Affiliation: Ectica Technologies, Senior Scientist

Dr. Maria Mitsi is a Senior Scientist at Ectica Technologies, a start-up biotech company in Switzerland, developing 3D models of the tumor stromal microenvironment. She received her PhD from Boston University, studying the interplay between growth factors and fibronectin in regulating angiogenesis. She then moved to Switzerland and joined the interdisciplinary groups of prof. Vogel and prof. Mezzenga at ETH Zurich focused on models of fibrillar fibronectin and their applications, including a novel assay probing early steps of sprouting angiogenesis. She has also worked in the group of prof. Ballmer-Hofer at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, studying the structure of the VEGF/VEGFR complex and its potential to interact with fibronectin within the extracellular matrix.