Prof. Maria Gabriella Santonicola is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Technology at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Materials and Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. She completed her PhD studies in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (USA) in 2006 and was a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Germany) and the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente (The Netherlands). She was later awarded the “Rita Levi Montalcini” Grant by the Italian Ministry of University and Research and joined Sapienza University of Rome as Assistant Professor. Her research focuses on advanced polymer materials and composites for biomedical applications and for use in harsh environments such as space, stimuli-responsive polymers and hydrogels, self-healing materials, and characterization techniques on different length scales. She has led research activities and projects funded by national and regional agencies and has authored over 110 publications in international scientific journals and conference proceedings. Her teaching disciplines include biomaterials and surfaces for biomedical applications.