9th International Workshop of Materials Physics

Education:

2000 – M.D., Faculty of Medicine,Carol DavilaUniversity

2002 – M.Sc. inBiophysics and Cellular Biotechnology,CarolDavilaUniversity

2008 – Ph.D. inPharmacy(PôlePharmacotechnie etPhysico-Chimie)andMedicine(DomaineBiophysics),cotutellethesis ofUniversité Paris-Sud 11 andCarol DavilaUniversity

Present position: Professor, Habilitation inMedicine, Head of Dept.ofBiophysics and Cellular Biotechnology, Senior Researcher ofResearch Excellence Centre in Biophysics and Cellular Biotechnology,Coordinator of Master ProgramMedical Biophysics and CellularBiotechnology

Research interests: (i) biophysical evaluation of electric andelectromagnetic fields interactions with cell membrane and cellularprocesses like endocytosis and mitosis (electroporation, dielectrophoresis,and high frequency modulated radiofrequency fields); (ii)evaluation of mechanical and electro-optical properties of cells undermanipulation with optical tweezers and by using optical phase-basedmicroscopy techniques; (iii) evaluation of nanomaterials effects oncells in culture by using absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy;(iv) biophysical evaluation of platelets in hematologicaldisorders.

Scientific societies: International Society for Electroporation-basedTechnologies and Treatments (ISEBTT) – Secretary General mandate 2022-2026;Romanian Society of Pure and Applied Biophysics (RSPAB) – Vice-presidentmandate 2018-2022, Secretary General mandates 2013-2018 and 2009-2013

Scientific activity: (a) ORCID 0000-0003-0017-6180; (b) publications: 27 peerreviewed original ISI articles (h-index 11 WoS, 13 Google Scholar),16 ISI summaries, 11 BDI publications, 2 books (in Romanian), over 70 oraland 120 poster presentations at scientific meetings; (c) 1 patent and 1patent application at Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks;(d) coordinator of 10 research projects (4 international collaborations and6 national grants) and team member in more than 25 other research projects.

Assistant Professor in Bioengineering, conducting research in materialsscience applied to orthopaedics, with a special focus on nanostructuredmaterials and their combination with 3D printing and 3D bioprinting and onthe development of new biomaterials from re-use of waste sources. She alsocarries out research on materials for cultural heritage conservation, with aspecific reference to the development of consolidants and protectives forancient stone, mortars and archaeological bone. She obtained her MasterDegree (2012) and her PhD (2016) in Engineering at the University ofBologna, where she also served at as post-doc researcher. She has beenresearcher at Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute from 2017 to 2023 and adjunctprofessor of Ceramic Materials at the University of Bologna from 2016 to2019. She spent research periods abroad, including 6 months as a VisitingStudent Research Collaborator at Princeton University (2014-2015), under thesupervision of Prof. George Scherer and 2 months as a Visiting Scholar atthe New York University (2023). Her research was awarded with several pricesincluding the ON-EORS award in 2021, a 10.000 AlmaCurie prize from theUniversity of Bologna for participation to the MSCA call 2021, a 10.000prize for start-up ideas (Programme Reactor, Fondazione Golinelli, Bologna)and by a visiting and training period at the “Mind the Bridge StartupSchool” (San Francisco, CA).

She is board member of the European Orthopaedic Research Society (EORS),where she serves as Secretary General and Co-chair of the awards committee,and a Member of the Industry Alliance Committee of the Orthopaedic ResearchSociety (ORS). Previously, she served in the Young Investigators board ofthe EORS (2020-2022). She is a member of the Cost Action NetwOArk (CA21110“Building an open European Network on OsteoArthritis research”, 2022-on) andof the EUSOA congress working group (09/2023-on).

She is author of co-author of >50 Journal Papers (> 1280 citations).

She received funding from Principal Investigator of the project “A newstrategy to address tumor relapses by nanostructured implantable devices”,financed by the Italian Ministry of Health and devoted to antimicrobial andantitumor materials for spine metastases, WP leader of projects funded bythe Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scottish Funding Council and the ScottishGovernment (RSE Saltire International Collaboration Award) and by theItalian Ministry of Economy and Finance (5 per mille for ScientificResearch) and key person of the Euronanomed Project “NANOVERTEBRA – Nextgeneration antibacterial nanostructured osseointegrated customized vertebralreplacement”.

Dr. Eng. Raul-Augustin Mitran is a Scientific Researcher(2^nddegree) at the “Ilie Murgulescu” Institute of PhysicalChemistry of the Romanian Academy, where he works from 2015. He was awardedthe Ph.D. title by the University “Politehnica” of Bucharest in 2012. He wasawarded the Habilitation degree in Chemistry in 2023 by the RomanianAcademy.

Raul-Augustin Mitran has worked as a scientist in both industry and academia.From 2012 to 2015 he was employed as a scientist/project manager at SaraPharm Solutions, SRL (Romania), working in the field of solid-statechemistry and phase transition of pharmaceutical active compounds as well asa technical supervisor on electrochemical fuel cells research. In academia,he has worked as post-doc researcher on two research projects on mesoporoussilica carriers for drug delivery applications at University “Politehnica”of Bucharest (2012 – 2016). Raul-Augustin Mitran was also awarded apost-doctoral grant at the same institution for the study of physisorptionat the mesopore level (2014 – 2015). He was employed as an AssociatedProfessor at University “Politehnica” of Bucharest from 2015 to 2018.

