IMDEA Materials Institute

14/10/2026

❤️ A new step towards personalised cardiovascular implants

Researchers at IMDEA Materials, , and the have developed an innovative manufacturing strategy for personalised vascular medical devices based on 3D-printed braided metamaterials.

Published in 's npj Metamaterials, the study demonstrates how combining with braided architectures can overcome key limitations of conventional lattice-based designs, enabling highly flexible devices that withstand extreme deformation while maintaining structural integrity and superelastic behaviour.

The new devices can be compressed to pass through catheters and blood vessels, then recover their original shape upon deployment, opening new opportunities for patient-specific, minimally invasive cardiovascular interventions.

The technology has already been patented and recognised with the national James Dyson Award.

👨‍🔬 👩‍🔬 We would like to recognise researchers Carlos Aguilar Vega, Oscar Contreras, Rodrigo Zapata Martínez, Muzi Li, Luis Miguel Vivero Nuñez, Ted Vaughan, Ellen Roche, Jon Molina Aldareguia and Andrés Díaz Lantada for their work on this breakthrough.

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17/09/2026

El Instituto IMDEA Materiales destacado en Pedecapress.

IMDEA Materiales avanza en la predicción de vida útil de los sistemas de recubrimientos de barrera térmica en turbinas de gas
https://www.pedeca.es/imdea-materiales-avanza-en-la-prediccion-de-vida-util-de-los-sistemas-de-recubrimientos-de-barrera-termica-en-turbinas-de-gas/

06/09/2026

😊 Earlier this week, we were pleased to receive a visit from Taiwan's Plastics Industry Development Center ( ). The delegation included PIDC's Dr. Hsiu-Cheng Chang, Dr. Chi-Che Tung and Iris Kung, who were welcomed to IMDEA Materials by researchers Prof. De-Yi Wang, Prof. Carlos González, Federico Dr. Sket, and project manager, Dr. Jesús Jiménez López.

The purpose of the visit was to show IMDEA Materials research capabilities and explore collaboration opportunities in the areas of High-Performance Polymers and Composite Materials.

During their time at the institute, the visitors had the opportunity to visit IMDEA Materials facilities, and received an introduction to the research activities of the High-Performance Polymers and Fire Retardants, Structural Composites, and In-situ Processing and Mechanical Characterisation of Materials research groups.

🥳 We thank all the PIDC members for taking the time to visit our facilities, and for their interest in potential future collaborations.

04/09/2026

🔬 embrittlement remains a major challenge for structural alloys, with its effects strongly influenced by microstructural features such as grain boundaries, dislocations, and interfaces.

Yesterday, we were pleased to host an by Dr. Jazmin Duarte from the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (Germany), entitled: “Microstructure-driven Hydrogen Response: In Situ Insights from Micromechanical Testing.”

Dr. Duarte presented how advanced in situ micromechanical testing can reveal hydrogen-microstructure interactions in real time, showing that hydrogen-induced hardening depends strongly on grain size, dislocation density, and processing history.

Her work highlights how manufacturing routes such as rolling, heat treatment, and cold working can significantly influence hydrogen uptake, trapping, and mechanical performance.

🙌 Dr. Duarte was invited to IMDEA Materials by Prof. Jon Molina, and we thank her for sharing her expertise with our research community.

28/08/2026

🎓 What does completing a at IMDEA Materials Institute look like?

Behind every scientific breakthrough is a researcher asking new questions, developing new ideas and tackling some of today's biggest technological challenges.

Our new PhD Perspectives video brings together the voices of seven doctoral researchers working across fields including , energy storage, , and computational modelling.

Former predoctoral researchers Sergei Zorkaltsev, Meihui Zhou, Wei Tang, Saumya Sadanand, Ángela Castro María, Ignacio Escobar and Elena Sánchez, all of whom have since completed their doctorates, share insights into the research they carried out at the institute.

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25/08/2026

📽️ Here, we bring you some images from last week's visit from the 's Regional Minister for Education, Science and Universities, , who visited our facilities in Getafe to learn about the research lines and leading projects being carried out by this specialised centre.

The Minister was joined on her visit by Marina Villegas Gracia, the CM's Director General for Research and Technological Innovation.

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22/08/2026

📸 Today, we bring you two images from laboratory technician, Cristina Sánchez.

The first, "Supernova Cellular", shows a fluorescent image of gingival cells stained for the detection of reactive oxygen species (ROS), molecules associated with cellular oxidative stress.

The green fluorescence reveals the intracellular accumulation of ROS. The intense radial signal evokes the image of an expanding supernova, creating a striking parallel between a microscopic cellular phenomenon and structures observed on a cosmic scale.

The second, "Two Destines", was captured during anaphase. The MC3T3 cell reveals one of the most precise processes in biology. The duplicated chromosomes, visible in blue through DAPI staining, migrate toward opposite poles of the cell to ensure that each daughter cell receives a complete copy of the genome.

🧫 The image immortalises an exceptionally brief moment in the cell cycle: the instant when two independent destinies begin to emerge from a single cell.

21/08/2026

📸 Today, we feature two images from former IMDEA Materials student Ninoska Velázquez Sepúlveda.

The first, "Steel vines", is a scanning electron microscopy ( ) image of a decellularised extracellular matrix ( ) scaffold reinforced with a braided nitinol structure.

The ECM retains its layered, collagen-rich morphology, while the surrounding nitinol mesh provides mechanical support, wrapping around the biological scaffold like climbing vines.

The second image, "Tree hollow", is also an SEM image, shows a hybrid scaffold designed for cartilage regeneration. The surrounding textured structure corresponds to the ECM, preserving its native fibrous architecture.

At the centre, the highlighted cavity marks the location of a reinforcing PLA element embedded within the scaffold. Resembling the hollow of an ancient tree, the image illustrates the integration of a synthetic support within a biologically derived matrix, combining mechanical reinforcement for tissue regeneration.

20/08/2026

📸 This image, from Dr. Miguel Monclús, shows Ar plasma inside a vacuum chamber after striking and lighting around a rotating substrate holder connected to a bias voltage.

It was an entry in this year's IMDEA Materials Scientific Imaging Contest.

19/08/2026

📸 For many days, Rapunzel lived safely atop her carbon tower, sheltered within the familiar world of the cell culture. Yet beyond the edge of the great circular abyss lay an unexplored kingdom.

Drawn by curiosity, she stretched her golden hair across the walls of the scaffold and began her descent. Thread by thread, she anchored herself to the carbon landscape, reaching farther into the unknown. What seemed like an escape was in fact a journey of growth, adaptation, and discovery.

🔬 Beneath the microscope, a humble L929 fibroblast becomes a fearless princess, transforming an engineered scaffold into a fairy tale of life finding its way forward. In the picture, taken by Dr. Mónica Echeverry Rendón, a mouse fibroblast (L929) cultured in carbon scaffolds in shown.