Samuel Ojosnegros

Head of the Open Innovation Lab, Bioengineering for Reproductive Health, IBEC (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia).
My research group studies how mammalian embryos implant, combining imaging, mechanics, bioengineering and translational science to improve assisted reproduction. At IBEC I lead the lab “Bioengineering in Reproductive Health,” the first Open Innovation Lab research unit, which works to bring basic discoveries fast to clinical and market settings.
We develop proprietary ex vivo and 3D platforms to culture embryos, image pre-implantation and implantation stages in physiological-like conditions, and quantify forces, matrix displacement, embryo-matrix mechanics. These tools help us reveal how embryos invade tissues, how matrix geometry and mechanics influence implantation, and how metabolic state predicts viability. Among our signature technologies is METAPHOR, a non-invasive hyperspectral metabolic imaging method to analyse embryo and oocyte metabolism and morphology to better predict implantation success. This has driven spin-off activity: Serabiotics, developing plasma-derived proteins for the IVF industry, and Lumiris, a venture bringing METAPHOR into IVF clinics as a medical device.
I obtained my PhD at the CBM-Severo Ochoa (CSIC, Madrid), carried out my first postdoc at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and then completed a second postdoc at Caltech (USA) before establishing my laboratory in Barcelona.