Settimio Pacelli is a Research Scientist Associate V working at Dr. Rathbone’s lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He obtained his master’s degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Rome Sapienza. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kansas until July 2019 in hydrogel design for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications.
His research interest includes the chemical functionalization of natural polymers to obtain materials with precise and controllable physical, mechanical and biological properties. Additionally, he is involved in the development and characterization of hydrogel-based materials using natural polymers in combination with nanomaterials for drugs and protein delivery. Finally, he is also involved in the identification of key parameters in biomaterial design to control stem cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation to enhance their therapeutic potential for tissue engineering applications.
Here at UTSA Dr. Pacelli will be involved in the development of tissue muscle constructs and investigating the combined use of vascular structures, adult stem cells, scaffolds, and growth factors to better understand skeletal muscle regeneration specifically in pathological conditions such as diabetes.
