Active and smart materials

Leixuri Baños Berganza graduated in Chemistry in 2018 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Her degree thesis was on “Synthesis of amides by metal-catalyzed aerobic oxidizing methods” at the Organic Chemistry Group of the Faculty of Science and Technology of Leioa.

Afterwards, she finished her master’s degree in Forensic Analysis in 2019 at the University of the Basque Country with a thesis based on the study of the polymorphism of different comercial drugs by X-ray diffraction, carried out in the Crystallography Group of the Faculty of Science and Technology of Leioa.

Currently, she is working on the project “Nanoparticle and Smart polymer composites for active control of cell microenvironments in biomedical applications”, with the objetive of synthetizing and characterizating new magnetic and plasmonic nanoparticles which kill the cancer cells through hyperthermia.

Lía Campos-Arias finished her Chemistry degree in 2017 at the University of Basque Country. Her bachelor thesis, carried out in Inorganic Chemistry department, was about developing sodiumvanadium fluorophosphates family cathodes with graphene covering for Na-ion batteries. From it resulted a communication in poster format for the Biennial Reunion of Spanish Chemical Royal Society in 2017.
After that, she did a Master in Energies and fuels for the future at the Autonomous University of Madrid and she concluded it in 2018. She did the Master thesis in the Institute of Material Science of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC) related with the microstructure optimization of piezoelectric ceramic materials for energy harvesting.
Finishing her studies, she collaborated in the MOLEMAT project (Molecularly Engineered Materials and process for Perovskite solar cell technology) at the BCMaterials during 8 months, working with 2D perovskite solar cells. Afterwards she worked at VITO, an independent Flemish research organization in the area of cleantech and sustainable development, during 6 months. Her work there consisted in the optimization of CO2 electroreduction to obtain formic acid, which is part of an EU project co-directed by several Universities and Research companies from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and United Kingdom.
Currently, she is developing her PhD studies in the area of conformable printed electronics at the BCMaterials.

Esperanza Díaz obtained her BSc in Chemistry, specialisation in Physical Chemistry, in the Faculty of Sciences in Leioa (University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU) in 1986. She completed her bachelor thesis and defended her PhD in 1991 in the same Faculty of the UPV/EHU. She is a professor in the Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science of the Engineering School of Bilbao (UPV/EHU).

Her research has been focused on the investigation of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers for medical applications. She is currently developing a new line of research related to the degradation of plastics in seawater.

In 2021, Bruna F. Gonçalves received her Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from University of Minho, Portugal, in a collaboration with the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, where she worked on the development of printable Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) photovoltaic systems, with special focus on the synthesis of CIGS crystals and their implementation as screen printable inks for the production of solution-based photovoltaic devices.

In 2022 she joined BC Materials as a post-doctoral researcher, under IKUR neutronics program, where she works on the development of active and smart materials based on polymer nanocomposites. Stimuli responsive metal-organic frameworks are also being synthesized for advanced nanocomposite development.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0633-9251

Ander García Díez obtained his BSc. in Physics (2014) and MSc. in New Materials (2015), both from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). His final degree thesis (TFG) and master thesis (TFM) revolved around the application of magnetic nanoparticles in magnetic hypertermia, both under the supervision of Prof. Mª Luisa Fernández-Gubieda.

Later (2019), he obtained his degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). On October 2019, he joined BCMaterials as a Predoctoral researcher to
work on active and smart materials.

Expertise
Inorganic synthesis, single crystal x-ray diffaction

Bio
Juan M. Gutiérrez-Zorrilla received his B.S. degree from the University of Bilbao in 1979 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 1984 (Profs. P. Román, M. Martínez Ripoll). After two short stays at the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination (Toulouse), he was promoted to Associated Professor in 1988. He was a visiting scientist at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Prof. Yamase’s laboratory) in 1988, and 1992-93. Since 1999 he has been Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Faculty of Science and Technology (UPV/EHU). In 2009 he received the Euskoiker Research Award. His current research field is focused on Chemistry of polyoxometalates and their applications in catalysis and as anticancer agents. He has published over 80 articles in scientific peer-reviewed journals and has supervised 8 PhD Thesis.

