Meet our MSCA Postdoctoral Fellows

Dr. Ana R. Monteiro
MSCA-2023-EF

Dr. Ana Rita Monteiro received her PhD degree from University of Aveiro (Portugal) in May 2023. In September 2023, she joined CiQUS-USC as a postdoctoral researcher to work with graphene/porphyrin nanoarchitectures at the COMMO group, led by Guitián/Pérez/Peña. In February 2024, she was granted with the MSCA-PF to continue her postdoctoral work at CiQUS.

The ongoing miniaturization of electronic devices has been raising awareness for the need to develop alternative high-performance and energy-efficient semiconductor materials. This project aims to synthesize new atomically precise hybrid nanoarchitectures, comprising graphene nanostructures and porphyrins. Multistage organic syntheses will be carried out to obtain individual or fused precursors and several polymerization strategies will be explored, using in-solution synthesis and/or on-surface synthesis. The synthesized hybrid materials will be explored as gas sensors for future electronic devices. It is expected that the outcomes will allow to go beyond the state-of-the-art and take a step further towards the synthesis of new custom-made graphene/porphyrin nanoarchitectures, suitable for ideal gas sensing electronic devices.

Dr. Maryln D Melo
MSCA-2023-EF

Dr. Marilyn completed her PhD (2022) from Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), India under the supervision of Prof. Suresh B. Kalidindi and Prof. Ganapati V. Shanbhag. After PhD, she was awarded the SERB-National post-doctoral fellowship (2023-2025) to join the group of Prof. Bhagavatula L. V. Prasad at Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), India. She was granted the MSCA-PF to join the CiQUS-USC early in 2024.

Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) have emerged as promising electrode materials, but in order to extend their applicability, their energy density requires to be increased. In general, n-type based COFs can lead to high specific capacities while p type based COFs exhibit higher working potentials (>3 V vs Li/Li+). Thus, new design strategies to increase simultaneously the capacity and voltage are required. This project (BipoCOFs) aims to develop high energy density cathodes based on the construction of two-dimensional (2D) redoxbipolar COFs by combining n-type and p-type moieties within the same COF. In addition, the bipolar COFs will be exfoliated to improve ion diffusion and conductivity of the electrodes will be optimized in order to maximize the electrochemical performance.

Dr. Akshay Nair
MSCA-2023-EF

Dr. Akshay M. Nair received his PhD form Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (2022) under the supervision of Prof. Chandra M. R. Volla, after which he continued as a postdoctoral fellow in the same lab. In November 2023 he joined the Fañanás-Mastral lab at CIQUS to work on "photocatalytic functionalizations of light alkanes", and in 2024 he was awarded a MSCA-PF hosted in the same lab. 

The proposed project aims at developing efficient catalytic processes that allow direct methane functionalization by using it as a methylating reagent in a variety of C-Me bond forming reactions through dual transition metal photoredox catalysis. New pathways for the direct use of methane in reactions such as cross-couplings, C-H methylations and cascade cyclizations will be developed based on this novel bimetallic photocatalytic strategy. It is envisioned that the proposed research will open new avenues for the utilization of methane as feedstock for the synthesis of drugs and biorelevant molecules, thus contributing to the reduction in the emissions of this gas and helping to reach UN’s global methane initiative and to EU’s European Green Deal objective of achieving zero net greenhouse gas emission by 2050.

Dr. Iago Pozo
MSCA-2023-EF

Dr. Pozo received his PhD from University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in 2020. He carried out two predoctoral stays in the groups of Prof. Fürstner (MPI für Kohlenforschung) and Prof. Pericàs (ICIQ), and a postdoctoral stay between the research groups of Profs. L. Bogani and H. L. Anderson at the University of Oxford. In 2024, he returned to CiQUS and was awarded a MSCA-PF.

MAGNEPHENE will develop synthetic methods for the introduction of paramagnetic metal ions into graphene-like structures, aiming to create molecular materials that can be tuned in a rational way by chemical design at the interface of π-, d- and f-magnetism. Polydisperse materials lead the research field of organic electronics. Meanwhile, non-discrete systems based on inorganic solids, such as nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond or certain defects in silicon, are ahead in most applications in nanotechnology. These areas progress towards the creation of smaller and advanced devices, prompting the invention of increasingly sophisticated methods to control them. This project aspires to produce magnetic molecular materials that satisfy simultaneously the requirements of reproducibility, scalability, stability and functionality.

Dr. Andrés Cruz
MSCA-2023-EF

Dr. Cruz-Ortiz obtained his PhD degree from the National University of Cordoba, Argentina in 2020. In the same year, he joined to the Dr. Carla E. Giacomelli’s research group as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Physical Chemistry Research of Córdoba (Argentina). In 2024, he was awarded to the MSCA-Postdoctoral Fellowship.

