We are pleased to announce that Dr. Andrea Cataldo has been appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials” in Bioengineering (IF: 5.046, ISSN: 2306-5354).

Dr. Andrea Cataldo received his materials engineering degree from the University of Salento, Lecce, Italy, in 1998, and a Ph.D. in information engineering in 2003 from the same University. From 2005 to 2013, he was a Researcher in the area of electric and electronic measurements and, currently, he is an Associate Professor. He is a lecturer in the courses “Instrumentation and Measurement Lab”, “Measurements” and “Principles of Bioengineering” and he is the supervisor of a research group at the Department of Engineering for Innovation, the director of the “measurement Lab” and the founder and technical supervisor of the spin-off MoniTech. His main research interests include measurement and sensing techniques, monitoring systems, sensors, dielectric characterization and non-destructive tests of materials. He has been involved in leading various research projects supported by public and private bodies. He has co-authored over 200 publications in international journals, book chapters, and international and national conferences, along with three books, and he holds four patents.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Andrea Cataldo, who shared his vision for the journal with us as well as his views on the research area and Open Access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
The journal, although relatively new, thanks to an Open Access policy, a rigorous method of selection and revision of the works and, most importantly, a very high speed of the management of the editorial process, has significantly attracted many researchers and scientists working in the field of bioengineering. Another key reason for its strong attractiveness undoubtedly lies in the tremendous scientific and technological impact that the biomedical engineering, bioengineering and biomaterials sectors are currently experiencing.

2. What is your vision for the Section?
“Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials” is a multidisciplinary Section collecting the current status, recent progress, and future perspectives in the context of bioengineering science, biomaterials and biomedical engineering.

The Section welcomes innovative contributions covering key aspects of bioengineering, medical diagnosis, biosensors, devices and biomedical instrumentation including design, characterization and application-focused research with a focus on innovative applications involving machine learning and AI.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
Tremendous progress has been made in terms of innovative contributions and practical applications of bioengineering, medical diagnosis, biosensors, devices and biomedical instrumentation, including design-, characterization- and application-focused research. In particular, similarly to the enormous impact that enabling technologies 4.0 have entailed in many application fields, the introduction of such paradigms is also leading to an epochal technological transition in bioengineering.

On such a basis, the future of this research field seems particularly oriented to the practical application of advanced experimental tools based on machine learning and AI for medical diagnostics, smart sensing and bio-monitoring, predictive modeling, individualized surgery and computational modeling of biological systems.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
As previously mentioned, I believe that the Open Access policy is key to success and an innovative strategy to guarantee a wide diffusion of scientific research without barriers and to anyone. However, without a rigorous and accurate review procedure and adequate scientific coordination, these positive factors can easily become a disadvantage. From my personal experience, I can say that the Bioengineering journal combines these two factors very well, effectively allowing the simultaneous achievement of an excellent qualitative and informative impact in the sectors of interest. It should also be added that the discount and/or free-of-charge mechanism for publication fees, for example for young researchers, to those who act as reviewers or who contribute to Special Issues or feature papers, also give the opportunity for submission to research groups who may not possess many financial resources.

We warmly welcome Dr. Andrea Cataldo as the new Section Editor-in-Chief and we look forward to him leading Bioengineering to reach many more milestones.