He is studying nanoconfinement effects on physico-chemical properties such asphysisorption and phase change. His research is mostly targeted at drugdelivery and thermal energy storage applications, while the nanoconfinementeffects are mainly obtained using mesoporous silica and silicates matrices.Dr. Mitran is a pioneer in the field of nanocomposite phase change materialsusing mesoporous silica matrices, having published the first paper detailingthe strategy for obtaining such materials with high energy capacity (>100 J/g).

He has published 69 peer-reviewed, ISI articles, of which 2 are review papersand 2 book chapters. He is an author or co-author for 13 national andinternational patents. The speaker has coordinated 3 national researchgrants. His work has been cited of more than 750 times and he hasanh-index of 17 (ISI). He was awarded the “Gheorghe Spacu” Award ofthe Romanian Academy (2017), the Honorary Diploma of the Romanian ChemicalSociety (2011) and the Diploma and Badge of Excellence awarded by thePresident of Romania for remarkable results and increasing the prestige ofthe Romanian School (2001, 2002).

Dr. Rabah Boukherroub received a PhD in chemistry from the University PaulSabatier in Toulouse, France. He is currently a CNRS research director and agroup leader at the Institute of Electronics, Microelectronics andNanotechnology (IEMN), CNRS & University of Lille, France. He isAssociate Editor for ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. His researchinterests are in the area of functional materials, surface chemistry, andphotophysics of semiconductor/metal nanostructures with emphasis onbiosensors, nanomedicine, photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. He haspublished many research publications, wrote 43 book chapters and co-editorof 10 books in subjects related to nanotechnology, materials chemistry, andbiosensors. He has 15 patents or patents pending.

https://www.iemn.fr/la-recherche/les-groupes/groupe-nbi

Felix SIMA finished a bilateral PhD in Physics – Chemistry in 2011, at bothUniversity of Bucharest in Romania and University of Haute Alsace, France.The study was devoted to the implementation of a new laser-based coatingtechnology to be proposed for osseous titanium-based implants. With the aimto either surpass delamination issues of films obtained by conventionalmethods and to accelerate osseointegration, a biomimetic approach was usedto assemble a hybrid multi-layer system of calcium phosphate and boneextracellular matrix proteins by laser depositions. He followed postdoctoralstudies as a Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science atRIKEN, Japan, in 2014 for one year where he has now a Visiting Scientistposition since 2015. New laser set-ups and hybrid technologies that combinedfemtosecond laser assisted etching with two-photon polymerisation weredeveloped, aiming to reduce dimensions of microchannels produced insideglass to nanoscale dimensions, as well as to improve their opticalinterrogation resolution for observation of cancer cell migration in narrowspaces.

He joined National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics – INFLPRin 2005 and he is in present a group leader and competence representativefor biomimetic laser processing, characterisation and testing of photonicbiosystems.

He has implemented new laser set-ups and proposed a new laser-based methodfor coating solid substrates with two different organic materials mixed in acontrolled gradient of composition. The implemented technique, combinatorialmatrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (C-MAPLE), was anticipated to offerunique characteristics of new organic materials, blended or in multi-layercoating configurations. Thus, any two different compounds can be assembledon solid substrates by C-MAPLE without any impediment of not being able tochoose combinations due to non-mixable solvents. It was demonstrated at thetime that one can obtain thin polymer coatings with variable compositioncapable to induce cellular response modulation on discrete gradient areas(2011-2014).

In collaborative agreement with RIKEN, research was devoted to theimplementation at CETAL department of a new laser processing method usingpicosecond lasers (picosecond laser assisted etching – PLAE) which iscurrently applied for transparent material processing for biochipfabrication (2015-2023).

His research interests cover bioprinting of functional structures andmaterials for biomimetic applications, development of new laser technologiesfor integration, assembling and interrogation of relevant microfluidic andphotonic biosystems.

According to WoS and Scopus: h-index=21.

Prof. Cristea is the Director of the Drugs Bioanalysis and NanotechnologiesResearch Center – BioNanoMed and of the Department Pharmacy 1, from theFaculty of Pharmacy, „Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy,Cluj-Napoca. The Research centre is using an interdisciplinary approach toidentify and analyse drugs, metabolites, biomarkers, drugs of abuse, andpathogen bacteria from biological fluids, and environmental and foodsamples. In this regard, different analytical and physical techniques areused.

After graduating from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering ofBabes Bolyai University, she also graduates from the Faculty of Pharmacyfrom “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca. Shereceived her Ph.D. in chemistry at the Rennes 1 University, France, andBabes Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Prof. Cristea is a member of the Scientific Council of theBioelectrochemical Society (BES) and Associate Editor of the MicrochemicalJournal. Her research interests are in the development and implementation ofadvanced molecular materials for electrochemical sensing devices forbiologically relevant molecules and the design of new (bio)sensors andbiomimetic approaches for biomedical applications, pharmaceutical, food, andenvironmental analysis. The selection of aptamers for biosensing purposesbut also for targeted drug delivery is a new research direction of herinterest.