DNA-origami is one of the most developed self-assembly technologies, widely used in the preparation of complex nanomaterials due to their characteristics of precise addressability and biocompatibility. For its part, it has been found that the DNA can stabilize highly fluorescent silver nanoclusters (DNA/AgNCS), whose fluorescence properties can be tuned as a function of the structure and composition of the DNA sequence. In this sense, DNA/AgNCs present great versatility for the design of detection tools based on their photophysical properties. The synergy between the fluorescence properties of DNA/AgNCs and the structural properties of DNA-origami will allow the creation of a new generation of hybrid nanomaterials. This project aims to obtain a biosensor based on origami- DNA/AgNCs for the breast cancer diagnosis through the detection of different miRNAs with high sensitivity, sequence specificity, high throughput, low cost, and easy access.

Dr. Satendra Kumar
MSCA-2023-EF

Dr. Kumar competed a Dual Degree (M.Tech-Ph.D.) Program in Materials Science Engineering and Technology at Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR)-CSIR-AMPRI, India. Later, he was awarded a MSCA-PF, joining the CiQUS in 2024.

PAHsSIB responds to the need for alternative energy storage due to limited Li resources, ethical concerns, and safety issues in LIBs. This project aims to the development of binder-free anodes for sustainable sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). By using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which will be prepared via electrochemical techniques, the project seeks to overcome current challenges in SIB anodes. PAHsSIB has four main goals: to develop scalable electrochemical techniques, to customize film properties, to enhance PAH film porosity with asphaltene (a petroleum industry waste), and to investigate PAH-based films as binder-free anodes for SIBs. The project combines synthetic techniques to create porous hierarchical PAH-based anodes using scalable electrochemical techniques and asphaltene waste materials (waste-to-energy).

Dr. Shaheen Pathan
MSCA-2022-EF

Dr. Pathan received her PhD (2019) from the University of Bordeaux (France) & Kumamoto University (Japan) under the Double Doctoral Degree program. In 2020, she joined Prof. Myungeun Seo’s group at KAIST (Korea). She was granted MSCA-PF in 2023. 

Molecular and photonic devices have promising applications with flexible and cost-effective organic materials. Generally, nanophotonic materials are nanocomposites having a structural organization with unique geometries of incorporated organic molecules and inorganic metal nanoparticles or metal complexes at nano-dimension. Chiral nanocomposites are of interest because their structures will have excellent optical activity and chiroptical properties.
We aim to create chiral plasmonic (CP) nanocomposites by organizing on the surface and creating in-situ plasmonic metal nanoparticles (MNPs) on helical poly(phenylacetylene)s (PPAs) chiral template, respectively. Thus, taking advantage of the tunability of the chiral template, the switchable CP materials will be created having chiroptical properties for an opposite handedness of (P)- and (M)-helix containing plasmonic nanoparticles, unlike most of the natural biomolecules supporting one-handedness of chirality.

Dr. Mayra Queme-Peña
MSCA-2022-EF

Dr. Quemé-Peña got a M.Sc. (2015) at Kyung Hee University (South Korea) and completed her PhD (2022) from Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary). She joined the Montenegro Group in January 2023 to work on new supramolecular functional systems. Later, she was awarded a MSCA-PF in 2023. 

Conceptually new synthetic membrane transporters constitute a key challenge for supramolecular chemistry and materials sciences. To date, the transport of hydrophilic bioactive substances across membranes has exploited the amphiphilic character of carriers and cargos. However, amphiphilic molecules face limitations such as toxicity and tendency to aggregate. Recently, it was described that superchaotropic boron clusters can transport a range of hydrophilic chemical substances across lipid membranes and inside cells. Nevertheless, until now, boron clusters have only been used as non-covalent carriers of the cargo of interest.

This project is aimed to investigate, for the first time, the covalent introduction of superchaotropic substituents into prototype peptide sequences and evaluate their potential to be self-transported across membranes.

Dr. Ahmad Tayyebi
MSCA-2022-EF

Dr. Tayyebi completed his PhD (2026) from Sharif University of Technology (Iran). From 2016 to 2023 he was postdoctoral researcher at Kyoto University (Japan), and University of Ulsan and Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Korea). In early 2023, he was granted the MSCA Fellowship, joining the CiQUS in 2024.

The project aims to develop an environmentally benign bias-free photoelectrochemical device for energy-efficient NH3 production to replace the energy-intensive and fossil-fuel-driven Haber-Bosch process. By choosing appropriate redox reactions (such as glycerol oxidation coupled with nitrate reduction) and the rational catalysts design, as well as the efficient integration of photoelectrodes using perovskite-based photocathodes, the photoelectrochemical device will not require external energy input.