Interests and objetives
His research interests are focused on Polyoxometalate Chemistry and the applications of POMs in sensing and as antitumoral agents.

Curriculum Vitae — ResearchGate

Expertise

• Magnetic materials characterization at the macro- and micro-scale
• Applications of magnetic materials

Bio
Jon Gutiérrez received the diploma and the doctor degree, both in physics, from the Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU in 1985 and 1992, respectively. He is one of the seed members of the Group of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials founded and led by Prof. J.M. Barandiarán at this university. His areas of interest cover from the study of the structure and the fundamental magnetic properties of magnetic materials to the analysis and development of possible technical applications to be implemented in sensor-like devices. One of the main focus of his research is the use of magnetoelastic amorphous ribbons for sensing purposes, and any other related device or phenomenon, like nowadays magnetoelectric laminates or functionalized magnetoelastic labels for biosensing. Dr. J. Gutiérrez has published about 100 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and has supervised 4 PhD Thesis. He is member of the Technical Committee of the European Magnetic Sensors & Actuators (EMSA) and Materials and Applications for Sensors and Transducers (IC-MAST) Conferences.

Interests and objetives
Current main research lines:

• Magnetic properties of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys.
• Magnetoelectric hybrid laminated composites.
• Radiation damage in permanent magnets for particle accelerators

Curriculum Vitae — ResearchGate

Bruno Hermenegildo was born in Angra do Heroísmo, Azores – Portugal. He received his bachelor degree in Physics in 2016 and his M. Sc. in Biophysics and Bionanosystems in 2018 both from Minho University, Portugal. He joined the Center of Physics of the University of Minho in 2016 where he worked on his thesis in the development of active and biodegradable hydrogels for bone tissue engineering applications, part of which took place during an ERASMUS stay in BCMaterials, in 2017.

Interests:

Currently I am starting my PhD on hybrid biodegradable active systems for tissue engineering. The main objective of this project is to develop a new and improved solution for the regeneration of damaged or diseased tissues, that avoids the problems related to current solutions such as transplants.

Notable Facts:

Hermenegildo BF, Pereira G, Abreu AS, Castanheira EMS, Ferreira PMT, Queiroz MJRP. Phenanthrenyl-indole as a fluorescent probe for peptides and lipid membranes. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry 2011, 221(1): 47-57.

Vilaça H, Pereira G, Castro TG, Hermenegildo BF, Shi J, Faria TQ, Micaêlo N, Brito RMM, Xu B, Castanheira EMS, Martins JA, Ferreira PMT. New self-assembled supramolecular hydrogels based on dehydropeptides. Journal of Materials Chemistry B 2015, 3(30): 6355-6367.

Abreu AS, Hermenegildo BFC, Ferreira PMT, Queiroz MJRP, Castanheira EMS. Interaction of fluorescent quinolin-2-one and coumarin derivatives including dipeptides with lipid bilayers. RSC Advances 2016, 6(76): 72141-72148.

Expertise:

• Multifunctional materials synthesis and characterization
• Electrospraying smart materials
• Physical/mechanical characterization of smart hydrogels for use in tissue engineering
• Testing of microfluidic devices for ecotoxicological studies

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4854-8596

Expertise
Smart and functional materials and devices for sensors and actuators, energy and biomedical applications

Bio
S. Lanceros-Mendez graduated in physics at the University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Spain. He obtained his Ph.D. degree at the Institute of Physics of the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany. He was Research Scholar at Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA and visiting scientist at the Pennsylvania State University, USA and University of Potsdam, among others. He is principal investigator at the BCMaterials –Basque Center for Materials, Applicatons and Nanostructures, Spain and Associated Professor at the Physics Department of the University of Minho, Portugal and. From 2012 to 2014 he was also Associate Researcher at the INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory. His work is focused in the area of polymer based smart and functional materials for sensors and actuators, energy and biomedical applications.

