University of Cantabria (UNICAN) - IDIVAL
Teamwork divides the tasks and multiplies the success.Author Unknown
Luis Fernández Barquín
Jesús Rodríguez Fernández
Jesús Rodríguez Fernández is full professor in Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Cantabria since 2008. He has performed stays at the Louis Neel Laboratory (France), Birkbeck College (UK) and Kyushu University (Japan). He is a regular user of Large Facilities, especially those of Neutron Scattering (RAL-ISIS, UK), (ILL, France), LLB (France), among others. During this time he has published more than 200 articles with around 1900 citations, and presented continuously communications in different conferences. So far he has supervised 3 doctoral thesis and MSc, etc.
His research focuses on the study of the magnetic, transport and thermodynamic properties of new intermetallic materials of rare earths and transition metals, and on the application of neutron scattering techniques to the study of materials. In recent years new topics have been incorporated, such as magnetic ionic liquids, magnetic nanoparticles for medical uses and high pressure techniques.
Imanol de Pedro del Valle
Imanol de Pedro del Valle is Associated Professor in Condensed Matter Physics (August 2015-present) in the Ciencias de la Tierra y Física de la Materia Condensada department. He has performed his PhD Thesis in the University of the Vask Country (2009) in metal insulators. He is a regular user of Large Facilities, especially those of Neutron Scattering (RAL-ISIS, UK), (ILL, France), LLB (France), among others. During this time he has published 50 articles with around 500 citations, and presented continuously communications in different conferences. He has supervised 1 doctoral thesis and 3 are in progress.
Since 2010, his main research topics have been based on physical-chemical studies of magnetic ionic liquids and magnetic nanoparticles, with stays in foreign centers, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brasil) and University of Nottingham (UK), dedicated to sustainable catalysis. Currently he would like to merge these investigations to development magnetically recoverable nanocatalysts based on nanoparticles and paramagnetic Ionic Liquid for the glycolysis of poly(ethyleneterephthalate) waste.
Rafael Valiente
Rafael Valiente is a Professor of Physics at the Applied Physics Department, at the University of Cantabria. He received a BSc from the University of Cantabria, in 1991, and a PhD in 1998, both in physics. After a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral contract at the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry with the University of Bern, Switzerland (1999-2001), he obtained a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship, 2001. In 2002, he became a Professor of Physics at the University of Cantabria.
Prof. R. Valiente has contributed to more than 120 reviewed journal articles, more than 40 international conference, among them 10 plenary/tutorial/keynote lectures, 4 book chapters, and 6 summer school lectures in the fields of spectroscopy, high pressure and nanomaterials. He has supervised 4 doctoral theses and at the present id supervising another 3. His research is focused on the design, synthesis, and characterization of materials and nanomaterials with multifunctional properties with applications as sensors or biolabeling photoluminescent materials. Since 2011 he is member of the Nanomedicine Group at IDIVAL. In this period, he has participated in the development of nanomaterials for biomedical applications.
Mónica López Fanarraga
Mónica López Fanarraga (MLF) is professor of Molecular Biology, University of Cantabria. She received a B. Vet. Med. (Hons) at the University of Zaragoza in 1989 and obtained her PhD in neurobiology 1993 at the University of Glasgow (UK). MLF is also a Doctor in Medicine and Surgery (PhD) by the University of Cantabria (1999). MLF has been a postdoctoral scientist at the Hubrecht Laboratorium (Holland, 1994) and at the European Molecular Biology Laboratorium (EMBL, Germany 2000-01). She has been visiting scientist at the University of Wisconsin (USA, 1993), the University of the Basque Country (Spain, 1994) and has been recipient for several competitive fellowships, among others: Erasmus, HFSP or EMBL. MLF has been researcher of the Ramón y Cajal Program (2005-2009), has a recognized research trajectory for the effects of program I3, and has been accredited by the Spanish academic organization ANECA as full professor (2014).
MLF has a h index of 19 (index i10 =26) (Scopus) and more than 40 peer-reviewed publications cited in PubMed, among which Nature, JCB, ACS Nano, Adv. Healthc. Mat., Nanoscale, Nanomedicine, Current Pharm. Res., most as first or corresponding author in the areas of nanomedicine/cellular/molecular biology. In recent years, MLF has produced 12 papers in nanomedicine, all published in Q1 journals (8 of them journals of decile 1), and 3 patents in nanobiotechology. To date it has participated in more than 28 research projects (4 of them international, 11 own and 3 associated to companies). M. L. Fanarraga is currently leading a competitive national multidisciplinary project in Nanomedicine with other 14 scientific collaborators and is the responsible of the Nanomedicine Team, part of the IDIVAL institute since 2014.
