Angelo Accardo
Assistant professor
Dr. Angelo Accardo is Assistant Professor at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (3mE), Department of Precision and Microsystems Engineering (PME), Micro and Nano Engineering section since June 1st 2019.
Dr. Angelo Accardo received his Master's degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy (2008) and his Ph. D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy (2012) in collaboration with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. After a Post-doc at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genova, Italy (2012-2015), Dr. Accardo joined the Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems (LAAS-CNRS), Toulouse, France in 2016 as a Research Associate. In June 2019, He joins Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Soft Micro- and Nanosystem Technology for Life Sciences and Biology within the Department of Precision and Microsystems Engineering (PME).
During his Ph. D. and Post-doctoral activity, Dr. Accardo acquired a strong knowledge of nano-fabrication processes in clean room facilities by means of which he designed several technological platforms that have been integrated for the first time in the context of synchrotron radiation scattering characterization of biological soft matter compounds (e.g. neurodegenerative peptides, cancer cell exosomes). The main topic under investigation was the realization of superhydrophobic surfaces made of different materials, such as polymer and silicon, following a biomimetic approach and exploiting the characteristic evaporation mechanisms of droplets drying in quasi contact-free conditions for tuning self-assembly and crystallization mechanisms.
Since a few years, his main area of research focuses instead on the development of multi-scale (nano-micro-meso) 3D fabrication paradigms to address a wide range of open questions in cell biology. He is interested in particular in the design and fabrication of 3D microenvironments, by employing light-assisted additive manufacturing techniques (such as two-photon lithography and stereolithography), for studying the mechanobiology, migration and differentiation mechanisms of of cells coming from different tissues (e.g. brain, bone) as well as the response of cancer cells to proton therapy. He also employs multi-technique 3D imaging protocols combining conventional morphological characterization techniques (based on Scanning Electron Microscopy) and advanced 3D fluorescence imaging (Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy and Two-photon confocal imaging) for unveiling cellular features.
Dr. Accardo is author of 41 publications in peer-reviewed journals (of which 23 as first/corresponding author, h-index=20 as of November 2021), 4 book chapters (of which 2 as first author) and principal inventor of 1 industrial patent on electrowetting superhydrophobic surfaces. His work has been featured in Nature Photonics, Materials Today, Advanced Materials, PNAS, Small, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and Nanoscale.
(Last update November 2021)

Angelo Accardo
- +31 (0)15 27 81610
- a.accardo@tudelft.nl
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34.G-1-360
Faculty 3mE
Dep. Precision and Microsystems Engineering
Mekelweg 2
2628 CD DELFT
The Netherlands
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Design, fabrication and characterization of Engineered Cell Microenvironments
- Light-assisted 3D manufacturing of neuronal microenvironments (PI, TU Delft start up grant, 1 PhD position, 200 k€, 2019)
- Development of 3D Onco-Scaffolds as a benchmark tool for Proton Radiobiology (PI, TU Delft Health Initiative Pilot Project, 10 k€, 2020)
- 3mE Sectorplan Cohesion grant for the project “Bio-mimetic meta-implants” (PI, in collaboration with Mohammad Mirzaali, 200 k€, 2020)
- DHI Onco-tech support grant (PI, 5 k€, 2020)
- NWO-ENW-M-2 grant for the project 3D cell-instructive engineered stem cell models for neuropsychiatric disorders (PI, in collaboration with Vivi Heine, 700 k€, 2021)
- NWO-ENW-XS grant for the project 3D engineered brain cancer microenvironments for proton radiobiology (PI, 50 k€, 2021).
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Academic year 2018/2019
- “Manufacturing for the micro and nano-scale” (ME46025, MSc Course-Q4), guest lecturer
Academic year 2019/2020
- "Intro to Nanoscience and Technology" (ME46010, MSc Course-Q3), guest lecturer.
- “Manufacturing for the micro and nano-scale” (ME46025, MSc Course-Q4), guest lecturer.
Academic year 2020/2021
- “Micro and Nanofabrication for Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering” (ME46125, MSc Course-Q4), responsible instructor.
Academic year 2021/2022
- “Micro and Nanofabrication for Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering” (ME46125, MSc Course-Q4), responsible instructor.
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MSc assignments are available on a regular basis. The list below provides an example of typical projects. If you are interested to work on projects related to the micro-fabrication and characterization of 3D architectures for cell culture applications, do not hesitate to contact me.