Interests and objetives
Further information of the research activities:
http://esm.fisica.uminho.pt
https://www.facebook.com/electroactivesmg

Curriculum Vitae — Google Scholar — ResearcherID — ResearchGate

Dr. Beatriz Leiva graduated in Biochemistry in 2020 at University of Granada (UGR). Her degree thesis is called “Biomedical applications of mesoporous silica nanoparticles”, and it was done in the Inorganic Chemistry Department of the Science Faculty in Granada.

After that, she finished the Master in Biomaterials in 2021 at the Complutense University of Madrid. Her master thesis was about the synthesis and the characterization of mesoporous silica nanoparticles in order to create a new treatment for the osteoporosis disease. It was carried out in the Faculty of Pharmacy of UCM.

At the moment, she is working on her PhD at BCMaterials under supervision of Dr. Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez. Her work focus on the development of active cell microenvironments for advanced tissue regeneration strategies.

Expertise
Polymer synthesis and processing technologies: hydrothermal and microwave-assisted reactions, ring opening polymerization, extrusion, injection, melt compounding…

Thermal characterization (DSC, TGA), mechanical characterization (tensile testing, DMA), optical characterization (UV-Vis, photoluminescence, CD spectroscopy).

Structural determination: X-ray diffraction, FTIR, XPS, SEM, TEM, AFM.

Bio
Erlantz Lizundia completed his PhD in Advanced Materials Engineering in 2011 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), which was recognized with the Extraordinary Doctoral Award (award limited to the Top 10 percent). During the 2012-2013 period he moved into the private industry to focus on the industrial application of biopolymers. From 2014 he has been combining teaching and research at the UPV/EHU. He joined Mark MacLachlan group at the University of the British Columbia as a visiting scientist for 6 months in January 2016, where has was dealing with chiral nematic mesoporous cellulose materials for environmentally friendly sensing and energy storage applications. In September 2016 he was appointed Associate Professor at the Bilbao School of Engineering (UPV/EHU). He has over 40 published works in international peer reviewed journals in the fields of materials science, applied chemistry, nanomaterials, green chemistry and biomedicine.

Interests and objetives
His current research deals with the development of novel biodegradable and renewable polymer-based nanohybrids for packaging, biomedical, bioimaging, sensing, energy storage and water purification applications.

Curriculum Vitae — Google Scholar — ResearcherID — ResearchGate

Sara Martín Iglesias graduated in Biotechnology in 2017 at the University of León. Her degree thesis was on “Analysis of local ansesthetics on Hyaluronic Acid for Viscosupplementation therapy”.  Subsequently, she finished her master’s degree in Biomedical Biotechnology in 2019 at Polytechnic University of Valencia with a thesis based on “Application of Mesenquimal Stem Cells for Tissue Engineering”, carried out in the Histopatology and Tissue Engineering group at University of Valencia .

She is currently starting his PhD in Active and Smart Materials for Tissue Engineering Applications at BCMaterials under the direction of Unai Silván and Senentxu Lanceros.

Vera Macedo achieved her Integrated Master Material’s Engineering degree in 2021 at University of Minho, Portugal. Her master thesis was “Material and processes to 3D printed electronics” using composites of natural polymers with fillers. The produced ink was printed through the technique of Direct-Ink-Writing in a bioprinter.

The used skills were, inks synthetizing, materials characterization, and Direct-Ink-Writing with bioprinting.

Currently, she is starting her PhD studies in the area of Neutronics at BCMaterials. It will be used to analyse the ion diffusion between electrodes and the solid electrolyte inside the battery.

Expertise
Stereolithography of UV curable resins, thermal and mechanical characterization: DSC, TGA-FTIR, DMTA.

Bio

Dr. Cristian Mendes Felipe obtained his Degree in Chemistry and the Master Degree in New Materials at the University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Leioa (Spain) in the area of UV curable polymers for 3D printing. He carried out his PhD in Materials Science and Technology at BCMaterials together with the Macromolecular Chemistry Group (labquimac) of the UPV/EHU in the field of Multifunctional photocurable advanced materials for electronics and sensing applications. He has obtained a three years’ fellowship from Basque Government for a postdoc research in the Politecnico of Turin and BCMaterials for the investigation of 4D printing of photocurable polymers obtained from natural sources for smart and multifunctional applications. Dr. Mendes has realized different internships in the University of Buenos Aires and the University of Minho, as well as participated on different international and national conferences. He has published 10 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journal, most of them as first author, obtaining a special mention by the Wiley Online Library for a publication on the top ten of 2019 mentioned articles in the journal of Advanced Materials Technologies.

