Maria Cristina Tanzi is Full Professor of Industrial Bioengineering at the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering 'G. Natta' of Politecnico di Milano, Italy. She is the Scientific Director of the BioCell Lab, Laboratory of Biocompatibility and Cell Culture, of Politecnico di Milano and in May 2008 she was nominated a member of the The International College of Fellows of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (ICF-BSE). Her main research interests cover the development of natural and synthetic polymers for biomedical applications and characterization and properties of polymeric biomaterials