Achievements and Awards – Inorganic Nanoparticles Group

SEGIB award: renewed support goes to members of our group for green energy application of nanoparticles

Editor — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 10:22:08 +0000

The project BiogasPLUS, led by members of our group, has recently received renewed financial support and recognition. Encouraged by the Entrepreneurs Fund of Fundación Repsol, the project was presented to the Fourth Call of the Ibero-American Awards to Innovation and Entrepreneurship – organized by the Secretaría General Iberoamericana (SEGIB).

SEGIB is an international organization devoted to strengthen the cooperation between all Ibero-American countries, in what comes to economics, politics and culture. Within this framework, these awards recognize innovation-driven entrepreneurial companies (whether already established or in their initial project stage) led by young teams in Latinamerica, Spain or Portugal.

BiogasPLUS obtained the 2nd award in the “Projects” category, one of the five awards given in this edition of the call. The awarding ceremony took place in Panama City on October 17, 2013, as part of the events of the “IX Encuentro Empresarial Iberoamericano”, and was attended by Enrique Iglesias (Secretary-General of SEGIB), Antonio Brufau (CEO of Repsol) and HRH Felipe, Prince of Asturias (Spain).

Official info (in Spanish):

SEGIB Awards 2013 announcement: http://segib.org/es/node/8958

Awarding Ceremony at the “IX Encuentro Empresarial Iberoamericano”: http://eeipanama.com/segib-entrega-premios-en-el-marco-del-encuentro-empresarial/

Also highlighted in the news of the Entrepreneurs Fund (in English).

Neus Bastús has been awarded a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship

Editor — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 10:29:27 +0000

Dr. Neus Bastús has been awarded a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship, arguably the most prestigious fellowship in the national Spanish scientific system. Ranked first in the area of “Engineering and Technology” (in the last call of November 2012), she geared her application to the research she is developing now in our group (Colloidal synthesis of monocomponent and hybrid nanocrystals) and previous work carried out during her PhD with Prof. Puntes, and her postdoctoral stay in Hamburg University with Prof. Weller (Synthesis and Functionalization of metal, semiconductor nanocrystals and hybrid structures).

Current holder of a Spanish Juan de la Cierva Fellowship, already awarded with a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant from the European Commission, and previous holder of a Catalan Beatriu Pinós Fellowship, we wish her all the success in this new stage at ICN2.

Many congratulations, Neus!

Members of our group receive support award from Fundación Repsol for energy applications of nanoparticles

Editor — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 14:55:44 +0000

On July 25, 2013, Fundación Repsol announced the results of its second call of its Entrepreneurs Fund, where a project presented by members of the Inorganic Nanoparticles Group has received one of the two awards for “supporting maturation”.

The project, BiogasPLUS, introduces the creation of a spin-off company that produces nanoparticles in large commercial quantities with specific applications. In particular, the focus product is a nanoparticle-based additive that can enhance the production of biogas up to a 200% together with other environmental benefits. This is a result from the findings on the biological effects of inorganic nanoparticles in waste treatment processes, co-developed between the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). The project is led by Prof. Víctor Puntes, together with Dr. Eudald Casals and Dr. Cecilia López, working in collaboration researchers on waste management led by UAB Prof. Antoni Sánchez.

BiogasPLUS was one of the 16 finalist projects, selected among 479 proposals presented in this call. Fundación Repsol selected 8 projects for company incubation, while 2 more were chosen to be supported for further development and maturation – BiogasPLUS being among these two.

This was the second edition of this increasingly successful call from Fundación Repsol: as stated in its website, this initiative is framed within Repsol’s corporate strategy for improving the sustainability of the current energy models, and aims to promote innovation and entrepreneurial development in the field of energy efficiency and new energy sources.

Full news at the Entrepreneurs Fund – Fundación Repsol website:

English: http://www.fondoemprendedores.fundacionrepsol.com/en/entrepreneurs-fund/second-call

Spanish: http://www.fondoemprendedores.fundacionrepsol.com/es/fondo-de-emprendedores/segunda-convocatoria

Joan and Lorena have defended their PhD theses!

Editor — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 16:49:32 +0000

Joan Comenge has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Gold Nanoparticles as Drug Delivery Agents: Detoxifying the Chemotherapeutic Drug Cisplatin”, last Thursday July 18. The PhD Committee was formed by Dr. Teresa Pellegrino (Nanoscience Institute, CNR, Italy), Prof. Fernando Dominguez (Universidad Santiago de Compostela, Spain), and Prof. Jaume Farrés (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain).

Lorena García also successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Introducing gold nanoparticle bioconjugates within the biological machinery”, the next day Friday July 19. In this case, the PhD Committee was formed by Prof. Wolfgang Parak (Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany), Prof. Jesús M. de la Fuente (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain) and Dr. Julia Lorenzo (Institut de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, UAB, Spain).

Congratulations Joan and Lorena!!!

Neus Bastús has been awarded the Marie Curie CIG grant

Editor — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:56:05 +0000

Dr. Neus Bastús, a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral Fellow in our group, has been recently awarded a Marie Curie Career Reintegration Grant (CIG), granted by the European Commission to support junior researchers directly by funding their own research – a step beyond a personal fellowship. Neus presented the project “Developing New Strategies for the Production of Viable Hybrid Nanocrystals with Applicability in Energy Conversion and (Photo)catalysis”, focusing on the production of metal-semiconductor, metal-oxide of semiconductor and metal-metal oxide, in core-shell and/or oligomer-like configurations, by tackling the most challenging points related to the growth of multi-component materials, in particular the conditions by which it is possible to tune both, the materials that compose the structure and the morphology of the final structure.

Many congratulations, Neus!

Miriam has defended her PhD thesis!

Editor — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 20:41:42 +0000

Miriam Varón has successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Synthesis of Nanoparticles and Nanostructured Materials by Self-Assembly”, last Thursday May 31.

The PhD Committee was formed by Prof. Cathrine Frandsen (Technical University of Denmark), Dra. Maria del Puerto Morales Herrero (Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Spain) and Dr. Andreu Cabot (Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, Spain).

Congratulations, Miriam!!!

Joan Comenge has been awarded a BE-DGR Scholarship for research stays abroad

Editor — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:30:58 +0000

Joan has won a BE-DGR Scholarship for short predoctoral research stays from AGAUR (Generalitat de Catalunya), to spend 4 months at the Center for Cancer Research & Cell Biology at Queen’s University (Belfast, Ireland). He will be working on his proposed project “The use of gold nanoparticles in cancer treatment:

their double role as nanocarriers for drug delivery and sensitizers for radiation therapy”. Congratulations!!!

Eudald Casals has defended his PhD thesis!

Editor — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:28:24 +0000

Eudald has successfully defended his thesis, entitled “Reactivity and Impact of Inorganic Nanoparticles in Biological Environments: Building Up NanoSafety” last Wednesday January 18. Congratulations Dr. Casals!

Isaac Ojea has been awarded the Ramón Castillejo Fellowship for mobility stays for young researchers

Editor — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:17:56 +0000

Isaac has been awarded the Ramón Castillejo Fellowship from the Ministerio de Educación (Spanish Government) for short mobility stays of young researchers, to work on the synthesis of semiconductors as fluorescent biomarkers. He will be joining the group of Prof. Paul Mulvaney at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Congratulations!!!