Currently, as a postdoc, his investigation will be related to UV and visible light curable materials obtained from plants and other natural sources for applications in electronics, sensing and multifunctional applications.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0801-4103

https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=F3hi4poAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=ao

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristian_Mendes3

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Andrea Moneo is graduated in Chemistry and Master in Nanostructured Materials from the University of Zaragoza. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry (2019) at Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), with a thesis on bistable molecular materials. She is currently working at BCMaterials, focusing her research on the surface science and the study of the biomaterials interfaces.

Expertise
Polymeric multilayers; polymers modification; stimuli responsive polymers; coordinating work teams and research.

Bio
Leyre Pérez Álvarez works at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) as associate professor. Leyre received her Ph.D. in 2007 and was formally trained in polymer science investigating about polymeric nanogels for anticancer therapies. She joined the Research Group of “Macromolecular Chemistry” of the University of the Basque Country where she is currently working in polymeric multilayers, polymer surface modification and stimuli responsive polymers. She has reported over 14 paper in peer-reviewed international journals in the field of macromolecular science and scientific divulgation.

Interests and objetives
Currently, I participate in the multidisciplinary project funded by MINECO titled “Polymer/Polyoxometalate smart coatings for chemical and biological applications” POCHBA (2014-2017).
I am a member of the Research Group of “Macromolecular Chemistry” of the University of the Basque Country (A Groups 2013-2018).

Curriculum Vitae — ResearchGate

Dr. Nikola Perinka received his M.Sc. in printing engineering and Ph.D. in chemistry and technology of materials, both from University of Pardubice. His main research objective has been focused on formulation and printing of functional materials, as well as device fabrication. He possesses extensive experience in printing process and organic and flexible electronics (such as organic photovoltaics, organic light emitting diodes or sensors). Dr. Perinka has been participating in several national projects and has published several peer-reviewed papers in the field of chemistry and material science. During his Ph.D. he realized several internships in France (École Polytechnique) and Germany (TU-Chemnitz). After his Ph.D. joined Cetemmsa Technological Centre (Mataró-Barcelona, later Eurecat Technology Centre of Catalonia in Spain), where he worked mainly on the CIEN project HyPrint focused on the development of printed hybrid light emitting diodes.

Currently, Dr. Perinka has joined BCMaterials with main research focus on organic and printed electronics. He will participate in several national and international projects with the focus on flexible electronics.

“Printed Electronics, Flexible and Organic Electronics, Conducting Polymers, Printing Technologies, Photophysics and Photonics, Ink Formulation, Functional Materials”

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1768-4528
Author ID: 55945204900
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nikola_Perinka

Javier Reguera received his M.S. degree in Physics and Ph.D. in Materials Science at the University of Valladolid (2008, Valladolid, Spain). He performed his doctoral thesis with a FPI fellowship (Researcher personnel in formation) and later as assistant lecturer at the School of Engineering at University of Valladolid, under the supervision of Prof. J.C. Rodriguez-Cabello in the field of smart elastin-like polymers with multisensitivity. During his doctoral thesis Dr. Reguera performed several research stays at different European research institutions: Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry (Prage, Czech Republic), University of Nottingham (Nottingham, UK), and at ICSI-CNRS (Mulhouse, France).

In 2009 J. Reguera was awarded with a Fulbright fellow grant to perform a postdoctoral stay at MIT (USA) at the group of Prof. F. Stellacci. In 2011 J. Reguera moved to EPFL (Switzerland) where he contributed to the formation of a new research laboratory under the supervision of Prof. F. Stellacci. During this time J. Reguera focused on the studies of self-assembled monolayers on the surface of metal nanoparticles. In November 2014, J. Reguera was awarded with an Ikerbasque fellow contract and started working at CIC biomaGUNE (Spain) at the laboratory of Prof. Luis M. Liz-Marzán.