José M.F. Ferreira is an Associate Professor with Habilitation in MaterialsScience and Engineering from University of Aveiro, who got enrolled as PI ina POLONEZ.BIS project at ŁUKASIEWICZ – Institute of Microelectronics andPhotonics. Throughout his scientific career, he supervised 42 Master and 25PhD students, and more than 20 post-doc senior research programs. Heregistered 16 patents, published 6 book Chapters and > 590 articles in SCIjournals. He is recipient of several awards, including the ‘Stimulus toExcellence–2005 award’ from the Portuguese Foundation for Science andTechnology (FCT); the ‘Chinese Ceramic Society–2005’ award; Membership ofthe World Academy of Ceramics award ( www.waceramics.org) since July2013; awarded with the Title of Fellow of the European Ceramic Society(ECerS) in recognition of his achievements and contributions to the field ofCeramics, June 24th, 2015, Toledo, Spain; the Title of Vebleo Fellow ( https://vebleo.com/mset/#i2speakers),21 November 2020; the Title of Fellow of the International Association ofAdvanced Materials (FIAAM) ( https://www.iaamonline.org/fellow-of-iaam),10^thDecember 2020. He is one of the Editors-in-chief of theJournal of the American Ceramic Society since January 2018. According to theprominent academic platform for scientists in the area of Materials Science(2022 Edition – https://research.com/scientists-rankings/materials-science),he was ranked #1173 in the world ranking.

Rasa Pauliukaite is a Chief Researcher at the Centre for Physical Sciencesand Technology (FTMC). She is working in the area of electroanalysis, mostly(bio)sensing, including development of new materials for sensing. She iscurrently Chair of the Scientific Board at FTMC. She is also an activemember of the International Society of Electrochemistry.

Cristiana Tanase is an MD, PhD, Principal Investigator in medical research,Proteomics Department, “Victor Babes” National Institute of Pathology andHabilitated Professor of Molecular Biology at “Titu Maiorescu” University,Faculty of Medicine. Bucharest, Romania.

The main research focus is on omics technologies, personalizedmedicine-biomarkers in cancers (brain cancers, head and neck and digestivecancers), tests of biological materials (toxicity, effectiveness), withpublished results regarding proteome profiler, cytokine panels, dysregulatedsignalling pathway as therapy targets, as well as involvement of cancer stemcells. Some results were patented (Granted patents: 2022 – Proteomic profilecarried out by mass spectrometry for detecting cerebral tumours -RO130589(B1); 2018 – Soluble set of biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis andmonitoring of brain tumours- RO130590(B1)).

She implemented over 65 projects (25 as CO); out of these 12 were supportedwith international funding. The majority of these projects focused on cancerresearch, resulting in more than 170 publications (WoS), and 15 patentsrequests. She is a FP7/Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe and EuroNanoMed ExpertEvaluator. She is a reviewer for over 50 international journals, boardmember for 4 ISI journals (one as Editor-in-Chief and one as AssociatedEditor); h-index (WoS) 26; h-index (GS) 32, i10-index 63, citations 2892.

Camelia Bala is a professor of analytical chemistry at the University ofBucharest, where she began her academic career in 1990. She also coordinatesthe research group in bioanalytical chemistry, sensors, and biosensors.Since 2011, she has been the Director of the Doctoral School on Chemistry.

The research activity is concentrated on the development and application ofchemical sensors, biosensors and immunosensors for food, environmental andclinical analysis, The current research is focused on the integration ofbiological molecules (DNA, antibodies, cells and enzymes) and other specieswith micro- and nanostructures with interest for the design of novel sensorsand biosensors, and investigations of mechanisms at bio-interfaces, Herresearch group is composed of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoralscholars with research interests lie in the area of Bioanalytical Chemistry,at the interface between Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Alexander Kuhn is Professor at the Institut of Molecular Science (UniversityBordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, France), as well as Adjunct Professor atVISTEC (Thailand) and Henan University (China). After studying chemistry atthe TU München, he obtained his PhD in 1994 from the University Bordeaux.Following his post-doctoral studies at Caltech (1995/1996) he obtained anAssistant Professor (1996) and later a Full Professor (2000) position inBordeaux. He is a senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France,distinguished senior member of the French Chemical Society, Fellow of theInternational Society of Electrochemistry and has been awarded the CNRSscience silver medal. His current main research interests, among otherssupported by an ERC Advanced grant, are modified electrodes with a specialfocus on applications in electroanalysis, bioelectrochemistry andelectrocatalysis; nanomaterials; microswimmers; Janus particles; bipolarelectrochemistry; chirality.

