Professor Fabio Variola received his BEng and MSc in materials engineering from the University of Trieste (Italy). In 2010, he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ottawa, shortly after completing a joint doctoral program with the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique-Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (INRS-ÉMT) and the Université de Montréal. He is a cross-appointed member in the departments of Physics (Faculty of Science) and Cellular and Molecular Medicine (Faculty of Medicine).
Professor Variola’s research focuses on developing micro- and nano-structured biomaterials to control cellular response for applications in tissue engineering and medicine. In particular, Professor Variola aims to elucidate the mechanisms that dictate how mammalian cells (e.g., bone cells, stem cells, neurons) respond to the surrounding physicochemical environment by integrating biomaterials science with biophysics and cell biology.