J. Reguera is a co-author of more than 40 publications and has presented his research in more than 50 conferences. He has been awarded with a Fulbright and Ikerbasque fellowships, and with the university extraordinary doctorate prize and the award of the Spanish group of polymers (GEP – RSEQ, RSEF).

J. Reguera current research interest is: design and characterization of novel multifunction patchy nanoparticles, assembly and self-assembly of nanoparticles, and biomedical application of nanoparticles.

Researchgate
Google Scholar

Expertise
I have a 3 year´s experience on Molecular Dynamics simulations of mechanical and thermal properties for polymeric systems.
I have a large experience with thermical characterization techics (DSC and TGA) and mechanical charactyerization technics (DMTA)

Bio

Graduated in environmental sciences from the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU) in 2015 and after taking a master’s degree in New Materials from the same university, in 2020 I completed my phd entitled “Tailoring bombyx mori silk as multifuctional material for advanced applications” , developed at the BCMaterials – Basque Center for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures foundation, a center included in the BERC (Basque Excellence Research Centers) network, in collaboration with the EPV / EHU macromolecular chemistry group (LABQUIMAC). Currently, as a post-doctoral researcher in the Basque Government program, I focus my work on the development of inks from bio-based materials and their printing by additive manufacturing at the Phil and Penny Knight Campus in Oregon, in collaboration with BCMaterials.

With the aim of advancing towards sustainability, my work is focused on the revaluation of bio-based materials. In addition, I have worked on molecular dynamics simulations, as well as in the development and characterization of polymeric materials. As part of various national and international research and projects, I have worked on several research areas such as electronics, catalysis, adsorption of pollutants, energy and biomedicine.

Aware of the capacity for knowledge as a way of personal and social empowerment, I dedicate part of my efforts to scientific dissemination,  mainly, as a member of the association for the dissemination of scientific culture, LOGOS elkartea (https://crystalclear.es/). Also I have participated in acts and events of scientific dissemination such as Zientziaz Blai (https://n9.cl/mow5) and We are scientists (https://somoscientificos.es/).

Curriculum Vitae

Career and achievements, present tasks and professional objectives

Carmen Rial received her BS in Physics from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She carried out her MS and PhD in Materials Science and Technology at the Instituto de Ceramica in the same university. Her dissertation focused on the fabrication of 3D photonic bandgap crystals for infrared and terahertz band by 3D printing technique. As a postdoc, her research activities have been mainly focused on 3D printing functional materials, components, and devices, which include photonic crystals, catalysts, tissue engineering scaffolds, and vacularized tissues. She has published 13 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals, 11 of them as first author, and she is also the author or co-author of more than 25 contributions at national and international conferences.
Her research interests span a range of topics in materials science and engineering, but focus in particular on the area of 3D printing, ceramics, colloidal science, and polymers.
Currently, she is involved in the development of polymer composites with suitable piezoresistive/piezocapacitive responses for sensor and actuator applications.

List of abilities:
3D Printing/Robocasting
Colloidal synthesis
Spin/dip coating
High temperature treatments
Surface&structural analysis (SEM, TEM, XRD, optical microscope)
Thermal analysis techniques (DTA, TG, dilatometry)
Rheological characterization (rotational rheometer and viscometer)
Mechanical characterization (microhardness tester, compression)

Links to external profiles:
SCHOOLAR GOOGLE:
https://scholar.google.es/citations?hl=es&user=a95IyrkAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
RESEARCHGATE:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/C_Tubio

Mikel Rincón Iglesias obtained his bachelor Degree in Chemistry with a final project about “Evaluation of the migration of benzophenone types photoinitiators into several food simulants in cardboard packaging” in June 2017 at the Analytical Chemistry Group of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Afterwards, he continued his Master studies in Energies and Fuels for the future at Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), which he finished in June 2018. Furthermore, he did an internship at Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), where concluded his Master Thesis about “Influence of the presence of graphene sheets in the hydrothermal synthesis of carbon spheres” in the Photonic Crystals Group.
Nowadays, Mikel is performing his PhD studies developing multifunctional inks for printed flexible devices.