Full professor and PhD advisor in the Faculty of Chemical Engineering andBiotechnologies, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICABucharest (UPB), being actively involved in both academic and scientificlife of the university. His major academic interests are related toComposite Materials for Medicine, NanoBioMaterials for Tissue Engineeringand Drug Delivery Systems. The research interests are much broader, havingthe chemical approaches in the centre, and cover the following topics:tissue engineering; drug delivery systems; multifunctional materials;composite materials; coatings, antimicrobial/antitumoral materials;nanoparticles synthesis and characterization; surfacemodification;etc. To date he has published over 330 scientificpapers, from which over 280 ISI papers and 22 books or chapters (including 2edited books), along with 28 patent applications (10 of them being alreadyreleased). The international recognition of the R&D activity can behighlighted by the multiple invitations for participate as speaker tointernational conferences, the positions of guest editor, member of theeditorial boards of different national and international journals, as wellas Section Editor-in-Chief of Coatings. Valedictorian of UPB, formerparticipant and laureate of the National Chemistry Olympiads. He was awardedwith over 150 Gold Medals, Special Awards or Best Paper Awards and recently,he received the Special Award for Transfer of the Research Results intoEconomy by the Ministry of Resort during the 1^stedition of the“Romanian Research Gala”. He is also full member of The Academy of RomanianScientists and several other professional societies.

Pedro Miranda González was born in Castuera, Badajoz (Spain). He studiedPhysics at the University of Extremadura (Spain) and received his PhD at thesame university in 2003. He is currently Full Professor of Biomaterials andMechanical Properties of Materials, and member of the Materials Scienceresearch group GEMA in the Department of Mechanical, Energy and MaterialsEngineering of the Industrial Engineering School at Universidad deExtremadura. He was Marie Curie OIF Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory (2005-2006) and more recently (2016-2017) was visitingscholar for 6 months at the University of California San Diego. Prof.Miranda has written more than 70 articles in JCR-indexed journals which havereceived over 2900 citations (averaging more than 40 citations per paper),and hish-index is 30 (source: Scopus). He has participated in 17research projects, in 11 as principal investigator (PI), including 3EU-funded international projects (one of them including Chinese partners).He is author in more than 90 contributions to national and internationalscientific meetings and has supervised 7 PhD Theses, 13 Master Theses and 36BSc Final Projects.

His main research topics are:

• Development and optimization of customized scaffolds from bioactiveceramics and glasses by additive manufacturing (robocasting/DIW andDLP);
• Development of hybrid biomaterials produced by impregnation/coating ofbioceramic structures with biopolymers;
• Mechanical optimization of multilayered systems for dental applications;
• Mechanical characterization and numerical simulations by finite elementmodeling (FEM) in general, but especially applied to biomedicalmaterials;
• Development of multisegmented composites for protective applications;
• Additive manufacturing of ultra-high temperature ceramics for thermalshields and energy related applications.

Antonia Pajares studied Physics at the University of Extremadura (Spain) andreceived her PhD at the same university in 1993. Since 2007, she is FullProfessor in the Department of Mechanical, Energy and Materials Engineeringof the Industrial Engineering School at Universidad de Extremadura (UEx).She is member of the materials science research group GEMA of UEx. She hasperformed research stays at KFA-Julich (Germany) for twelve weeks and atNIST-Gaithersburg (USA) for more than three years. She has a wide experiencein collaborations at international level.

Prof. Pajares is co-author of 80 articles published in JCR-indexed journalswhich have received more than 3000 citations (averaging 40 citations perpaper), and her h-index is 34 (source: Web of Science). She is author ofmore than 100 contributions to national and international scientificmeetings. She has participated in 16 research projects, including 2 EUProject, and in industrial contracts. She is co-author of 1 patent and sheis a founding member of the spin-off company Ceramics 3D Design DevelopDiscover S.L. (now closed). She has supervised 7 PhD Theses (2 frominternational students), 6 Master Theses and more than 30 BSc FinalProjects.

• Most of her research expertise lies within the following topic:Mechanical characterization of materials (ceramics, thin films,multilayered systems …) at room and high temperatures;
• Mechanical characterization of tooth fracture and wear;
• Development and optimization of customized ceramics and glasses byadditive manufacturing for industrial applications;
• Development of composite biomaterials by impregnation/coating ofbioceramic structures with biodegradable polymers.

Dr. Ifty Ahmed is an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham,based within the Faculty of Engineering, Advanced Materials Research group.He was appointed as Assistant Professor in Sept 2014 and promoted toAssociate Professor in Aug 2015. Dr Ahmed’s laboratories at Nottingham areequipped with melt-draw and preform draw glass fibre manufacturing processesand he has developed flame spheroidisation processes to manufacture solid(dense) and highly porous microspheres from inorganic materials.

He has received research grants awards totalling over £6.5M and has mentored5 postdoctoral researchers, successfully managed 31 PhD researchers tocompletion and has published over 155 journal publications, 6 book chaptersand 2 patent applications. He was also the UKSB (United Kingdom Society ofBiomaterials) first recipient of the ‘Larry Hench Young InvestigatorsAward’.

Dr. Lucian Baia is a Professor at the Faculty of Physics of the Babeș-BolyaiUniversity (UBB) and the head of the Institute for Research-Development andInnovation in Applied Natural Sciences at UBB. His research interest isfocused on understanding the influence of well-defined characteristics(shape, size, etc.) of different types of nanostructures (noble metals,metal oxides, graphene oxides, etc.) on their performances, when suchstructures are involved in various biomedical, environmental andtechnological applications. He is the author or co-author of more than 190peer-reviewed papers (160 ISI papers), three books, ten book chapters, 5national patents, and has an h-index of 31. He serves as an editorial boardmember for several scientific journals.

