Cristina Canal Barnils

Cristina Canal Barnils serves as a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Barcelona East School of Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. She leads groundbreaking research at the intersection of plasma physics and biomaterials science through the BBT Research Group in Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Tissue Engineering, while also contributing to the Multiscale Science and Engineering Research Center (CCEM).

Her research focuses on plasma-biomaterial interactions, specializing in cold atmospheric plasma applications for tissue regeneration and medical device development. Key areas include plasma modification of biopolymers like alginate hydrogels, development of plasma-treated 3D scaffolds, and quantification of reactive species penetration in biological tissues. Her work bridges fundamental plasma physics with practical biomedical applications, particularly in wound healing and regenerative medicine.

Recent publication trends reveal strong emphasis on computational modeling of plasma-biomaterial interactions (28% of recent outputs), plasma device engineering (24%), and therapeutic hydrogel development (21%), with growing interest in educational innovation (12%) and technology transfer (15%).

• Principal investigator for competitive R&D projects including PlasmAccelerate (technology transfer) and RevCEM (educational innovation)
• Recipient of multiple European Union-funded grants through Horizon 2020 and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
• Recipient of Ramon y Cajal program support for career development

She maintains an extensive collaboration network spanning 12 research groups, with particularly strong ties to Maria Pau Ginebra Molins' team in biomaterials (126 joint activities) and Francesco Tampieri's group in plasma applications (43 joint activities). Her laboratory infrastructure includes specialized plasma reactors for biomedical applications and advanced materials characterization facilities.