Patrizia Caruso is a Mechanical Engineer whose work lies at the intersection of biomechanics, cardiovascular tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. She earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Management and Aerospace Innovation at the University of Palermo, in collaboration with Fondazione Ri.MED, after completing both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Her academic and professional path has been shaped by a strong interdisciplinary approach, combining engineering principles with biological sciences to investigate the structure and function of native and engineered tissues. She further enriched her scientific background through an international research experience as a Visiting Ph.D. Student at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, where she worked on the functional characterization of human heart valve tissues. She is currently working at Fondazione Ri.MED as a Speciatlist in mechanical and microstructural characterization of materials and tissues, in the Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering group.

Alongside her technical expertise, Patrizia brings a personality defined by curiosity, precision, and a strong sense of responsibility. Over the years, she has developed a collaborative and proactive attitude, strengthened not only through her scientific training but also through leadership and institutional roles held during her university years. She approaches research with both rigor and creativity, valuing teamwork, critical thinking, and the ability to adapt to new challenges.

Patrizia Caruso’s scientific activity focuses on the structural, microstructural, and biomechanical characterization of cardiovascular tissues, with particular attention to their application in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Her research has primarily investigated the structure–function relationship of human and animal cardiac tissues, aiming to better understand their physiological behavior and to support the development of biomimetic and bioengineered substitutes for cardiovascular applications. Her work integrates engineering analysis with biological assessment, contributing to a translational research framework in which tissue mechanics and morphology are studied as complementary aspects of functional performance.

Throughout her doctoral and postdoctoral experience, she has developed expertise in tissue processing and dissection, histological and microstructural analysis, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the mechanical characterization of soft tissues through biaxial and flexural testing. Her scientific activity also includes experience in decellularization, biological sample preparation, and experimental design for the evaluation of native and engineered tissue substitutes. She has contributed to national and international scientific conferences through oral and poster presentations and has co-authored peer-reviewed publications in the field of biomechanical characterization of biological materials. In addition, she has gained experience in mentoring students and working within multidisciplinary and international research teams, further consolidating her role in collaborative scientific environments.