My scientific career has focused on the interaction of materials with tissue;more specifically on (i) how cells and tissues respond to materialsurfaces with different properties, and (ii) how to optimizematerial degradation and tissue formation for the regeneration/augmentationof bone tissue. Within the interdisciplinary field of biomaterials, I havesignificantly increased my expertise from both a material and a biologicalpoint of view using a plethora of techniques for material characterizationand analysis of the biological response by cells (in vitro) andtissues (in vivo). In view of the three key elements for tissueengineering and regenerative medicine, I worked on material properties,surface modification, and (growth factor) release systems for optimisationof material performance. Alternatively, I focussed on cell-based strategiesfor bone regeneration using adult mesenchymal stem cells for bone formationeither or not combined with angiogenic cells to stimulate vascularisation.For the in vitro evaluation of material performance, I used adult stem cellcultures, leukocyte cultures, and endothelial cell cultures, whereasinvivoevaluation relied on 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional techniquesin the form of histology, histomorphometry, and micro-computed tomography aswell as gene expression for specimens harvested from healthy and compromisedanimal models.

She got a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2001 at University “Politehnica”of Bucharest. Since 1995 she has been working at the same university doingboth teaching and research activities. Since October 2013 she has beenprofessor in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry &Electrochemistry (Inorganic Chemistry’s group) at National University ofScience and Technology “Politehnica” Bucharest, Faculty of ChemicalEngineering and Biotechnologies. In September 2013 defended her habilitationthesis, “Contributions to liquid phase synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials”and received the right to supervise PhD students in the field of chemicalengineering.

Her scientific interest lies at the frontiers of materials science, chemistryand bioengineering with the aim to design functional materials especiallyfor biomedical applications. Her group has studied physico-chemicalprocesses due to nanoconfinement in mesoporous materials. For these results,she was awarded the “Petru Spacu” prize of Romanian Academy in 2017.

In the last years she has supervised several projects and her group developednew drug delivery systems based on functionalized mesoporous silica, orbiocomposites based on natural compounds with antioxidant, antimicrobial,anti-inflammatory or antiproliferative activities for topical applications.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7829-7540

Web of Science Researcher ID: AAK-6858-2020

Dr. Prof. habil. Stefano Bellucci obtained in 1982 the Laurea in PhysicsDegree at Univ. Sapienza Rome (summa cum laude) and in 1986 his Ph.D. inPhysics of elementary particles at SISSA, Trieste. He worked as ResearchAssociate at Brandeis Univ., USA (1983-1985); as visiting researcher atM.I.T., Cambridge, USA (1985-1986), at Univ. of Maryland, USA (1986-1987),at Univ. of California at Davis, USA (1987-1988). He was appointed as aTenured Researcher (Research Staff) at INFN (Istituto Nazionale di FisicaNucleare) Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) in 1987. He was appointedas INFN First Researcher (Senior Research Staff) in 2005. He coordinated(1999-2002, 2011-2015) all LNF theoretical physics activities. ItalyMinistry of University in 2013 habilitated him as Full Professor inTheoretical Physics of Fundamental Interactions and in Theoretical CondensedMatter Physics. Since 2018 he is contract Professor of Nanotechnology forElectrical Applications at the University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale.Contract Professor of Quantum Mechanics (Physics III), for third yearstudents in the Diploma Course in Physical Methods (2000-2022), Departmentof Physics, University of Roma Tre. His research interests includetheoretical physics, condensed matter, biophysics, physical chemistry,nanoscience and nanotechnology, nanocarbon based composites, toxicology,biomedical applications. His lab cultivated over 40 PhD and master students.He published 600 papers with 14834 citations (5001 citations since 2017) inpeer-reviewed journals with Hirsch index h=58, and 20 invited bookchapters, http://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=mOq8urEAAAAJ.Editor and/or co-author of over 10 books with Springer. Top ItalianScientists, with rank 44https://topitalianscientists.org/tis/3422/Stefano_Bellucci_-_Top_Italian_Scientist_in_Material_&_Nano_Sciences.

Received B.W. Lee Prize at Erice School of Subnuclear Physics (Italy) 1982.In 1980 he was selected as Summer student at CERN (Geneva). He led INFNapplied physics CSN5 experiments: 2006-2010 NEXT for new electron sourcesand X radiation, 2004-2006 MINCE for micro and nano technology, 2001-2004NANO for carbon-based nanotechnology. He was in 2007-2010 INFN Scientist andtechnologist in charge for EU FP7-ICT-2007-1 Collaborative Project CATHERINE”Carbon nAnotube Technology for Highspeed nExt-geneRationnano-InterconNEcts”.

He is Editor-in-chief of Section Carbon MDPI Materials; Series Editor ofSpringer Lecture Notes in Nanoscale Science and Technology; Editor-in-chiefof Hindawi Journal of Nanomaterials; biannual (2012-2014) Associate Editorof ASP Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters. He is Editorial Board Memberof e.g. the MDPI Journal of Functional Biomaterials, Hindawi Advances inMaterials Science and Engineering, and Computer Modelling and NewTechnologies.

