Dr. João Borges is a Junior Research Fellow and Principal Investigator of a R&D project at CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro (Portugal), with an individual contract supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). He graduated and received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Porto (Portugal) in 2008 and 2013, respectively. From 2013-2018, he was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Minho and University of Aveiro working on developing advanced biomimetic nanostructured multilayered coatings for nanomedicine and bone tissue engineering.
His current research interests lie on the molecular design, synthesis and development of biomimetic supramolecular functional biomaterials for biomedical and healthcare applications. In particular, he has been developing soft supramolecular multicomponent biomaterials, by resorting to natural polymers and self-assembling peptides, to be used as bioinstructive matrices to control the behavior of bioactive molecules and cells and as platforms for controlled drug delivery. He is author of original research articles and review papers in high-ranked international peer-reviewed journals, has been invited to deliver lectures/talks in international scientific conferences and has been an ad-hoc reviewer for top-quality international journals. He has been actively involved in teaching and mentoring activities, in the preparation/ implementation of numerous grant proposals funded at national and European levels, in science outreach and public engagement activities, and in chairing and organizing international conferences.
Besides his academic activity, Dr. Borges has been a board member of the Young Chemists Group of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) between 2016 and 2018. He has been a member of SPQ and American Chemical Society (ACS) since 2009 and is currently a Portuguese Delegate at the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN) and International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN), extensively supporting the networking activities among young chemists.