Interests and objetives
Currently he is working on the project “Development of printed sensors and actuators based on multifunctional inks”. The principal objective of this project is to process and characterize inks for applications on magntetic, magnetoresistive, magnetostrictive and magneto-electric devices (and therefore also piezoelectric). The inks will be developed both for screen printing and for inkjet printing technologies.

Paula Rodríguez Lejarraga graduated in Chemistry in 2020 at the University of Salamanca (USAL). Her degree thesis was on “Theoretical study of inelastic collisions of He with OH⁺ in triplet and singlet state” at the physical-chemistry group of the Faculty of Science.

Subsequently, she studies a Master´s Degree in New Materials in 2021 at the University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Cantabria (UC). She development her final master work at BCMaterials with the title of “Capacitive gas sensors based on porous metal-organic frameworks and ionic liquids composites”.

Currently, she is developing her PhD in BCMaterials in the field of new materials generation for tissue regeneration.

Expertise
Synthesis and characterization of polymeric materials. (NMR, FTIR, UV-VIS…)
Thermal properties and degradation (DSC, TGA, DMTA..)
Surface modification and characterization ( XPS, SEM, AC, TEM..)

Bio
Dr. Leire Ruiz Rubio is Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry at UPV/EHU since 2015. She is part of the Macromolecular Chemistry Group of Physical Chemistry Dept. since 2004. Her research has focused on the synthesis and characterization of polymeric materials, and the development of nanostruturated surfaces and stimuli responsive materials. She made two short stays of two weeks at Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques at Bordeaux I University (France) and at ICTP-CSIC, in which she has the opportunity of working with Dr. Juan Rodriguez Hernandez and achieve an important knowledge about surface modification. Also, she made a 3 month stay as Invited Reseacher at Reading University (UK) focused in the development of new drug delivery formulations and the characterization of the mucoadhesive properties under the supervision of Prof. Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy. The most relevant results of her research are reflected both in her Ph. D. thesis and in several articles, 22 articles with 120 citations and h-index of 7.

Interests and objetives
She has focused her research in surface modification techniques, the develop novel optical biosensors, antibacterial hydrogels, self-healable hydrogels based on organic-inorganic interactions, nano/microstuctured polymer thin films and layer-by-layer assemblies.

Curriculum Vitae — Google Scholar — ResearcherID — ResearchGate

Esraa Samy Abu Serea graduated from Faculty of Science at Cairo University (2018), Cairo, Egypt with B.Sc. in Chemistry & Biochemistry. Subsequently, she continued his Master studies in New Materials and finished her master’s degree in 2020 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Cantabria (UC) with a thesis based Hybrid magnetic-plasmonic nanostructures for with shape anisotropy hyperthermia treatments, carried out in BCMaterials under the supervision of Dr. Javier Reguera-Gómez.

Recently, she is performing her Ph.D. at BCMaterials, in Nanoparticle and Smart polymer composites.

Interests and objectives

Currently I am working in the Project entitled “Nanoparticle and Smart polymer composites for active control of cell microenvironments in biomedical applications” funded by Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

The main objective of this project is to synthesis and characterize new magnetic and plasmonic Nanoparticles which have a great effect to kill the cancer cells through hyperthermia.

Ahmed Esmail Shalan worked as a researcher at Central Metallurgical R&D Institute, Egypt after finishing his PhD. He had obtained his PhD (2017) from the Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Japan, in the group of Prof. Dr. Hiroaki Misawa with the collaboration of Prof. Dr. Eric Diau -NCTU- Taiwan. It worth to mention that he got a prize during his Ph.D. as the best thesis at the graduate school of information science and technology, Hokkaido university and Ministry of Education Prize. Before he joined Hokkaido University he obtained a fellowship at DAAD visiting scholar internship in (i-MEET-FAU), Erlangen, Germany with Prof. Christoph J. Brabec and CIN2, UAB, Barcelona, Spain with Prof. Monica Lira Cantu. He published almost 30 papers in prestige journals (with h index of 14). Besides, he is an active reviewer for several journals (such as Electrochimica Acta, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, RSC Advances, etc.), a member in the editorial board of different prestigious publishers and have been invited to write several reviews and books chapters and have already published 6 book chapters. Also, he has been invited to give talks in conferences and Institutes.