He is Director of the NATO Emerging Security Challenges Division, SPSProgramme projects “Nanocomposite based photonic crystal sensors ofbiological and chemical agents,” “Development of Biosensors using CarbonNanotubes”. He is Principal Investigator of Time2Quest Condensed MatterTheory INFN CSN4 project, and of Research Group Projects 2020 “High PressureSanification of Water for Foodborne Virus removal (HPSWFood)”.

He is INFN scientist in charge of University Research Ministry project “aSmart Framework for vIrus Detection (SFIDE)” and of EU project“Graphene-Based Revolutions in ICT And Beyond, GRAPHENE Flagship” Core1, andof Health Ministry project “Delivery and imaging of miRNAs bymultifunctional carbon nanotubes and circulating miRNAs as innovativetherapeutic and diagnostic tools for pediatric pulmonary hypertension”, andof Space Agency project “SHAPE-A New Theoretical Framework ofMicrogravity-Cell Interaction”.

Monica Baia received a Ph.D. degree in 2003 from the University of Würzburg,Germany and is currently a full Professor at the Faculty of Physics of theBabes-Bolyai University (UBB) Romania. In 2013 she habilitated and since2014 she became senior research scientist and is also working at theInstitute for Research-Development-Innovation in Applied Natural Sciences ofUBB. Her current research focuses on the vibrational characterization (e.g.Raman and IR spectroscopy, SERS) of pharmaceuticals, photocatalysts,carbon-based nanomaterials, nanostructures for environmental and biomedicalapplications. She has over 115 peer-reviewed publications (h-index 25), 4books and 5 books chapters and a national patent.

Josef Jampilek completed his Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry at theFaculty of Pharmacy of the Charles University (Czech Republic) in 2004. In2004-2011, he worked in expert and managerial posts in the R&D Divisionof the pharmaceutical company Zentiva (Czech Republic). Prof. Jampilekdeepened his professional knowledge at the Medicinal Chemistry Institute ofthe Heidelberg University (Germany) and at multiple specialized courses. In2017, he was designated as a Full Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. Atpresent he works at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the ComeniusUniversity in Bratislava (Slovakia) and the Faculty of Science of thePalacky University in Olomouc (Czech Republic). In addition, he is avisiting professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland), CracowUniversity of Technology (Poland) and Hong Kong Baptist University (HongKong SAR, China) and an invited professor/expert at various highereducational institutions. He is an author/co-author of more than 35patents/patent applications, more than 260 peer-reviewed scientificpublications, 7 university textbooks, more than 50 chapters in monographs,and many invited lectures at international conferences and workshops. Healso received several awards for his scientific results, e.g., from Aventis,Elsevier, Willey, Sanofi and FDA. Prof. Jampílek is also an editor, guesteditor and member of the editorial boards of several renowned internationalscientific journals. Scientific fields of prof. Jampilek (SCI: h-index 40,>3900 sum of times cited without self-citations) are drug design, medicinalchemistry, chemical biology as well as drug delivery nanosystems. Theresearch interests of Prof. Jampilek include design, synthesis, andstructure-activity relationships of heterocyclic compounds asanti-infectious, antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory agents as well asagrochemicals. He is also interested in ADME, drug bioavailability andsolid-state pharmaceutical analysis.

Professor at the Faculty of Physics and Director of Nanobiophotonics andLaser Microspectroscopy Center, Institute for Interdisciplinary Researchin BioNanoScience, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Corresponding Member of Romanian Academy

Prof. Simion Aștilean obtained his PhD degree in optical spectroscopy atJoseph Fourier University in Grenoble in France in 1993. After severalpost-doctoral positions at the Institute of Optics in Paris (1997), WeizmannInstitute in Israel (2000) and University of Exeter in UK (2001-2002), hestarted (2003) to develop a new research centre in the field ofnanobiophotonics at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (https://nanobiophotonics.ro)

His current research is focused on plasmonic and hybrid nanoparticles forapplications in nanomedicine,i.e.theranostics, cell imaging,drug-delivery, biosensing and fluorescent nanoprobes for near-infrared (NIR)real-time image-guided surgery. He has published more than 250 refereedarticles in plasmonics and healthcare nanomaterials, given more than 200communications at scientific conferences, including 38 invited/plenaryconferences, been cited more than 6500 times (excluding self-citations) witha Web of Science h-index above 42, and included in 2020 and 2021 in the listof the top 2% most cited scientists in the world in his field of research(Stanford Univ. and Elsevier by Scopus). His scientific results have beenfeatured on the covers of journals, disseminated in the media, and presentedin highlights on the websites of the journals. He was a finalist and winnerin the category „Experienced Researchers. Research Team” at the firstedition of the Romanian Research Gala (January 31, 2023). https://nanobiophotonics.ro/

Orlando Fatibello-Filho is a full professor in the Department of Chemistry,São Carlos Federal University, where he heads the LABBES laboratory ( www.labbes.ufscar.br). Hereceived his PhD degree in analytical chemistry from the University of SãoPaulo in 1985 and held a postdoctoral position from 1987 to 1989 in theDepartment of Chemistry, University of New Orleans, LA (USA). He was avisiting professor at the University of Coimbra (Portugal) in 2008. Hiscurrent research interests include fabrication and application of modifiedelectrochemical sensors, application of deep eutectic solvents in analyticalchemistry, microfluidic devices, and development of electrochemical methods.Orlando Fatibello-Filho has published over 350 research articles, many withinternational and national collaboration, 9 books and 10 book chapters.

