People: Tania Lopez Silva

Bio

Dr. Lopez Silva is an Assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and a core faculty member of the Institute for Medical Engineering & Science (IMES). She completed her postdoctoral training at the Chemical Biology Laboratory of the National Cancer Institute, working under the guidance of Dr. Joel Schneider. Dr. Lopez Silva earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Rice University in 2020, where she worked with Dr. Jeffrey Hartgerink on developing diverse peptide materials for medical applications. She also obtained her bachelor's degree summa cum laude in Chemistry from Tec de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico. Dr. Lopez Silva's research focuses on understanding the interplay between biomaterials and the immune system. In particular, her work explores the potential of material-based immunomodulation using self-assembling peptide-based hydrogels, as well as the development of biomimetic materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. She has been recognized with the 2025 Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE) at the NIH, the Harry B. Weiser Leadership Award for outstanding contributions to the graduate student's experiences, and a Fellowship for her graduate studies from the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico.

Research

The Biomimetic Materials and Immunoengineering Lab develops material-based technologies to address critical health challenges and enable advanced bioengineering models. Our approach involves the rational design of supramolecular synthetic materials composed of naturally occurring building blocks (such as peptides, sugars, and lipids) that can interact with biological systems and create modular microenvironments. We employ a multi-scale strategy, spanning from molecular design to control nanostructure and bulk material properties, ultimately influencing the biological response to our materials. The BMI Lab research focuses on three main areas: 

1) Understanding key factors, properties, and interactions that can be leveraged to control biological systems using materials.

2) Integrating that knowledge for the targeted rational design of bioactive materials, initially focusing on materials for immunomodulation.

3) Develop advanced biomaterial for several biomedical applications, including cancer immunotherapy, cell-based therapeutics, and tissue engineering.