Jesús González Gómez
Jesús A. González completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics at the Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela in 1978. In 1979, he became Assistant Professor at the Physics Department of the same institution. In 1983 he obtained a doctorate scholarship from Universidad de los Andes and did his PhD in 1988 at the P. and M. Curie University (Paris VI) under the direction of Professor J. M. Besson. That same year he rejoined la Universidad de los Andes where he began to work in the study of ternary semiconductors I-III-VI2 (chalcopyrites) in extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. In 1990 and 1991 he completed two post-doctoral stays in the Laboratory of Molecular Crystals at the University of Lille (France) with Prof. R. Fouret, performing experiments of inelastic neutron scattering under high pressure. In 1993 he worked for a year as visiting Professor at the Laboratory of Physique des Milieux Condenses of Paris VI with Prof. J. M. Besson in the study of phase transitions induced by pressure in III-V semiconductors. Back in Merida he installed the Raman spectroscopy laboratory and the high pressure infrastructure and he was the head of the Semiconductor Studies Center. He has been a full Professor since 1994. In 2001 he made a sabbatical year, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, at the University of Valencia with the group of Professor Alfredo Segura, working on II-VI semiconductor nanomaterials formed by pressure cycles. In 2004 he was Visiting Professor (CNRS) at the National Laboratory of Pulsed Magnetic Fields of the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse (France) with Professor J.M. Broto, working on the development of a new diamond anvils pressure cell for magnetic and magneto-optical measurements. In 2007, he was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Complutense University (Madrid), funded by the Banco de Santander Foundation, with the group of Professor Valentín García Baonza, working on the study of carbon nanotubes under high axial pressures. Since May 2008, he is the responsible for the Raman National Infrastructure of the MALTA-Consolider Project at the University of Cantabria and collaborator of the Nanomedicine Group (IDIVAL Institute) since 2014. He gathers 35 years of International Research in the study of materials and nanomaterials under extreme conditions of high pressures, temperature and high pulsed magnetic field (60T).
Number of Ph.D theses supervised in the last 10 years: 5. Total number of citations: 2429. Number of publications in the SCI: 285. Index-h: 29.
In 2003 he obtained the National Prize of Physics “Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury” of the Polar Foundation, Caracas, Venezuela.
Rosa Martín Rodríguez
Rosa Martín Rodriguez is currently assistant professor at QuIPRe Department, University of Cantabria and Researcher at IDIVAL (Spain). In 2015, she was Marie Curie Fellow (H2020-MSCA-IF GA 658806) at BCMaterias, University of Basque Country (Spain). In 2013, she was a researcher at IDIVAL, University of Cantabria-Marqués de Valdecilla Hospital (Spain), SENTIR project. From 2011 to 2013, she did her Post-doc at Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). Nanospec European Project. From 2006 to 2010 she was aPhD student at the Applied Physics Department, University of Cantabria (Spain). She has a strong experimental background in nanomaterials science and spectroscopy. Besides, she has wide experience in different biomedical studies and applications of nanomaterials, namely biosensing with gold nanostructures, hyperthermia treatment of cancer with magnetic nanoparticles, and assessment of nanoparticles toxicity.
Her PhD research focused on the synthesis and characterization of advanced optical materials, especially, those showing upconversion luminescence. As a post-doc at the University of Utrecht, she studied the upconversion luminescence of Er3+-doped Gd2O2S, a promising material for solar cell applications, within the Nanospec European project. The aim of SENTIR project at IDIVAL was the development of a biosensing device for the isolation of cancer cells. The aim of her Marie Curie research project, called Lumimagnet-Nano, was the design, development and optimization of magnetic nanoparticles with multifunctional luminescent recovering for biomedical applications.
After her re-incorporation at the University of Cantabria and IDIVAL, she studies the application of different nanomaterials in nanomedicine. Nanomedicine holds great interest and nanomaterials present numerous biomedical applications including detection, imaging and treatment. Particularly, in vivo application for diagnosis and cancer treatment represents one of the most promising areas of our research.