This project will also deliver new catalyst design which is not only highly-selective and active, but also highly-durable for both the nitrate reduction and the electrocatalytic oxidation of glycerol, and a two-compartment photoelectrochemical device enabling solar-to-NH3 conversion efficiency by in situ valorisation of glycerol.

Dr. Esperanza Padín
MSCA-2022-EF

Dr. Esperanza Padín-González obtained her PhD degree from the University of Cantabria in 2020. In 2021, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (Dublin). In June 2022, she joined the CiQUS with a Margarita Salas postdoctoral fellowship. In early 2023, she was granted with the MSCA fellowship.

The programmability of the DNA origamis allows the synthesis of predictable and controllable sizes and shapes with almost atomic precision. In addition, the origamis can also be designed to include additional molecules, with high accuracy on the valency and the orientation. Thus, this technology offers a powerful tool to study and understand the biological behaviour of objects at the nanoscale since precise control over the size, shape and attachment of molecules can be achieved when other methods are unable to.

Based on the structural organization and spatial distribution of natural and specific nanoparticles, such as viruses, this project will exploit the atomic programmability of origamis to design a library of DNA nanostructures inspired on viral particles, which allow us a better understanding of the biological response of the nanoscale object.

Dr. Sajid Fazal
MSCA-2021-EF

Dr. Sajid Fazal received his PhD from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University in 2018. He then undertook postdoctoral work at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kumamoto University (Japan) and the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology from 2019 to 2021. He later joinned the CiQUS and was awarded the MSCA-PF in 2022.

Cell membrane nanoparticles are biomimetic nanoparticles that are synthesized from endogenous materials derived from the body. Such biomimetic systems have the potential to unlock the true potential of nanomedicines for cancer therapy and diagnosis as they possess inherent characteristics including homotypic targeting, immune-cell evasion, high bio-availability and low toxicity. In the present work, cell membrane nanoparticles will be used as delivery vehicles for stimuli-responsive nanoparticles and drugs in order to impart spatio-temporal control over drug release. Furthermore, co-loading of therapeutic and diagnostic nanoparticles will also be undertaken to develop a fully bio-active and bio-compatible theranostic nano-drug delivery system.

Dr. Naveen Tiwari
MSCA-2021-EF

Dr. Tiwari received his PhD degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2020. He then joined as a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, and later, the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He has been awarded the MSCA postdoctoral fellowship, and joined CiQUS in 2023.

Developing soft haptic skins which have a significant tactile response and are robust enough for daily use in heavy use consumer applications is challenging. Our approach uses novel self-healing elastomers to create haptic skins in the form of dielectric actuators.

The aim of this project is to bring our haptic skin to market by performing market studies to quantify the economic margin and identify most promising markets; establishing links with industrial partners and customers; developing and optimizing haptic skins for robustness and tactile response to meet the demands of industry partners; running user studies using the proof-of-concept devices to benchmark and establish the benefits to industry.

Dr. Adrián Sánchez
MSCA-2021-EF

Dr. Adrian Sanchez-Fernandez received the PhD degree in Chemistry from University of Bath (UK) in 2018. From 2018 to 2021 he was postdoctoral researcher at Lund University (Sweden), before joining the CiQUS in 2022 under a Maria Zambrano Fellowship. In early 2022, he was granted with the MSCA Fellowship. 

The delivery of nucleic acids as therapeutic methods holds great potential to provide new treatments against emergent pathogens and important diseases. However, the development of functional therapies is often hindered by the poor efficiency and stability of the current transport technologies.

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are non-aqueous sustainable liquids obtained through the combination of simple organic molecules. Overall, this project is aimed to discover a completely new range of potential applications of DES in membrane transport and biomolecular cargo preservation, which will open a new research field of potential applications in NA delivery.

Dr. David Bugallo
MSCA-2021-PF-GF

Dr. David Bugallo Ferrón received the PhD degree from University of Santiago de Compostela in 2021. During 2022 he started a Margarita Salas postdoctoral fellowship at Drexel University (USA).

Later on, he was awarded with a MSCA Global Fellowship with Drexel University as outgoing phase and CiQUS as returning phase.

This project focuses on the synthesis of thin films of two materials, which would be a world first, formed of widely available, non-toxic elements, Sr3GeO and Sr2MnGe2O7. The first is a narrow band gap semiconductor, and could replace highly toxic ones in use as mercury cadmium telluride. The second has recently been proposed as a Weyl semimetal. The fabrication of these materials as epitaxial thin films will enable the development of new devices, bringing us forward to greener electronics and creating scientific knowledge on new materials.

Dr. Rafael Ramos
MSCA-2019-EF

Dr. Ramos received the PhD degree from the Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) in 2010. From 2010 to 2020 he was postdoctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), University of Zaragoza (Spain) and Tohoku University (Japan). In 2020 he joined CIQUS as MSCA Fellow and later on, in 2021 he was awarded with the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship and appointed as CiQUS Junior Scientist.

