Ioannis Papantoniou is an Associate Professor head of the Tissue Engineering Lab of the Skeletal Biology and Engineering Research Centre, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven. He is also part of Prometheus, the translational division of the Leuven R&D, KU Leuven. In addition he is also a visiting PI at the Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, Foundation of Research and Technology (ICEHT/FORTH) in Greece. He is the coordinator of the H2020 ‘Jointpromise’ project aiming at automating the biomanufacturing of organoid-based osteochondral implants and is also a participant and Board member of the recently launched H2020 project ‘AIDPATH’ aiming at the integration of Artificial Intelligence technologies in Cell Therapy Manufacturing. He has also obtained funding from European, regional and national sources and has coached many young researchers into obtaining personal Post-doctoral and PhD grants. He has been invited in several academic and industrial conferences to serve as session and track chair as well as invited panelist. He has provided numerous invited lectures in leading academic institutes across Europe. During his research activities multiple industrial collaborations have been carried out successfully with leading players in the ATMP manufacturing field. His main research focus is develop designed 3D cell-based products with built-in arranged quality attributes through high-precision bioengineering technologies for skeletal regeneration. In addition the integration of automation aspects in organoid based tissue products has been at the forefront of his interest. Recent research breakthroughs resulted in the development of cartilaginous organoids for the bioprinting of bone regenerating living implants. Their subsequent use in various contexts has been evaluated while their production for clinical application is under way at KU Leuven university hospitals.
