Athanasios Mantalaris is a Professor of BioSystems Engineering in the Imperial College London. His expertise is in modelling of biological systems and bioprocesses with a focus on mammalian cell culture systems, stem cell bioprocessing and tissue engineering.

Mantalaris and his team is seeking to develop a novel monitoring modality that allows the systematic development of clinically relevant culture systems and methodologies, which control and regulate stem cell self-renewal, expansion, differentiation and death. Also he is developing integrated processes and culture systems for the expansion and differentiation of embryonic stem cells.

His laboratory is also seeking solutions to tissue engineering problems and trying to develop suitable scaffolds and culture systems for a variety of applications ranging from bone marrow, bone, cartilage, pneumocytes and cardiomyocytes, as well as developing ex vivo models for disease states, such as leukaemia.

Mantalaris’ research program  sets out to integrate modelling, experiment design, validation, control and optimisation into a single framework that would lead to increased productivity, regulated product quality and reduced costs for mammalian cell culture systems.

He got his BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario in Canada in 1991. In 1999 got his MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester in the United States and in 2000 his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the same university. His Thesis title was “Engineering a Human Ex Vivo Bone Marrow Mimicry”.

Mantalaris has published over 150 manuscripts, was co-editor of the book “Advances in Tissue Engineering” while he holds several patents with many more pending.

He received the Junior Moulton Award for best paper by the Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2004.

He was elected in 2012 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering.

In 2013 he was awarded with the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Award.