João Maia

Biochemist and Materials Scientist with 15+ years of experience in academic and industrial settings. Experienced in Class III medical device design, product strategy, roadmap development, and risk mitigation. Versed in advanced materials, nanotechnology, 3D printing, and e-health solutions—guiding products from early concepts through development.

Key Achievements

Spearheaded chemistry correlation to adhesion performance for Tissium's polymer platform, leading performance-oriented product design and co-leading industrialization. This adhesive enabled clinical-stage Class III products across cardiovascular, peripheral nerve, and gastrointestinal therapeutic areas;
Established the 3D printing materials and hardware platform at Tissium, enabling the development of Class III implantable biomedical products;
Co-developed and successfully translated a versatile antimicrobial nanotechnological product from Matera to industrial application;
Co-developed and launched an MVP-stage e-health and social innovation project (e-nlaza), securing a 10,000€ Social Innovation award from Mutua Madrileña (2014)

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Professional Experience

Jungle Skills; Nov 2023 - present

Established an entrepreneurial platform (Notion-based) providing expert consulting in materials science and strategic product conceptualization, guiding successful development phases towards commercialization.

Key Projects/Clients:

Flainar: Software Medical Device - Cultural prescription for stress disorders; Supporting QMS implementation under ISO13845 and technical documentation for a class IIa SaMD, leveraging Open Regulatory framework.
Ineye Therapeutics: Supported product development activities for a Class IIb ocular insert; Defined the product safety risk assessment strategy for an usability clinical study, according to the ISO 10993.
Advanced Therapies Group (CNC): Supporting nanomedicine-platforms translation to TRL5 stage; Proposal writing & support for pre-development activities.
BH4U: Implemented R&D infrastructure for medtech readiness; Provided technical support for core product wrap-up towards design-freeze of a Class I medical device.
Tissium: Supported programmable polymers research for novel indications; Implemented an internal AI assistant (ChatGPT-based) and a data architecture strategy for data-driven decision-making.
S3E Start program; Served as a mentor on an 18-week Hands-on Training Program for deeptech translation entrepreneurship. Blood2Power project, from I3S, Porto.
Development of a Notion-based, AI-leveraged, platform to provide tailored project management and consulting activities;.

Tissium Paris, France; Sep 2016-Jun 2023

Materials Associate Director

Initially joined as a Research Engineer (Sept 2016) and identified the correlation between proprietary polymer chemistry and biological tissue adhesion by leveraging existing data.
Designed the foundation for the internal data schema, accelerating technology iterations and development roll-out.
Coordinated external 3D printing collaborations, established in-house 3D printers, and laid the groundwork for the current 3D printing platform (powered by 3D Systems).
Promoted to Head of the newly formed Materials team (peaked at 7 FTEs) within the Innovation Hub (Sept 2017).
Led the adhesive design, prioritizing performance, chemical reproducibility, stability, and biocompatibility, which triggered industrialization.
Matured the Materials team's capabilities, incorporating in-house resources from chemistry to purification (scCO2) to address platform challenges and research activities.
Streamlined the Materials team's polymer prototyping iteration process for new targets, decreasing lead time by at least 3-fold and cost per prototype product by 4-fold.
Managed the materials platform development, identifying new product opportunities.
Currently, an on-demand elastomeric adhesive (Class III) serves as the core component for three products with different regulatory pathways in peripheral nerve, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular clinical areas.

Independent Expert of the H2020 SME Instrument; European Commission 2015-present

Evaluated 70+ phase 1 and 20+ phase 2 proposals, within the scope of nanotechnologies, advanced materials or advanced manufacturing processing technologies.

Post-doc at the Bioinspired Materials Group ICMM (www.icmm.csic.es) Madrid, Spain; Oct 2014 - Jun 2016

Developed novel materials for additive manufacturing (3D printing), leveraging group expertise in deep eutectic solvents and carbon-based materials.

Co-founder of e-nlaza - Mobile Health Startup (e-nlaza.com) Madrid, Spain Jan 2014- Dec 2015

Connect, ask, simplify: e-nlaza provided an environment for cancer-affected users, to network, access psychologists and other professionals as well as well-being solutions.

Social Innovation prize from Mutua Madrileña “Soy empreendedor” competition September 2014; 10’000€.

MVP launched in February ’15, with the inclusion of several stakeholders as part of the customer development process and MVP validation.
e-nlaza did not survive the “valley of death” transition to development due to founders' strategic disagreement.

Business Development; IT startup (www.laborders.com) Madrid, Spain Nov 2012-Oct 2014

Conducted market mapping of the Spanish academic and startup ecosystem.
Led customer discovery and validation; defined and executed the initial internationalisation strategy.

Researcher Matera, Lda - Bionanotechnology startup Biocant Park, Portugal Jun 2010- Jun 2012

Conducted R&D of nanomaterials with antimicrobial properties and managed their translation to stakeholders.
Co-developed a versatile technology with anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral properties. Successfully translated the technology to a commercial product for a major Portuguese corporation.
Responsible for company representation and communication.

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Expedition Leader

João Maia

Key Achievements

Professional Experience

Education