Dr. Jacopo Di Russo leads the “Retinal Epithelium Mechanobiology and Disease” (REMeD) group at the RWTH Aachen University and DWI – Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials. His research investigates how interactions between cells and the extracellular matrix, along with cell-cell communication, influence tissue behavior under mechanical cues. He uses hydrogels, retinal organoids, mouse biology, and engineered substrates to explore mechanobiological changes in the retinal pigment epithelium relevant for diseases like age-related macular degeneration. He studied cell biology in Florence, then as Marie Curie Fellow with Lydia Sorokin in Münster, later in Joachim Spatz’s lab at the Max Planck Institute Heidelberg. Since 2019 he has been independent group leader in Aachen and associated scientist at DWI Aachen. His work spans disciplines to decode how mechanical forces regulate tissue homeostasis and contribute to disease.