Iñigo Casafont Parra
Iñigo Casafont Parra is an associate professor of Cell Biology at the Anatomy and Cell Biology Department, at the University of Cantabria. He got his Biology degree at the University of Salamanca in 2000 and obtained his PhD in 2006 from the University of Cantabria. He has been visiting scientist at the University of Salamanca (Salamanca, Spain), Neurosciences University Institute (Alicante, Spain) and at the INL International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (Braga, Portugal). His first PhD research focused to Neuronal response to DNA damage analizing the nuclear processing of DNA damage in normal, ganglionic and cerebral cortex neurons after irradiated with X-rays to induce DNA double-strand breaks. Characterizing with ChIP-seq techniques DNA sequences enriched in the persistent foci of unrepaired DNA in cortical neurons and identifing 17 sequences associated with genes essential for neuronal homeostasis whose dysfunction is related to pictures of human neuropathology. He has a strong experimental background in Cell Biology and Histological Techniques, especially in Optical and Electronical Advanced Microscopy. To date he has an h index of 19 and he has contributed with 29 reviewed journal articles, 23 international and national conferences and has participated in more than 11 research projects. Besides he has evaluated 4 doctoral theses and organized and participated in numerous courses related to cell biology and histology in both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
Since 2014 he is member of the Nanomedicine Team, part of the IDIVAL institute and his research is focused on the functionalization and validation of nanoparticles with biomedical applications.
Lorena González Legarreta
Lorena González Legarreta is currently assistant professor at QuIPRe Department of University of Cantabria and Researcher at IDIVAL (Spain). She got a BSc in Materials Science from University of Cantabria in 2010 and a Doctorate Degree in Physics from the University of Oviedo, with an Extraordinary Prize of Doctorate and Mentioned International, in 2014. After a Post-Doc at the Institute of Experimental Physics in Kosice (Slovakia), she obtained a competitive fellowship Sara Borrell from Instituto de Salud Carlos III in 2017, to incorporate at the IDIVAL Institute. In 2019, she incorporates as an Assistant Professor at the University of Cantabria.
PhD. L. González-Legarreta has contributed to more than 35 reviewed journal articles, 4 book chapters and several presentations at international congresses. Her research is focused on the design, synthesis and characterization of materials and nanomaterials with multifunctional properties for biomedical applications including detection, imaging and treatment.
Carlos Renero Lecuna
Carlos Renero Lecuna was awarded with a contract Juan de la Cierva Formación fellowship to work as postdoctoral researcher in the Nanomedicine group of IDIVAL-UNICAN since December 2017.
He graduated as physicist for the University of Cantabria in 2008. In 2006 he received and “Introduction to research grant” from the University of Cantabria in the group of Spectroscopy and High Pressure. He studied the new luminescent properties of rare earth doped crystals, and he got familiarized with the spectroscopic techniques. He spent his last year of the degree in Physics (2007-2008) in the Imperial College of London and the University of Cambridge, where he studied the thin film morphology of a two-semiconductor blend used for photovoltaic applications.
He got the Master of New Materials for the University of Cantabria in 2010 and after he joined to the doctoral program of Science, Technology and Computation, getting the PhD. title in 2015. During his thesis, he made a brief stay in the University of Valencia and participates in several conferences (national and international). He authors more than 10 scientific publications in journals of the 1Q, being the corresponding author and first author of 3 of them.
He obtained a postdoctoral position from the program LabEx Matisse from the French government in the University of Sorbonne (Pierre et Marie Curie Campus) in Paris, in the Institute of Mineralogy, Material Physics and Cosmochemistry (IMPM). He uses state of the art high pressure and high temperature methods to synthesize new Si-based materials for photovoltaic applications. During his postdoctoral stay he participate in several experiments in the ESRF synchrotron (European Source of Synchrotron Radiation) in Grenoble.
At the moment, he is the recipient of a competitive contract Juan de la Cierva Formación (2015) for the next 2 years he will be working in the Nanomedicine team of Mónica López Fanarraga, where he will study the interaction of new nanomaterials with biological systems.
He is focused in the study of bio-fluids such as blood, plasma and serum through Raman spectroscopy to detect different pathologies. For this reason he is also interested in the synthesis and characterization of gold and silver based nanostructures in different conformations due to its SERS properties and their applicability in bio-systems for pathology detection. He is also interested in the synthesis and characterization of new materials in different conformations and their study through spectroscopic techniques, such as Raman, photoluminescence, absorption, TEM, SEM, AFM, confocal imaging, etc.
Ana V. Villar
Ana V. Villar is the first researcher in Cantabria to belong to three different Institutions. She is Principal Investigator of the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria (IBBTEC). She also is associate professor in the Department of Phisiology and pharmacology in the School of Medicine at the University of Cantabria. Moreover, she works as researcher in the IDIVAL (Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla).She is leading 3 projects, one of them a National project Explora focused on translational biomedicine. Her group of research is exploring new pharmacological solutions for the pathological myocardial fibrosis with a patent “Genetic Alert System” (GAS) and an engineered protein that are encapsulated into nanovesicles for in vivo applications. With more than 40 international publications in peer reviewed journals including congresses publication. 2 PhD thesis directed and 2 more on progress. Her group (Nano and Molecular Treatments against (cardiac) fibrosis) is showing its progress in the following links: the blog spot and the institutional web of the IBBTEC.