Experience

After graduating as Civil Eng. from UPM, and having worked the last two years at the R+D department of Acciona-Infraestructuras, in 2000 I started my PhD studies on Fracture Mechanics at the Materials Science Dpt. together with the degree on Materials Eng.

After obtaining my PhD with honours in 2004, I continued my research career at the Centre for Biomimetics and Natural Technologies (University of Bath, UK) where I worked two years as a Research Officer, applying Material Science to the Food Industry.

In 2006 I obtained a lecturing position at UPM that was upgraded to Permanent Professor in 2012. Since those years I give lectures in Physics for Civil Eng. and Biomaterials at the BsC. of Materials Eng and Biomedical Eng, and in the Msc. of Materials Eng., being every year among the best considered lecturers by the students. I have also given lectures on Mechanical Behaviour and Economy and Management at several years.

My research experience is endorsed by more than 30 international papers in indexed journals. My main research field is the application of Engineering to solve medical problems, mostly in the cardiovascular system and the nervous system. For that reason I maintain fruitful collaborations with several hospitals and surgeons and physicians in Spain and abroad: Clínico San Carlos, Puerta de Hierro, Doce de Octubre, Marqués de Valdecilla, la Fundación Favaloro de Argentina among others. As a result, I have more than 20 research papers in PubMed, from the US National Library of Medicine.

Together with the teaching and research activities, I have been performing important managing tasks, starting as the academic secretary of the PhD program. Later, since 2013 to 2016 I was the academic coordinator of the Bsc and Msc in Materials Eng at the UPM. To date, since 2016 I am the Deputy Director of the Center for Biomedical Technology at the UPM and responsible of the research lines for hydrogels production and soft biomaterials characterization. I have supervised two finalized PhD theses and currently I am supervising two more, plus and several Final Year Projects, all of them on the biomaterials research field.

RELEVANT MERITS

Publications (2019-21)

Arvinius, C., Civantos, A., Rodríguez-Bobada, C., Rojo, F.J., Pérez-Gallego, D., Lopiz, Y., Marco, F. Title: Enhancement of in vivo supraspinatus tendon–to-bone healing with an alginate-chitin scaffold and rhBMP-2; Injury, 52: 78-84. Date: 2021

Jemni-Damer, N., Guedan-Duran, A., Fuentes-Andion, M., Serrano-Bengoechea, N., Alfageme-Lopez, N., Armada-Maresca, F., Guinea, G.V., Pérez-Rigueiro, J., Rojo, F., Gonzalez-Nieto, D., Kaplan, D.L., Panetsos, F. Title: Biotechnology and Biomaterial-Based Therapeutic Strategies for Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Part I: Biomaterials-Based Drug Delivery Devices; Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 8, 549089

Jemni-Damer, N., Guedan-Duran, A., Cichy, J., Lozano-Picazo, P., Gonzalez-Nieto, D., Perez-Rigueiro, J., Rojo, F., V. Guinea, G., Virtuoso, A., Cirillo, G., Papa, M., Armada-Maresca, F., Largo-Aramburu, C., Aznar-Cervantes, S.D., Cenis, J.L., Panetsos, F. Title: First steps for the development of silk fibroin-based 3D biohybrid retina for age-related macular degeneration (AMD); Journal of Neural Engineering, 17-55003

Fernández-Luna, V., Fernández-Blázquez, J.P., Monclús, M.A., Rojo, F.J., Daza, R., Sanchez-Dealcazar, D., Cortajarena, A.L., Costa, R.D. Title: Biogenic fluorescent protein-silk fibroin phosphors for high performing light-emitting diodes; Materials Horizons, 7: 1790-1800. Date: 2020

Yolanda Martín-Martín, Laura García, Miguel H. Sánchez-Rebato, Núria Marí-Buyé, Francisco J. Rojo, José Perez-Rigueiro, Milagros Ramos, Gustavo Guinea, Fivos Panetsos, and Daniel Gonzalez-Nieto. Title: Evaluation of neurosecretome from mesenchymal stem cells encapsulated in silk fibroin hydrogels; SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 9:8801. Date: 2019

Rafael Daza, Luis Colchero, Daniel Corregidor, Manuel Elices, Gustavo V. Guinea, Francisco Javier Rojo, José Pérez-Rigueiro. Title: Functionalization of atomic force microscopy cantilevers and tips by activated vapour silanization; APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE, 484 Pág 1141–1148. Date: 2019

Research projects and grants (last 5 years)

Development of a new therapeutical product for cerebral regeneration based on silk fibroin and mesenchymal stem cells (2020-2022). Centro de Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial (CDTI). 210,000€, PI F. Panetsos.

NEUROCENTRO-CM 82017/BMD-3760 Technological Center for the Integrated Study and Treatment of Neurological Disorders (2018-2021). Dirección General de Innovación Tecnológica de la Comunidad de Madrid, 700,000 €. Coordinator Gustavo Víctor Guinea.

MAT2016-79832-R – Project title: Desarrollo de nuevos biomateriales de fibroína de seda para regeneracion cerebral. Funding institution: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. Budget 175.000 euros. PI: Gustavo Guinea

Technological and transfer merits

Francisco J Rojo has been very active in generating technology knowledge and in transferring such technology to both, industry and society. He has been founder of two successful high-tech enterprises:

• Bioactive Surfaces SL, devoted to the development of biofunctionalized materials, bio-Atomic Force Microscopy applications, drugs and medical treatments. Spin off company of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (2020-act)
• Silk Biomed SL, devoted to the development of advanced silk fibroin biomaterials, for human tissue regeneration and repair. Spin off company of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (2017-act)

Editorial Boards and Scientific Societies

Member of the Sociedad Española de Integridad Estructural. Miembro de la European Structural Integrity Society

He is reviewer of International Journals, among them: Annals of Biomedical Engineering, or Revista Española de Cardiología.