Dr. Riccardo Gottardi is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, of Otorhinolaryngology, of Orthopaedic Surgery, and of Bioengineering at University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gottardi leads the Bioengineering and Biomaterials Laboratory at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, working closely with clinicians to develop engineering solutions for pediatric airway disorders based on translational tissue engineering and on novel preventative drug delivery approaches with accelerated pathway to the clinic. His lab investigates the basic cellular, molecular, and microbiological mechanisms as well as the genetic aspects of ear, nose, and throat damage and healing, and combines the development of animal models of host-microbiome interactions and of cartilage, vocal folds, and craniofacial tissues disease to design new regenerative and preventative approaches.

Dr. Gottardi received a BSc in General Physics and a MSc in Applied Physics (Medical Physics) from the University of Pisa, Italy, and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Genova, Genoa, Italy working on a collaborative project with the Biozentrum of the University Basel (Switzerland, Prof. Ueli Aebi) on atomic force microscopy-based multiscale early diagnosis of osteoarthritis in knee articular cartilage.

In 2011 he moved to the University of Pittsburgh thanks to a fellowship from the Ri.MED Foundation to work with Rocky Tuan, PhD, and Steven Little, PhD, as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Assistant Professor.

Dr. Gottardi’s research interests include: Tissue engineering of throat, ear, nose, and knees; Preventative drug delivery; Modelling osteoarthritis and osteochondral crosstalk via organ-on-chip culture for the development of new drugs; Decellualrized matrix approaches to tissue repair; Leveraging of new progenitor cell sources; and Microbiome modulation of airway disorders and repair.

In 2020, Dr. Gottardi was honored with the Young Investigator Award of the journal Cells, Tissues, Organs, is a Council Member of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society – Americas (TERMIS-AM), a member of the DEI Committee of the Society for Biomaterials, and a member of the editorial board of the journal Connective Tissue Research. He holds 3 issued patents and has filed 7 additional patent applications.

Dr. Gottardi is a member of these scientific and professional organizations:  CRS – Controlled Release Society (since 2020); SfB – Society for Biomaterials (since 2018); ORS – Orthopaedic Research Society (since 2016); BMES – Biomedical Engineering Society (since 2012); AIChE – American Institute of Chemical Engineering (since 2012); TERMIS – Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (since 2013); International Society for Biofabrication (since 2022); American Bronco Esophageal Association (since 2019),; American Society of Microbiology (since 2022).

Dr. Gottardi is a reviewer for several publications, including but not limited to, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Science Advances, Biomaterials, Acta Biomaterialia, Lab on a Chip, Biofabrication, and Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.

View a list of Dr. Gottardi’s publications here.

Visit Dr. Gottardi’s lab here.