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Image: Dr. Francesca Antonella SepĂșlveda
November is here! The temperatures are dropping, the trees are turning red, and autumn is showing off its colors. For some, this means staying indoors with a warm cup of coffee. For others, it is the perfect time to put on their hiking boots and head out for an adventure.
Our little explorer seems to belong to the second group!
With a backpack, a warm scarf, and binoculars in hand, our adventurer has reached the top of a rather unusual landscape. Red hills stretch into the distance, crossed by turquoise paths and deep, dark valleys. It looks like a perfect place for an autumn hike, although finding the way back might be a challenge!
But there is something our explorer doesn’t know: these mountains are not made of rocks, and those colorful paths are certainly not hiking trails.
This landscape is actually a confocal fluorescence microscopy image of L929 mouse fibroblasts cultured on a biomaterial developed in collaboration with the research team led by Dr. Andrés Ortiz at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile.
The red and turquoise colors are not what we would see with our eyes. In fluorescence microscopy, specific cellular structures can be labeled with fluorescent markers that emit light when excited at particular wavelengths. The microscope detects these signals, allowing us to visualize details that would otherwise be difficult to distinguish.
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And sometimes, those signals come together to create images that look remarkably similar to the landscapes we see in nature.
So, while November invites us to explore the colors of autumn outside, our little adventurer has discovered that there are plenty of places left to explore inside the laboratory.
The only problem? Our explorer forgot to check the scale bar before starting the hike! đŹđ
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Our PhD researcher Luis Calero Lumbreras presented his work at the Materials Science and Engineering Congress (MSE 2026), held at Technische UniversitÀt Darmstadt, Germany, from 29 September to 1 October
We are delighted to welcome Kaiyu Zhu and MarĂa Arroyo Camuñas to the BCD Group at IMDEA Materials Institute. Their complementary backgrounds in materials science, mechanobiology, cell biology and bioengineering
We are sharing that our PhD researcher Luis Calero Lumbreras has successfully completed this important milestone in his doctoral journey. đ Processability and biological response of biodegradable Zn-0.2Mg-0.5Mn scaffolds fabricated
BCD research group has recently published a new publication in Biomaterials Science! Congrats to our colleagues, Jesus, Monsur and Monica! Title: Evaluation of laser-induced graphene for skeletal muscle tissue engineering applicationsAuthors: JesĂșs
BCD research group has recently published a new publication in Next Materials! Congrats to our colleagues, Yuyao and Monica! Title: 3D-printed biodegradable polymer scaffolds for tissue engineering: An overview, current
We are looking for a final-year undergraduate or masterâs student work on the project of Biological characterization of polymers for healthcare applications. The project will focus on conducting degradation and
Nafiseh Mollaei, Alireza Rezaei, Biaobiao Yang, MĂłnica Echeverry-RendĂłn, Jon M. Molina-AldreguĂa, Federico Sket, Javier Llorca, Acta Materialia, 2026
Mirella LlamosĂ, Bruno F. Gomes-Ribeiro, MĂłnica Echeverry-RendĂłn, Jose Yuste, Julio Sempere, Mirian Domenech, Antibiotics, 2026
JesĂșs Ordoño, Carlos Aguilar-Vega, Natalia TĂ©llez-Fouz, Guillermo DomĂnguez, Carmelo de-MarĂa, AndrĂ©s DĂaz-Lantada, Jon Molina-Aldareguia, MĂłnica Echeverry-RendĂłn, Biomaterials Advances, 2026
