The University of Valladolid (UVa) was founded in 1241 and nowadays is one of the most important centers of Higher Education in Spain. On average, nearly 25,000 students enroll each year and it counts on more than 2,500 teachers. It offers a comprehensive range of double international degrees and 80 doctoral programs -14 with the Mention of Excellence-. The UVa manages around 852 research projects financed through competitive public R&D calls (European, national or regional), and approximately 500 contracts and agreements aimed at the transfer of knowledge and technology.

The UVa group leading this project (BIOFORGE) is a pioneer and world leading group in the use of genetic engineering and other molecular biology tools to obtain recombinant protein-like polymers and materials. By these techniques the team has already designed, bioproduced and characterised a wide set of highly functional genetically engineered protein polymers with absolute controlled molecular architecture and sequence. With the centre on those materials, BIOFORGE has shaped a knowledge platform to create and characterise advanced systems and devices for biomedicine. That includes know-how on processing and obtaining substrates and hydrogels for tissue engineering, surface engineering for cell harvesting, guidance and confinement, fibres, nanofibres and derived scaffolds and systems, and self-assembling nanocarriers. The characterisation expertise covers most of the chain of knowledge in the use of biomaterials and implants: basic physical-chemical polymer characterization advanced mechanical and thermal properties, microscopic visualisation (TEM, cryo-TEM, ESEM, AFM, etc.) and in vitro testing for cellular test.

BIOFORGE hosts around 25 researchers. It is essentially a true multidisciplinary group, having Chemists scientifics specialized in several disciplines (biochemistry, organic and analytic chemistry), Physicists specialists in Condensed Matter Physics, Molecular Biologists and Biotechnologists.

BIOFORGE has also a vast experience in participating and coordinating EU funded projects. It has taken part in five European projects of the FP6-FP7 and COST in the last 10 years. Moreover, Prof Rodríguez-Cabello coordinated an FP6 Marie-Curie network (MRTN-CT-2004-005516), BioPolySurf, dealing with the development of engineered nanostructured polymeric surfaces in the context of application-motivated problems in biomedicine, biology, materials science and nanotechnology.