- 3D fabrication and mechanical characterization of polymer/hydrogel 3D scaffolds for cell culture
- Advanced photonic 3D fabrication and 3D imaging techniques for guiding and unveiling the differentiation of neural stem cells
- Mechanobiology aspects of neural cells within 3D free-standing architectures (forthcoming)
- Combination of conductive polymers and hydrogel materials for smart 3D neuronal microenvironments (forthcoming)
- Meso-scale porous hydrogel architectures for the culture of neuronal tissue-like models (i.e. neurospheroids, forthcoming)
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- M. Babi, R. Riesco, L. Boyer, A. Fatona, A. Accardo, L. Malaquin, J. Moran-Mirabal, Introducing nanotopography and functionality onto 3D printed cell culture scaffolds through tunable cellulose nanocrystal coatings, ACS Applied Bio Materials, doi.org/10.1021/acsabm.1c00970, 2021.
- M. J. Mirzaali, A. Ghorbani, K. Nakatani, M. Nouri-Goushki, N. Tümer, S. J. P. Callens, S. Janbaz, A. Accardo, J. Bico, M. Habibi, A. A. Zadpoor, Curvature Induced by Deflection in Thick Meta-Plates, Advanced Materials, 2021, 2008082.
- S. Aghajani, A. Accardo, M. Tichem, Tunable photoluminescence and SERS behaviour of additively manufactured Au nanoparticle patterns, RSC Advances, 2021, 11, 16849-16859
- A. Accardo, M. Ventre, C. Chiappini, V. Onesto, M.L. Coluccio, P. Netti, F.Gentile, Nanoscaffolds for neural regenerative medicine, Neural Regenerative Nanomedicine, 2020, 47-88.
- S. Aghajani, A. Accardo, M. Tichem, Aerosol Direct Writing and Thermal Tuning of Copper Nanoparticle Patterns as Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Sensors, ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2020, 3 (6), 5665–5675.
- V. Onesto*, A. Accardo*, C. Vieu, F. Gentile, Small-world networks of neuroblastoma cells cultured in three-dimensional polymeric scaffolds featuring multi-scale roughness, Neural Regeneration Research, 2020, 15 (4), 759-768 . (*equal contribution)
- D. Fan, U. Staufer, A. Accardo*, Engineered 3D Polymer and Hydrogel Microenvironments for Cell Culture Applications, Bioengineering, 2019, 6 (4), 113.
- R. Riesco, L. Boyer, S. Blosse, P.M. Lefebvre, P. Assemat, T. Leichle, A. Accardo*, L. Malaquin, Water-in-PDMS emulsion templating of highly interconnected porous architectures for 3D cell culture, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2019, 11, 32, 28631-28640.
- A. Accardo, C. Cirillo, S. Lionnet, C. Vieu and I. Loubinoux, Interfacing cells with microengineered scaffolds for neural tissue reconstruction, Brain Research Bulletin, 2019, 152, 202-211.
- A. Accardo*, R. Courson, R. Riesco, V. Raimbault and L. Malaquin, Direct laser fabrication of meso-scale 2D and 3D architectures with micrometric feature resolution, Additive Manufacturing, 2018, 22, 440-446.
- A. Accardo*, M.-C. Blatché, R. Courson, I. Loubinoux, C. Vieu and Laurent Malaquin, Direct laser fabrication of free-standing PEGDA-hydrogel scaffolds for neuronal cell growth, Materials Today, 2018, 21 (3), 3156-316.
- A. Accardo*, M.-C. Blatché, R. Courson, I. Loubinoux, C. Vieu and L. Malaquin, Two-photon lithography and microscopy of 3D hydrogel scaffolds for neuronal cell growth, Biomed. Phys. Eng. Express, 2018, 4, 027009.
- A. Accardo*, M.-C. Blatché, R. Courson, I. Loubinoux, C. Thibault, L. Malaquin and Christophe Vieu, Multi-photon Direct Laser Writing and 3D Imaging of Polymeric Freestanding Architectures for Cell Colonization, Small, 2017, 13 (27), 1700621.
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- 1st place award of the TU Delft Health Initiative Pilot Projects for the project “3D Onco-Scaffolds as a benchmark tool for Proton Radiobiology” (10 k€).
- Marie Sklodowska-Curie IF Seal of Excellence for the project "Fabrication and applications of 2D and 3D biomimetic nanostructured scaffolds in the context of brain related diseases".
- Invited Chair-person of the E-MRS (European Materials Research Society) 2019 Fall Meeting Keynote forum held in Warsaw 16-19/9/2019.
- 60th Electron, Ion, and Photon Beam and Nanofabrication Conference (EIPBN 2016), Micro Nano Graph Contest Honorable Mention.
- 41st International Conference on Micro and Nano Engineering 2015, Micro Nano Graph Contest Honorable Mention.
- Best Poster Award at the 41st International Conference on Micro and Nano Engineering MNE 2015, The Hague, The Netherland.
- 39th International Conference on Micro and Nano Engineering 2013, Micro Nano Graph Contest 1st Prize.