14th Early Stage Researchers Workshop in Nanoscience

Advanced atomic force microscopy: a tool for nanoscience and nanotechnology 

Abstract

Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) techniques (STM, AFM, SNOM…) have been crucial for the emergence of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. These fields represent new frontiers to study a variety of physical, chemical and biological phenomena on a scale at least 10000 times smaller than the world we normally observe. In this talk, I will present my research of the last years on low dimensional systems through the use and development of advanced Atomic force Microscopy (AFM) tools. I will start with a brief introduction on instrumental and methodological contributions to the advancement of nanoscale characterization techniques, including a novel and simple method to fabricate nanoelectrodes by AFM manipulation and assembly of metal nanowires. Then I will comment the work done on tuning graphene properties by applying ultrahigh pressures locally, along with the isolation of antimonene, one of the few elementary 2D allotropes. I will go on showing the electrical characterization of different low dimensional systems: long molecular wires, and ultrathin hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) layers.

Biography

Pablo Ares completed his studies in Physics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2003, and then joined Nanotec Electrónica S.L. (a company devoted to the design, development and commercialization of scanning probe microscopes, SPMs) as an Application Scientist. In 2014, he moved to the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), where he obtained his Ph.D. in 2017. He then joined the Graphene Group at the University of Manchester (UK), where he worked with Prof. Kostya Novoselov and Dr. Laura Fumagalli as a Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellow. In 2020, he returned to the UAM as an Assistant Professor & IFIMAC Junior Leader, where he is currently a Ramón y Cajal Fellow since 2022. He has obtained national and international competitive funding, including a prestigious ERC Starting Grant 2024 for his project (HeaT2Defects). His research activity has a strong  multidisciplinary character within the framework of nanoscience and nanotechnology, focusing on novel low-dimensional systems, with particular attention to 2D materials, using and developing SPM tools.

Hybrid vectors involving extracellular vesicles and nanoparticles for cancer treatment and diagnosis

Abstract

Cancer is a multifaceted global health issue that continues to demand new solutions. The advent of nanotechnology has added nanoparticle (NPs)-based approaches to the available toolbox in cancer therapy and diagnosis. Indeed, there are now nanosystems with extraordinary properties, including drug loading, antibody functionalization, imaging agents and remote activation capabilities. However, these promising advances have so far failed to materialize in the clinic, largely due to a lack of selective delivery to tumors. Nanomedicine was heralded as the solution to this lack of the treatment efficacy against cancer. But, the delivery of therapeutic nanoparticles (NPs) to cancer sites needs to be dramatically improved. In the last years, the “Trojan Horse” concept has been postulated as an emerging strategy for enhancing tumor targeting efficiency. Among “Trojan Horse” strategies, extracellular vesicles (EVs) appear to hold the greatest potential as tools for the solution of the targeting challenge. They are nanovesicles (50-120 nm of diameter) from endocytic nature secreted by almost all cell types. In this communication, I will present an overview of the combination of multidisciplinary approaches based on the latest advances in the field of nanomedicine and in the area of the EVs for efficiently loading EVs with therapeutic NPs (for instance with optical hyperthermia properties or with bioorthogonal catalytic activity) or imaging agents, and selectively delivering them to target tumor sites. I will present some of the last novel strategies developed for the encapsulation and engineering of therapeutic nanotechnological materials within EVs and their application for cancer treatment and diagnosis.

Biography

BSc in Biotechnology (2015), MSc in Nanostructured Materials (2016) and PhD in Chemical Engineering by the University of Zaragoza (2020) holding a predoctoral FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education. During her PhD she joined the groups of Prof. Andrew De Mello (ETH Zurich) and of Prof. Pierangelo Metrangolo (University of Milan). In 2021 she moved to the Mario Negri Institute (Milan), joining the group of Prof. Luisa De Cola as postdoctoral researcher where she was granted with a two-year AIRC-for Italy fellowship focused on the design of breakable on demand and stimuli-responsive organosilica NPs for biomedical applications. In 2023, she obtained a prestigious Postdoctoral AECC Talent Fellowship and moved back to Spain to the NFP group led by Prof. Jesús Santamaría, part of INMA from the University of Zaragoza. In 2024, she gained a Marie Sklodowska Curie individual Fellowship that will start in the following year. Main current research lines: 1) the combination of nanostructured materials, molecular biology and biochemistry with physicochemical, microfluidics and nanotechnological techniques in the field of extracellular vesicles; and in 2) the development of novel selective nanoscaled-drug delivery tools for cancer treatment and diagnosis.