The research field of "Bio-Engineering" has attracted Prof. Dr. Dr. Ada Cavalcanti to Bayreuth. Interdisciplinary cooperation opportunities await her here.
Ada Cavalcanti joined the University of Bayreuth on 1 February 2023. She previously worked as a habilitated private lecturer at the University of Heidelberg and as group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. Prof. Dr. Dr. Ada Cavalcanti has two doctorates: she first studied dentistry at the Università degli Studi di Bari (Italy) and received her doctorate there with high distinction. Afterwards, she additionally studied biology (University of Pennsylvania, USA) and also earned her doctorate in biosciences at the University of Heidelberg.
"The University of Bayreuth and my professorship here offer me the unique opportunity to expand my field of research into bioengineering," says Cavalcanti. "I foresee the collaboration with colleagues in materials science, physics and biochemistry to be very interesting. We can all benefit from establishing new lines of research that are attractive for future applications in the biomedical field."
Cavalcanti is currently a Fellow of the Max Planck School Matter of Life and has been awarded several prizes, including the UNESCO-L'Orèal Women in Science Prize in 2008. She is also co-editor of the journal Science Advances and ad hoc reviewer for various publications such as Nature Materials or Nature Communications.
"The aim of my research is to find out how nanoscale chemical signals from the extracellular environment are converted into mechanical signals that regulate adhesion-mediated cellular functions," says Cavalcanti. "Current research in the lab is focused on developing molecular systems that target cell surface receptors involved in cell-extracellular and cell-cell adhesion."
In future research at UBT, she hopes to focus on the multiscale contribution of forces in the regulation of cell adhesion, migration and differentiation. "The team will work on two biological model systems represented by cancer cells and stem cells. We will also look at the molecular regulation of collective dynamics and investigate the chemo-mechanical responses to nanoscale changes in the environment of 3D multicellular systems." In this way, insights will be gained into the spatio-temporal integration of local signals into cellular responses during tissue development and disease.
University of Bayreuth
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Mail: jennifer.opel@uni-bayreuth.de
