Paola Occhetta is the Chief Executive Officer of BiomimX®. Prior to joining BiomimX’s founding team, she served as PostDoctoral Fellow at the University Hospital of Basel, where she was PI of a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Bridge Proof of Concept grant aimed at bringing her research on Organs on Chip closer to the market. Her main interests are the development, the validation and the commercialization of patho-physiological Organs-on-chip models as tools for drug screening.
She got her PhD in Bioengineering at Politecnico di Milano in April 2015 on the development of microfluidic platforms for 3D cell culture, after spending several months in in international laboratories (Cell ad Tissue Engineering Laboratory at IRCCS Galeazzi, Italy; Tissue Engineering Laboratory at the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland; Tissue Engineering and Microfluidic Laboratory at the University of Queensland, Australia). She authored 21 scientific papers published on international peer-reviewed journals, she is inventor of uBeat™ patent and she serves as local coordinator of two H2020 grants.
Marco Rasponi serves as Assistant Professor at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of Politecnico di Milano since 2015. His teaching activities are in the field of Microfluidics for cell culture applications.
Once attained his PhD title in 2006, he was awarded a fellowship for research activity at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he spent 16 months as Postdoctoral Fellow. In 2008 thanks to a Fondazione Cariplo research grant he went back to Politecnico di Milano starting, and subsequently consolidating, the microfabrication and experimental microfluidics research activities.
Since then: i) he coordinated research projects on microfluidics for cell culture and regenerative medicine, for a total amount greater than 1.5M€; ii) he co-supervised the activity of 3 PhD students and is currently supervising 4 PhD students; iii) he submitted 5 patent applications in the field of microtechnologies; and iv) he contributed to the publication of 40 peer reviewed international papers (H-index 14) and 3 book chapters in the field of microfluidics.
His main scientific interest is the development of microfluidic technologies for the development of enabling tools in the fields of cell and tissue bioengineering, with particular focus on in vitro patho-physiological models
Roberta Visone is the Chief Operating Officer at BiomimX®. Before joining BiomimX’s team, she served as PostDoctoral Fellow at Politecnico di Milano, where she developed Organs-on-Chip platforms tailoring physiological or pathological cues, enabling for the generation and direct testing of functional 3D in vitro models. Her main interests are the development and commercialization of microphysiological systems, as innovative tools for drug screening and regenerative medicine studies.
She obtained her PhD in Bioengineering at Politecnico di Milano in July 2018 on the development of advanced cell culture platforms to engineer 3D cardiac models. During her formation as PhD, she acquired technical and biological skills by collaborating with several research groups in international laboratories (Cell ad Tissue Engineering Laboratory at IRCCS Galeazzi; Vascular Biology and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory at IRCCS Monzino Cardiological Centre; Tissue Engineering Laboratory at the University Hospital of Basel) and she was awarded the Rocca fellowship to perform part of her research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Mechanobiology Lab). She co-authored 14 scientific papers published on international peer-reviewed journals, 2 book chapters and she in one of the inventors of uECG.
Erika Ferrari is Business Developer at BiomimX®. She is the referee for developing and maintaining client relationships. She participates at relevant business and scientific events to establish strategic partnerships and collaborations with corporations operating in the field of drug discovery & development and seeking to apply microphysiological systems. She negotiates contract terms with clients and communicates with stakeholders as well as following project teams to ensure contracts are executed as agreed. She also copes with the commercialization of uBeat® platforms to laboratories and institutes that are craving to elevate their research.
In 2018, she graduated in Biomedical Engineering with a double master’s degree from Politecnico di Milano and the University of Illinois at Chicago (USA) with a thesis focused on the development of micropatterned in vitro liver models. She obtained her PhD in Bioengineering at Politecnico di Milano in December 2022 with a thesis focused on the development of liver-based multiorgan-on-chip platforms as advanced in vitro tools to predict drug metabolism effects. During her formation as PhD, she acquired technical and biological skills by collaborating with several research groups in prestigious national laboratories (Cell ad Tissue Engineering Laboratory at IRCCS Galeazzi; Hepatobiliary Immunopathology Lab at Humanitas Research Hospital) and she was awarded the Progetto Roberto Rocca fellowship to perform part of her research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Biological Engineering Department, Griffith’s Lab). She co-authored 5 scientific papers published on international peer-reviewed journals and 1 book chapter.
Stefano Piazza is R&D Product Engineer at BiomimX®. He coordinates production activities of microfluidic devices and control systems, defines standard protocols and procedures, and takes care of design and prototype creation of novel products. At present he is also working on the validation of a novel microfluidic platform to test in the efficacy of intra-articular Medical Devices in BiomimX®’s uKnee model.
