Graphene Oxide Application in Nanomedicine: Future Perspectives and Challenges. (Graphene Europe 2015)

The application of nanoparticles for treatment, diagnosis and monitoring of biological systems is one of the most promising fields of research of the last decade. Nanographene oxide arises as a new promising "nanoparticle" and a great effort it is being made to optimize its design for producing it as a 'smart material' capable of meeting the clinical demands.

Dr. Mercedes Vila Juárez received her PhD in Materials Physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, in 2003 for her work carried out at the Materials Science Institute of Madrid (Spanish National Research Council CSIC). After 5 years of international post-doctoral experience on the design of carbon based biomaterials, funded by the European Commission through Marie Curie actions and National Spanish and Portuguese scientific Programs, she spent 5 years as a scientific researcher in one of the most prominent European groups of Nanomedicine and Regenerative Medicine, at the Faculty of Pharmacy (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain).

 

In 2010 she was awarded with the Lóreal-UNESCO Award "For Women in Science" as recognition of her scientific career as young researcher and in 2012, she was entitled as Distinguished Researcher through the Programme I3 (Incentives for strengthening of research activity of lecturers-researchers with a prestigious research track record, Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology).

In 2013 she joined University of Aveiro (Portugal) as Principal Investigator, where nowadays is the Coordinator of the Nanomedicine lab at the TEMA-Nanotechnology Research Division. Her current main scientific interests are focused on the design and applications of Graphene and Carbon Nanotubes in Biomedicine.

She actively collaborates with International Cooperation Programs for transferring Knowledge to undeveloped areas, and has published more than 60 articles, 6 book chapters, two patents, supervised 11 students, and delivered more than 30 presentations at conferences worldwide.

The University of Aveiro is one of Portugal's largest public universities, consisting of a network of 14 Research Units and 4 Associated Laboratories within the centrally-managed Research Institute. These research centers received classification of Very Good or Excellent (highest marks) in the evaluation process by the National Funding Organization ( Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, FCT). During 2012-13, 454 research and technology transfer projects were active in UAVR, of which 78 were financed by International and European Programmes. In terms of research production and impact, the UAVR is already a leading university in Portugal in per capita terms.