Interests and objectives:
I have a strong background in chemistry, nanotechnology and materials science. Also, I have a sufficient experience in the field of materials and processes for applications in energy and photonics, with emphasis on halide perovskites. In addition, my experience with fabrication and characterization of solution-processed perovskite-based solar cells devices is shown through my publications.

Expertise:
X-Ray difractogram (XRD), X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Optical measurements (J-V curves, Quantum efficiency (QE), Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fabrication of solar cell devices (dye, organic and pervoskite based).

Expertise

Cell and Cancer Biology, Light Microscopy, Biomechanics, Cytoskeleton.

Bio

Dr. Unai Silvan studied Biochemistry at the University of the Basque Country and then joined the laboratory of Professor J. Aréchaga (Department of Cell Biology and Histology, UPV/EHU) as a doctoral student. In his dissertation (summa cum laude and dissertation prize) he developed a new in vivo model for the study of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) based on the transplantation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into the seminiferous tubules of mice. In addition, he completed a research stay in the laboratory of Professor M.A. Konerding at the University of Mainz (Germany) to learn the techniques to quantify the vascularization of experimentally induced tumors and participated in the analysis of the cancerous microenvironment. In 2008, Unai joined Cora-Ann Schoenenberger’s group at the Müller Institute at the Biocenter of Basel (University of Basel, Switzerland) as a postdoctoral fellow and had the opportunity to contribute to the knowledge of unconventional actin configurations. He was also involved in the study of the tumorigenic effect of an actin point mutation in mammalian cells and was able to use various biochemical and imaging techniques, including TIRF and electron microscopy, to understand the importance of an unconventional actin configuration in the patterning of different supramolecular structures as well as in polymerization. In 2012, Unai was appointed senior research fellow and head of the Cancer Cell Mechanics group in Professor Jess Snedeker’s laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich, Switzerland), where he investigated the role of the cytoskeleton in the development and progression of cancer, and quantified the response of cells to different biomaterials. Unai has published over 40 research articles and book chapters, which have received over 600 citations (h-index 14), and his work has been presented at over 60 national and international conferences.

Interests and objectives

In 2020, Unai joined BCMaterials as an Ikerbasque Research Associate in order to establish a group in the field of biomaterials, in which he will investigate the influence of the biomaterial-extracellular matrix interface on immune and somatic cells.

Expertise
J.L. Vilas is currently an Associate Professor in Physical Chemistry at the Physical Chemistry Department of the University of the Basque Country. He is the head of the Macromolecular Chemistry Group. His current research interests include synthesis and characterization of polymeric materials, focusing in polymeric materials and composites with smart properties, like shape memory properties, electric properties and so on, and the synthesis of biocompatible polymers and polymers from renewable sources. He received his PhD in Chemistry in 1999 from the University of Basque Country. After working in different companies related with the synthesis and processing of polymeric materials he moved back to the university. He is member of several international associations, and he holds 100 publications and 3 patents.

Bio
Information not supplied

Interests and objetives
Information not supplied

— ResearchGate

Fangyuan Zheng graduated in Chemical Engineering in 2014 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). She did her degree thesis based on Effect of NaOH concentration in the desilication of Pt/HY catalysts for Polystyrene hydrocracking in the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Faculty of Science and Technology.

Subsequently, she finished her master’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2016 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Cantabria (UC) with a thesis based on Water treatment for Thermal Solar Power Plants, carried out in SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas S.A. where she did an internship. Afterwards, she worked as a Technical Responsible Engineer in the Thermal Solar Power Plants in SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas S.A.

Since December 2017, she was employed as a Project Engineer for Wind Turbine Test Bench projects in IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture S.A. She is currently starting her PhD in multifunctional hybrid nanoparticles for catalytic and biomedical application at BCMaterials.