Laureata in Scienze biologiche con 110/110 e lode, dottorato in “Ingegneria dei tessuti e dei trapianti” presso Università degli studi di Padova.
Professore Associato, presso il Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche dell’Università di Ferrara dove dirige il laboratorio di Ingegneria dei tessuti e Medicina Rigenerativa.
La sua attività di ricerca è rivolta nell’ambito dell’ingegneria dei tessuti mediante l’utilizzo di biomateriali naturali e sintetici quali supporti per la creazione in vitro di tessuti artificiali quali: pelle, cartilagine, osso, polpa dentaria. Fra i vari biomateriali studiati si ricorda spugne di collagene, scaffolds di idrossiapatite, l’estere benzilico dell’acido ialuronico, superfici di titanio nanostrutturate o biofunzionalizzate. Si occupa dello studio delle cellule staminali come strumento per ricostruzione di tessuti da utilizzare nella pratica clinica, per la validazione di nuovi materiali, e come farmaci in terapie immunomodulanti. Le staminali utilizzate vengono isolate da tessuti adulti come polpa dentale, pelle, midollo osseo, tessuto adiposo. E’ relatore a numerosi congressi nazionali ed internazionali, autore di 8 capitoli di libro, 1 libro e 160 articoli su riviste scientifiche indicizzate (Hindex 40)

146 Gardin C, Ferroni L, Leo S, Tremoli E, Zavan B.Platelet-Derived Exosomes in Atherosclerosis.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Oct 19;23(20):12546. doi: 10.3390/ijms232012546.

145 Tiengo E, Fermi E, Zanolla I, Zanotti F, Trentini M, Pasquino E, Palmieri MC, Soliani G, Leo S, Tremoli E, Ferroni L, Zavan B.In Vitro Model for the Evaluation of Innovative Transcatheter Debridement Device (TDD): Pericardium-Based Scaffold and Stem Cells to Reproduce Calcificated Valves. Biomedicines. 2022 Sep 21;10(10):2352. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10102352.

144 Fusco L, Gazzi A, Shuck CE, Orecchioni M, Alberti D, D'Almeida SM, Rinchai D, Ahmed E, Elhanani O, Rauner M, Zavan B, Grivel JC, Keren L, Pasqual G, Bedognetti D, Ley K, Gogotsi Y, Delogu LG.Immune Profiling and Multiplexed Label-Free Detection of 2D MXenes by Mass Cytometry and High-Dimensional Imaging. Adv Mater. 2022 Oct 7:e2205154. doi: 10.1002/adma.202205154.

143 Brunello G, Donos N, Sivolella S, Zavan B. Editorial: Advances in additive manufacturing technologies for the production of tissue-engineered bone scaffolds for dental applications.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2022 Aug 9;10:980430. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.980430. eCollection 2022.PMID: 36017351

142 Brunello G, Zanotti F, Scortecci G, Sapoznikov L, Sivolella S, Zavan B.Dentin Particulate for Bone Regeneration: An In Vitro Study. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Aug 18;23(16):9283. doi: 10.3390/ijms23169283.PMID: 36012558

141 Ferroni L, De Francesco F, Pinton P, Gardin C, Zavan B. Methods to isolate adipose tissue-derived stem cells. Methods Cell Biol. 2022;171:215-228. doi: 10.1016/bs.mcb.2022.04.011. Epub 2022 Jun

140 Camponogara F, Zanotti F, Trentini M, Tiengo E, Zanolla I, Pishavar E, Soliani E, Scatto M, Gargiulo P, Zambito Y, De Luca S, Ferroni L, Zavan B.IBiomaterials for Regenerative Medicine in Italy: Brief State of the Art of the Principal Research Centers. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul 26;23(15):8245. doi: 10.3390/ijms23158245.PMID: 35897825 Free PMC article. Review.

139 Ferroni L, Gardin C, D'Amora U, Calzà L, Ronca A, Tremoli E, Ambrosio L, Zavan B.Exosomes of mesenchymal stem cells delivered from methacrylated hyaluronic acid patch improve the regenerative properties of endothelial and dermal cells.
Biomater Adv. 2022 Aug;139:213000. doi: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.213000. Epub 2022 Jun 25.PMID: 35891601


138 Elham Pishavar, Martina Trentini, Federica Zanotti, Francesca Camponogara, Elena Tiengo, Ilaria Zanolla, Massimo Bonora, Barbara Zavan Exosomes as Neurological Nanosized Machines CS it: 10.1021/acsnanoscienceau.1c00062.