Fabiana Arduini is a Full Professor at Department of Chemical Science andTechnologies, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, CEO of start-up SENSE4MED,DG at ISO9001 Certified Laboratory LabCap, University of Rome „Tor Vergata”,Editor of Green Analytical Chemistry Journal, Elsevier, Associated Editor ofMicrochemical Journal, Elsevier, Specialty Chief Editor Micro- and Nano-Sensors, Frontiers in Sensors, and Coordinator of Italian Sensor Group,Italian Chemical Society 2019-2021. Her research activity deals with thedevelopment of miniaturised electrochemical devices mainly usingscreen-printed electrodes modified with nanomaterials and paper-basedanalytical tools applied in environmental, biomedical, agrifood, and defensesectors, with over 150 articles published in peer-review journals, H index52, Scopus source, > 5 patents, coordinators of severalnational/international projects. Her name is present in PLoS Biology https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000384whichlisted the top 2% most cited researchers in the world.

Senior researcher at Provitam Foundation CEO Proel Biotech

I am on a mission to build a research institute which aims to carry outcutting-edge research in computational nanotechnology and nanomedicine. I amalso CEO of Promedical Center, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. I did my PhD incomputational chemistry in the Wales group at the University of Cambridge,and was a young research fellow in the group of Bela Viskolcz at theUniversity of Szeged, Hungary. On this page you can find out more about meand my research.

My main area of research is studying the energy landscapes of model nanoscalesystems that can be termed self-assembling. Unfortunately, the term‘self-assembly’ is a very fashionable word that is highly overused. In orderto avoid any confusion, we define systems as ‘self-assembling’, if they havewell-defined global minima, and other stable structures (minima) on theirpotential energy landscapes can find their way to the global minimumclimbing only low barriers.

Monica Florescu, Associate Professor of Physics and Biophysics, TransilvaniaUniversity of Brasov, obtained Ph.D. in Physics (2007) and in Medicine(2020). Her scientific research activity is oriented in three large,interconnected directions, with a strong inter- and transdisciplinarycharacter. One direction is focused on development of innovative moleculardetection and delivery platforms based on nanostructures. For this purpose,the tuning of the properties of surfaces to specifically interact with atarget (bio)molecular system was followed, such as functionalization andmodification of solid surfaces, optimization of surfaces by layer-by-layerassembly, grafting of enzymes on functionalized surfaces and theimplications of their confinement. In the second direction, biomolecularinteractions in solutions and at interfaces are analyzed: binding andinteraction kinetics of biomolecular interactions, structural changes ofmolecular layers of (bio)receptors grafted on functionalized gold surfaces(bulk, thin layer and nanostructured) in the presence of drugs. The thirddirection pursues the development of nanostructures and composite materialsbased on chemical and green synthesized metal nanoparticles and electrospunnanofibers. AuNPs are obtained and used together with aqueous or conductivepolymers to protect against corrosion of implanted materials and as animmobilization matrix of molecular recognition elements (receptors) for thedevelopment of biosensors.

She received several fellowships and travel awards for conferences andresearch stages. She coordinated and was member of several national andinternational research projects. She published over 75 articles inprestigious peer-reviewed journals, with over 900 citations.

Marc Lamy de la Chapelle is professor at the Le Mans University at theInstitute of Molecules and Materials of Le Mans (IMMM UMR 6283) since 2017.

Engineer from the Polytechnical school of the University of Nantes, Materialsciences specialty (1996), he got his PhD in science physics in 1998 at theUniversity of Nantes on the study of carbon nanotubes by Raman spectroscopy.After two post-doctoral position at the Office National d’Etude et deRecherche en Aéronautique (ONERA) in Paris (Optimisation of the synthesismethod of carbon nanotubes by laser ablation, 1998-2000) and at the physicsdepartment of the Tsinghua University in Beijing (China) on the study ofnanostructures by Raman spectroscopy (2000-2001), he got a position ofassociate professor at the Université de technologie de Troyes (UTT) in2001. His research activities were focused on nanooptics (Optical propertiesof metallic nanoparticles (surface plasmon), near-field optics…) and Ramanspectroscopy. He notably worked on Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS)(effect of the plasmon resonance on the enhancement, enhancementoptimisation). From nov. 2007 to aug. 2017, he was professor at the Paris 13University. His research activities are focused on nano-optics and Ramanspectroscopy. He develops SERS sensors to detect pollutants or to studybiological media (disease diagnosis, study of the biomolecule structure…).He joined Le Mans University in sept. 2017 to develop some researchactivities in plasmonics, SERS and sensors.

