Dr. Catalina Vallejo-Giraldo is an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering (Biomedical Engineering) and the School of Medicine at the University of Galway. Her research interests lie at the intersection of biomaterials, brain mechanobiology, and medicine. Catalina's extensive international training has equipped her with the skills to interact with and lead multidisciplinary teams that involve collaboration from academia (Universidad EIA, Colombia; Imperial College London, UK; Cardiff University, UK; and the University of Galway, Ireland) industry (Neurent Medical, Ireland), and clinical settings (Mayo Clinic, USA). Dr. Vallejo-Giraldo has published over 22 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact international journals, 3 refereed book chapters, 16 conference proceedings, and one pre-print. She has received several prestigious academic awards, including the Donegan Medal from the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (RAMI, BME Section) and the Trainee Award at the 10th World Biomaterials Congress, recognizing her contributions to the field of biomaterials for neural interfaces and tissue engineering. Recently, Dr. Vallejo-Giraldo was awarded an ERC starting grant to develop a novel treatment modality for Glioblastoma (GB). Additionally, she serves as a referee for several international journals, is an early-career editorial board member of the FASEB Journal, and is a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Tissue Engineering (JTE).

My work focuses on modifying spatial, temporal, and mechanical signals in healthy and diseased brain cells to influence cell fate. These changes enable us to explore and develop two key areas: i) three-dimensional (3D) in vitro culture platforms for studying neurological diseases and ii) the identification of potential markers for the design and functionalization of biomaterials, especially for neuro-oncology therapies. 
Key topics of interest include: gliosis, astrocytes, 3D in vitro models, organoids, assembloids, cell-cell interactions, the extracellular matrix (ECM), syndecans, cytoskeletal organization, nucleoskeletal organization, brain tumors, and brain mechanobiology.

• Mechanobiology
• Fundamentals of Engineering
• Biology
• Biodesign
• Biomaterials
• Biostatistics
• Neurobiology