Ana Colette Maurício
	ICBAS, University of Porto, Portugal
Ana Colette Mauricio has a degree on Veterinary Medicine since 1995, a PhD on Veterinary Sciences since 1999 from Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMV) – Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (UTL) and Habilitation in Veterinary Sciences (ICBAS-UP) since 2011. The PhD experimental work was developed at Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência (IGC) in Oeiras, Portugal, at Freiburg Medicine Faculty in Germany and at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT) from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL). At the present, she is an Associated Professor with Habilitation, from the Veterinary Clinics of do Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto (UP), and she is the vice-President of the Pedagogic Council of ICBAS – UP. She also belongs to the Scientific Council of ICBAS-UP and to the Ethic Comission for Health Sciences from University of Porto (UP). She belongs to the Scientific Committee of the Veterinary Sciences Doctoral Program at ICBAS – UP. She is the Scientific Coordinator of Regenerative Medicine and Experimental Surgery sub-unit from Centro de Estudos de Ciência Animal (CECA) of Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologias Agrárias e Agro-Alimentares (ICETA), Universidade do Porto (UP). She is one of the founding shareholders of Biosckin, Molecular and Cell Therapies, S.A since 2007 with established scientific protocol with UP for development of new cell therapies and medical devices. For the past 12 years she coordinates a multidisciplinary research group of Experimental Surgery and Regenerative Medicine, working with several biomaterials and cellular therapies. She started working with embryonic stem cells obtained by somatic nuclear transfer for therapeutic use; with Ian Wilmut´s group (Dolly’s cloned sheep).

 
 

	Aníbal T. de Almeida
	ISR, University of Coimbra, Portugal

 
 

	Geoffrey Mitchell
	CDRSP, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal
Geoffrey Mitchell studied in Sheffield and London before obtaining a PhD working with Alan Windle at the University of Cambridge, UK. His PhD thesis focused on the study of the local structure of polymer melts and glasses using x-ray scattering and computational modelling. He spent a period in Cambridge as a research fellow with a programme centered on the study of liquid crystal polymers. This was followed by a spell at Hokkaido University, Japan with Professor Akira Odajima applying nmr and dielectric measurements to main-chain liquid crystal polymers. In 1984 he took up a lectureship in physics at the University of Reading, was appointed Reader in Polymer Physics in 1992 and Professor of Polymer Physics in 1995. He was the Founding Coordinator of the Polymer Science Centre a collaborative research programme in polymer science involving the Departments of Physics and Chemistry. In 2005 he was the founding Director of the Centre for Advanced Microscopy at Reading which was University wide centre of excellence. In 2013 he was appointed Emeritus Professor. In 2010 he joined the staff of the Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development at the Institute Polytechnic of Leiria. Previously he had been Visiting Professor of IPL since 2004. He is now Vice-Director of CDRSP since 2014. Professor Mitchell has a broad experience of materials research ranging from non-linear optics through smart materials to the microstructural study of technologically important materials. He has developed novel time-resovig techniques in x-ray and neutron scattering for the study of both local structure and the influence of external fields (shear and extensional flow, stress, magnetic, electric) on polymer melts, glasses, liquid crystal polymers and crystallisable polymers. He has combined such scattering techniques with computational modelling to reveal quantitative information about the segmental packing in polymer melts and glasses. He has pioneered the study of liquid crystal elastomers including both chiral networks and the use of such networks as smart materials. He was one of the first to develop photoactive materials for a variety of applications, including non-linear optics, optical fibre switches, coatings and smart systems. In the last 15 years he has developed strong interest in additive manufacturing, firstly with the development of a novel UV/IR Stereolithography process and then the influence of 3-d printing processes of the structure and morphology of the final products. He has developed a strong interest in electrospinning and was amongst the first to evaluate the effect of the electrospinning parameters on the polymer structure of the fibres. He initiated and has chaired a highly successful conference series on electrospinning. This has led to a book ‘Electrospinning: principles, practice and possibilities’ which will be published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2015.

 
 

	Liliana Maria Pires Ferreira
	BioISI, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Liliana P. Ferreira has a PhD in Radiation Physics, is Assistant Professor at the Physics Department of the University of Coimbra and researcher at the Condensed Matter Physics Centre (CFMC), now included in the Biosystems & Integrative Sciences Institute (BioISI) of the Faculty of Sciences, Lisbon University. Among other subjects, the last years of her research work have been devoted to the study of the magnetic properties of different materials, and especially of iron oxides nanoparticles, namely for application in magnetic hyperthermia. Within this subject, she participates in the project PTDC/CTM-BIO/2102/2012 (Core@shell Magnetic Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy by Hyperthermia) and belongs to the management committee of the COST ACTION TD1402 – “Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Magnetic Hyperthermia and Indirect Radiation Therapy” (RADIOMAG).

 
 

	Malcolm Sperrin
	Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, UK

 
 

	Maria Pedro Guarino
	ESSLei, IPLeiria
Maria Guarino is an invited Professor of Pharmacology and Pathology at the Health Sciences School – Polytechnic Institute of Leiria. She is also a Senior Investigator at CEDOC – Chronic Diseases Center of the NOVA Medical School in Lisbon, integrating the “Carotid Body & Metabolism: from Molecules to Systems” group, and a member of the Research Center of the Centro Hospitalar de Leiria, E.P.E. Maria Guarino holds a PhD degree in Physiology but in the last couple of years she has have worked mainly as a disease biologist. Her research is focused on the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes and its relation with the sympathetic nervous system. She is currently devoted to unraveling the missing link between carotid-sinus nerve mediated sympathetic activation and dysmetabolism, mainly through charting the neuronal circuits that are malfunctioning in type 2 diabetes. The main aim of her research projects is to develop novel therapeutic approaches to treat metabolic diseases through electrical modulation of neural activity.

 
 

	Pedro Morouço
	CDRSP, Institute Polytechnic of Leiria, Portugal
PhD Research Fellow and Head of the BioFabrication Research Group. After receiving the New Investigator Award 2014 from ISBS, has become member of the Editorial Boards in several international peer-review journals. Chairman of the CDRsp Advanced Courses on Regenerative Medicine, Pedro is engaged in several national and international projects focusing on biomechanics and/or additive manufacturing.