properties.

She re-joined  AIBN (UQ)  as a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Professor Justin J. Cooper-White in 2015. Since then she has been working on development and assessment of biomaterial for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Since 2016 she became Group operations manager, but still maintained laboratories duty.

Ilaria is a member of TERMIS (Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine Society) and Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering. She has been treasurer and Head of the Sponsorship recruitment team / Brisbane Life Science ECR Symposium, Member of AIBN-EMCR committee since 2015  (Chair since January 2016).

Key Publications

Stefani I., Asnaghi M.A., Mantero S.* and Cooper-White J.J.*; A double chamber rotating bioreactor evolution: improved design and functionalities for vascular tissue engineering. –Accepted 20/10/2016. 10.1002/term.2341 (J Tissue End Regen Med).

Stefani I.*, Tresoldi C.*, Ferraci G., Bertoldi S., Pellegata A.F., Fare' S., Mantero S.; Study of different dynamic culture condition effects in a rotating bioreactor for in vitro tissue engineering: cell distribution, viability and morphology. – accepted 7/10/2016 (Journal of Applied Biomaterials & Functional Materials).

Stefani I. and Copper-White J.J.; Development of an in-process UV-crosslinked, electrospun PCL/aPLA-co-TMC composite polymer for tubular tissue engineering applications – Acta Biomater Vol.  36, 231–240.

Pellegata A., Asnaghi M.A., Stefani I., Maestroni A., Maestroni S., Dominioni T., Zonta S., Zerbini G. and Mantero S., Detergent-enzymatic decellularization of swine blood vessels: insight on mechanical properties for vascular tissue engineering; Biomed Res Int. 2013; 2013:918753.

Stefani I., Asnaghi M.A., Cattaneo I., Remuzzi A. and Mantero S., Dynamic culture in a rotating bioreactor gives rise to enhanced cell distribution, viability and morphology; J. Tissue Eng Regen Med 2012; 6 (suppl 1): 341. TERMIS world Congress 2012.

Full list of publications available at UQ eSpace