He was involved in several research projects at the national andinternational level as partner or coordinator. He was notably thecoordinator of the Nanoantenna European project including 12 partners on thedevelopment of a nanobiosensor from 2009 to 2013. He also coordinates oneinternational project in China for the development of biosensor for thediagnosis of the pancreatic cancer combining the THz and SERS detectionmethods. He coordinates the Bioplasmonics project based on the exploitationof plasmonics for biological issues at the University of Babes-Bolyai (Cluj,Napoca, Romania). He was also director of the CNRS national research networkon the Molecular Plasmonics and Enhanced Spectroscopies from 2011 to 2018.

He has been awarded Etoile de l’Europe (Star of Europe) in 2013 by the Frenchministry of Research and Higher Education for his coordination of theEuropean project Nanoantenna (FP7-Health-241818).

Mariana Carmen Chifiriuc started her research career in 1997 as amicrobiologist in the Cantacuzino Institute, Bucharest, Romania. She was afellow of the International Network of Pasteur Institutes of Bangui andParis (1999-2000). She is professor of Microbiology and Immunology at theUniversity of Bucharest, Faculty of Biology and PhD supervisor in the fieldof Biology, coordinator of the Research Institute of the University ofBucharest and Vice-Rector for Research (since 2020). She was the principalinvestigator / key member of > 25 and a team member in > 50 national andinternational research projects.

Main research directions: investigation of virulence and antibioticresistance in the clinical and environmental reservoirs; study ofhost-infectious agents crosstalk; evaluation of the roles of humanmicrobiota in various pathologies and of anti-infective immunity;development of rapid microbiological diagnosis methods; development andevaluation of new antimicrobial strategies, with applications in thebiomedical field and in ecology.

A main axis has driven my career in Materials Science, since the originsforming vanadyl phosphate mixed valence materials, now candidates forlithium batteries, to polyoxometalates mixed valence species (nanoclusters,when nano had not been invented as a description of the work, to mixedvalence oxides electrochemistry and soft chemistry at ICMAB since 1990.Several pioneering fields have been opened with my original ideas, usuallywith a retarded but solid and consistent effect along years and decades. Themain research axis centres on mixed valence phases with redox intercalationproperties, and the nanostructuring of hybrid electroactive materials basedon them. The reduction of polyoxometalates yield blue mixed valence phaseswith delocalized electrons that retain their structure in the first stagesand modify substantially the magnetic properties of the system, throughcorrelation between Mo or W atoms. Thus, ring currents have been observed ininorganic systems and also magnetic shielding and interaction between themagnetism of localized electrons (Co, V, Fe) ions and delocalized electrons.Those properties can be expanded later to solid state through the formationof hybrid structures with conducting polymers and carbons, although notalways open to the electrochemical interface. More recently thosesignificant and unique redox properties have been part of my studies asmediators in O2 reduction and in wireless bipolar electrochemistryprocesses, where POM reduce and oxidize in alternating induced dipole inimmersed metal pieces.

A big contribution from electrochemical techniques has been developed inelectrodeposition, room temperature doping with oxygen, ECQM and evaluationof redox processes under electron beam or during current sensing AFM, withvery original results, like transforming copper oxides at room temperaturein superconducting materials by anodic oxygen doping, or modifying theproperties of ferromagnetic manganese oxides.

New phases like Ag₂Cu₂O₄have also beenachieved using those and other soft methods, and layered copper oxides havebeen favoured in oxidizing conditions. Polyoxometalate (POM) clusters basedon Keggin [MW12O40]-n have been studied in terms of the magnetic propertieswhen delocalized electrons are added (reduction), and their role in hybridsand in various energy storage systems as mediators has been approached. Inall cases, the final application form results in electrodes in a variety ofapplications (energy storage, electrocatalysis for CO2 orO₂reduction, and electrostimulation or sensing).

Along that main axis, direct technologic applications have been achieved intransparent conductive coatings by electrodeposition in various forms. Wiresof superconducting YBaCuO on Ag and Ag on BiSrCaCuO_xbyelectrodeposition have advanced in the processing of superconductors. Duringthe last years, the same type of chemistry has led to the development ofbiocompatible electrodes for electrostimulation and has rendered verysignificant contributions.

From basic work like exfoliation graphite electrochemically to produce veryhigh-quality pristine Graphene (as opposed to Graphene oxide), to thedevelopment of IrO_xcoatings and IrO_x-Nanocarbonshybrid coatings with greatly enhanced charge capacity. In this last case,electrostimulation with DC fields have yielded neural repair in shortperiods of time, while through the use of induced electric dipoles in thematerial we have been able to control neural cell behaviour withnon-connected electrodes.

Wireless electrochemistry through induced dipoles has been developed inbioelectrodes and also in energy storage.

The results of this work have been published in 120 indexed publications, 11book chapters, and 3 patents filed. It has been financed by National andEuropean Grants, as well as Foundation Marató TV3. Pioneering work has aconsistent impact along years and decades with specific referencing of thework (half of the publications with large referencing) (now for ex. Excessdiamagnetism in delocalized electrons is also found by other authors 33years later). Additional collaborations, most in electrochemistry subjects,have led to significant outcomes, like electrodeposition of Bi absorbers forESA detectors, sensors based on our new materials and processes. Activenational and international collaborations exist in materials,electrochemistry and bioelectrodes