137. Brunello G, Zanotti F, Trentini M, Zanolla I, Pishavar E, Favero V, Favero R, Favero L, Bressan E, Bonora M, Sivolella S, Zavan B Exosomes Derived from Dental Pulp Stem Cells Show Different Angiogenic and Osteogenic Properties in Relation to the Age of the Donor.
.Pharmaceutics. 2022 Apr 21;14(5):908. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14050908.PMID: 35631496 Free PMC article.

136. Lateral dimension and amino-functionalization on the balance to assess the single-cell toxicity of graphene on fifteen immune cell types.
Fusco L, Orecchioni M, Reina G, Bordoni V, Fuoco C, Gurcan C, Guo S, Zoccheddu M, Collino F, Zavan B, Treossi E, Yilmazer A, Palermo V, Bianco A, Delogu LG.NanoImpact. 2021 Jul;23:100330. doi: 10.1016/j.impact.2021.100330. Epub 2021 Jun 8.PMID: 35559831

Zavan Barbara, is Assistant Professor of Hystology and head of Tissue Engineering and regenerative laboratory at Biomedical Sciences Department of Padova University (Italy). Dr. Zavan received her Ph.D. in Tissue Enginering and regenerative medicine from Padova University, and completed postdoctoral training in stem cell biology at Padova University. Dr. Zavan’ research seeks to understand how changes in stem cell activity impact tissue homeostasis and repair throughout life and to identify systemic molecules or surfaced modification are responsible for regulation of regenerative potential. Her scientific activity is reppresented by several indexed pubblication books chapter mailny focused on tissue engineering and stem cells. She is a member of scientific society such as: Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society IS and American Nano Society American Nano Society. She is editorial board of Recent patent on nanotechnologies; The Scientific World JOURNAL (as part of the journal's Tissue Engineering Domain); Journal of Biosciences and Medicines (JBM).

Dr. Zavan research activities have focused for many years on tissue engineering by means several biomaterials as scaffold for the creation of in vitro artificial tissue such as: skin, cartilage, bone. “Smart scaffold” biomaterials are comprised of hyaluronan derivatives, namely the benzyl ester of this extracellular polysaccharide, collagene based sponge-granules, matrices etc. All these scaffolds are highly biocompatible and when placed inside the human body, do not elicit any adverse reactions and are resorbed by the host tissues.
Dr. Zavan applied a multidisciplinary approaches with the aim to improve regenerative medicine strategies for the clinical applications:
a) biomaterials as scaffolds for in vivo regeneration of:
• vessels (vein, artery)
• bone
• cartilage
• skin
• dental pulp

b) Use of adult cells and stem cell:
• human dermal fibroblasts: able to attach to the biomaterial fibers, proliferate, colonize the entire device, and secreted the main extracellular molecules (collagen type I, III and IV, laminin, fibronectin) giving rise to a dermal-like tissue;
• keratinocytes able to give rise a complete skin equivalent when they are in vitro cultured onto this dermal substitute,
• endothelial cells seeded into this in vitro reconstructed connective tissue are able to proliferate and organize themselves into microcapillary structures;
• chondrocytes were cultured inside non-woven Hyaff™ (Hyaluronic benzilic ester, FIDIA Abano Terme) scaffolds, are able to generate clusters of proliferating chondrogenic cells that produce type II collagen and proteoglycans were obtained.
• Hepatocytes and pancreatic cells
• Schwann cells: periphelar nerve reconstruction
• Adult Stem Cells from fetal tissue (amios),
• Adult Stem cells from adult tissue such as skin, bone marrow, adipose tissue, dental pulp able to differentiate to several cell line including: bone, cartilage, adipose tissue, muscle tissue, nerve.
• Use of Adult stem cells as tool for the treatment of tumor.

The in vitro reconstructed of dermal substitutes and cartilage like tissue obtained by culturing the patient own fibroblasts/chondrocytes into a 3D Hyaluronan based scaffolds, are routinely used in the clinical practice in many hospital or the treatment of skin/cartilage lesion.

facilities
The laboratory of Dott.ssa Zavan is located in the "Vallisneri Building", a large pluridepartimental complex