He obtained a Biomaterials & Biomechanics Biomedical Eng. master degree at Politecnico di Milano in Oct ’19 and during his master thesis he acquired expertise both on development and validation of microfluidic devices and realization of in vitro physio-pathological 3D cardiac models, thanks to a collaboration with Unit of Vascular Biology and Regenerative Medicine of IRCCS Centro Cardiologico Monzino. After that, he spent his first year in BiomimX® as Junior R&D, refining his skills on design optimization and product development, and learning how to manage all the production line stages from the design to post-sales. He was also introduced to Marketing & Sales activities, that now periodically conducts. He also fine-tuned the definition and performing of in vitro preclinical tests for services and/or research, that presently are part of his supporting activities as well. He created this website and he periodically manages it together with BiomimX LinkedIn profile.
Ferran Lozano Juan is the selected candidate for the SINERGIA project under H2020 MSCA-ITN framework. Before joining the company, Ferran delved into microfluidics and clotting diagnostics, working for two years at Atantares Corp., a biotech startup founded by MIT researchers and based in Cambridge, United States of America. He was the first employee and R&D supervisor of the company, contributing to the development of two technologies: A miniaturized Platelet Function Test and a µThromboElastography. His fields of interests are medical diagnostics and entrepreneurship.
Mr. Lozano has a master in Bioengineering at Ramon Llull University – IQS School of Engineering (Barcelona, Spain), and developed his master thesis on tissue engineering in the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center (Edelman Lab) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, United States of America). He is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate in Bioengineering in the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering at the Polytechnique University of Milan.
Caterina Pernici is Junior R&D Product Engineer at BiomimX®. She takes care of the development and optimization of uBeat®-related control systems, focusing on both hardware and software design and development. She is also working on the development and validation of physio-pathological 3D cardiac models within uHeart system.
She obtained a Cells, Tissues & Biotechnology Biomedical Engineering Master degree at Politecnico di Milano in Apr ’22. During her master thesis, she acquired expertise on development and validation of microfluidic devices, mainly applied to the realization of in vitro physiological 3D cardiac models. In particular, she focused on the design, development, and validation of an electronic system for integration of electrical stimulation within uHeart.
Alberto Redaelli is full professor in Biomechanics in the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering since 2014. He currently chairs the Biomedical Engineering Division of the Department and coordinates the Research Group on Biomechanics.
Over his academic life, he has mainly focused on the development of new enabling tools, with the aim of finding new solutions to biological and clinical problems. His research is mainly in the field of cardiovascular biomechanics and computational fluid dynamics, both experimental and computational. In recent years, his research interests have been extended to smaller scales to include molecular modeling of molecular motors and collagen, and microfluidics for the study of blood damage mechanics and myocardial tissue physiopathology. All these activities have rebounded into an intense publishing activity with more than 170 papers published on peer-reviewed journals (Scopus: h-index 40, 5000+ citations), 14 patents, most translated to products, and an intense research project coordination activity (7 European project as local or global coordinator and manifold national grants).
External Advisors
Alfredo Pascali
Mentor
Integrated Digital Humanism = spaces, relationships, technologies and processes designed and managed with the user/patient at the center!
He has been working for 32 years in marketing, communication and sales for the healthcare market, for individual providers or groups, service companies or healthcare projects. Expert in Development, Marketing, Sales, CRM, Communication, Events, Digital, Marketing &co Unit Start-up, Temporary Management, Cardiovascular Market. For 22 years he has been collaborating with many of the best universities or business schools in Italy.
Today’s focus: development and launch of new projects, open innovation, digital ecosystem and customer relationship management.
Work in progress: Mentor for healthcare startups, development of international projects, Founder & Partner of PASCALI NExT-Health (Network for the Transformation of Healthcare).
Fabrizio Bacchi
Business Advisor
Over 25 years of R&D operational and business development experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry in Europe.
As project manager and business development he covered leadership positions within Lundbeck Pharmaceutical Italy and Adare Pharmaceuticals.
At present he is working as Senior manager Business development at Msquared.
Past Internship Students
Sara Corbetta
Sara worked on the realization of a 3D model of cardiac fibrosis and on the validation of a new microfluidic platform to acquire cardiac electrical signals.
Martina Pezzuto
Martina worked on the qualification of a 3D model of cardiac fibrosis in different context of uses such as drug screening and advanced therapeutic applications.
Luca Rigamonti
Luca worked on the validation of a microfluidic platform for testing injectable medical devices (MD) on uKnee model, to fulfill the needs of MD companies with the coming of the EU MDR 2017/745.
Andrea Pigazzini
Andrea worked on the upgrade of our uBox control system, to expand the versatility of our models and the complexity of mechanical stimuli.
Sara Sitta
Sara worked on a proof-of-concept 3D model of lung fibrosis induced through mechanical stimuli.
Giacomo Cretti
Giacomo worked on integrating different readouts in our uHeart cardiac model benchmarking it against traditional 2D culture systems for cardiotoxicity screening.