Alexandra Tits is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Queensland Centre (MPQC), located at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Colloids and Interfaces. She earned her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Liege, Belgium, where she focused on characterizing the tendon-bone interface. Her research combined various investigative techniques to analyze both the morphological and mechanical properties of this complex multi-tissue region. She further broadened her research interests by applying similar approaches to other biological species, such as shells and crustaceans, while establishing several international collaborations across Europe (including the KULeuven, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Osteology, and the MPI) and the United States.
Following her PhD, Alexandra undertook her first postdoctoral project investigating joint health, with a focus on the bone-cartilage interface. This project was part of a collaborative Excellence of Science (EOS) initiative between the University of Liege, KULeuven, the University of Sheffield, and the University of Melbourne. Since September 2024, she is a member of the MPQC, where her research focuses on uncovering new intricacies of the osteocyte network architecture and transport properties.
Key words
bio(inspired) materials, mechanics & porosity of bone and hierarchically structured biological tissues