This project explored magnon-phonon interaction effects in suitable magnetic insulating materials to investigate their potential for spin-based thermoelectric conversion and magnetic-field-controlled heat-rectification effects. We observed that the thermoelectric conversion mediated by the spin Seebeck effect can be strongly affected by the application of magnetic fields in ferrimagnetic oxides and it is dependent on the degree of magnetic compensation, advancing the knowledge on the mechanism for spin current generation in magnetic systems and having the potential for magnetic field control of thermoelectric conversion and possibly heat transport.

Dr. Ignacio Insua
MSCA-2018-EF

Dr. Insua received his PhD from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2018. He carried out a postdoctoral stay in the group of Prof. Greg G. Qiao at the University of Melbourne (Australia) before joining CiQUS in 2019 as a Juan de la Cierva-Formación fellow. Later he was awarded a MSCA-PF, and  in 2022 he was awarded with the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship.

The intracellular application of valuable peptide-based therapies is limited by the poor specificity and delivery efficiency of current nanotechnologies. In this project, we will employ dynamic covalent bonds to produce hybrid peptide-polymer nanoparticles with cell-targeting and permeation properties. Functionalisation with specific surface ligands will ensure specificity, while cellular uptake of these nanoparticles will trigger their disassembly and cargo release inside the cells. This new targeted drug delivery platform, combining stimuli-responsive, cell-penetrating and cell-targeting properties, will set a stepping stone towards overcoming the natural barriers of cells against internalising valuable therapeutics.

Dr. Carolina Carrillo
MSCA-2016-EF

Dra. Carolina Carrillo-Carrión obtained her PhD from the University of Cordoba in 2011. From 2013 to 2017 she was postdoctoral researcher at Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany) and CIC biomaGUNE (Spain), before joining the CiQUS as MSCA postdoctoral Fellow in 2018. In 2021 she joined the University of Seville as a Ramón y Cajal researcher, and later she obtained a permanent position at the Institute for Chemical Research (IIQ-CSIC, Seville).

The main goal of this project was to design stimuli-responsive “smart” nanoplatforms based on Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and to demonstrate their huge potential for various biomedical applications. Specifically, for: (i) intracellular transport and release of bioactive compounds in a controlled way through the application of light as an external stimulus, (ii) intracellular catalysis mediated by transition metals to carry out in situ conversion (inside the cell) of a pro-drug to drug, and (iii) intracellular nanoreactor for plasmonic-assisted thermocyclizations.

The project resulted in highly innovative aspects: i) the combination of nanoparticles with metal-organic frameworks for designing smart nanoplatforms; and ii) addressing the challenge of performing specific different functions in a controlled and bioorthogonal manner inside living cells, both in 2D configuration (adherent cells) and 3D configuration (spheroids as tissue models).

Dr. Alejandro Méndez
MSCA-2016-EF

Dr. Méndez received his PhD degree from University of Seville in 2011. He carried out postoctoral stays at the University of Twente (MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, Netherlands) and the University of Bordeaux (L'Institute des Sciences Moléculaires, France), before joining the CiQUS in 2016 and being granted with the MSCA in 2017. Currently he is associated to the Organic Chemistry Department at the University of Seville as Ramón y Cajal fellow.

GlycoNanoPep demonstrated the supramolecular incorporation of CPP into β-CD@AuNPs to give rise to new multicomponent systems where the nanoparticles properties can be easily tuned. We have thorougly characterized the interplay between assembly and stability of nanoparticles, and developed multivalency-based strategies towards efficient incorporation of CPP into host nanoparticles. We have demonstrated also complexation-dependend cell uptake of nanoparticles of negatively charged peptides.

Dr. Eric Langenberg
MSCA-2015-IF-GF

Dr. Eric Langenberg received the PhD degree from University of Barcelona in 2013. From 2013 to 2016, he was postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Nanoscience of Aragón (U. Zaragoza), at CiQUS and at the Institute of Materials Science of Aragón (CSIC). In 2016 he won the MSCA Fellowship (Global), consisting of two years at Cornell University (USA) and one year back at CiQUS. Since 2020 he is an assistant professor at the University of Barcelona.

The goal was to design a conceptually new device: a phonon valve, a nanostructured system to control phonon transport at will by an external field. The heat flow in Lead Titanate was proved to be highly tuneable by engineering the kind of domain wall configuration. Furthermore, the modulation of the thermal conductivity by this method is huge, as it can change as much as 70%. Therefore, Lead Titanate is an excellent candidate for being an active phonon barrier.

This fact, together with the possibility to modify the ferroelectric structures with an electric field, put the project on the verge of fulfilling its main goal: designing a phonon valve device.