Zheng Ma, PhD candidate at the N&N Group, attended Joint European Magnetic Symposia (JEMS2019) in Uppsala, Sweden (26-30 August). He gave a talk “Structural and Magnetic Properties of Cr-substituted ε-Fe2O3 Nanoparticles”. It was a collaborative work between our group (supervised by Martí Gich) and CMEOS group in ICMAB, as well as our colleagues from ALBA synchrotron.
Abstract: Iron oxides are among the major constituents of the deep Earth’s interior. Among them, the epsilon phase of Fe2O3 is one of the less studied polymorphs and there is a lack of information about its structural, electronic and magnetic transformations at extreme conditions. Here we report the precise determination of its equation of state and a deep analysis of the evolution of the polyhedral units under compression, thanks to the agreement between our experiments and ab-initio simulations. Our results indicate that this material, with remarkable magnetic properties, is stable at pressures up to 27 GPa. Above 27 GPa, a volume collapse has been observed and ascribed to a change of the local environment of the tetrahedrally coordinated iron towards an octahedral coordination, finding evidence for a different iron oxide polymorph. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06966-9
On 10th Otober 2018 Anna Roig attended the 2018 Albus Scientific Awards Ceremony at Grifols headquarters in Sant Cugat. As one of the two awardees of the 2017 edition, she presented the results on the Albumin-iron oxide nanocages project.Carlos Moya is the post-doc working in this project. This year’s award recipients are:
Paolo Caraceni, MD, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna Bologna, Italy Project: Long‐term albumin administration in patients with decompensated cirrhosis: clinical and pathophysiological implications
Hanadi Sleiman, PhD, Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada Project: Albumin as a passive targeting agent: effect of the protein binding on stability, bio distribution and therapeutic outcome of oligonucleotides and DNA nanoparticles
New year and new members at the N&N group! Today we introduce our postdoctoral fellow Carles Moya:
I obtained my Bs.C. in Chemistry in 2008 at the Universitat de Barcelona. After that, I studied a Master degree at the same University. During my research I focused on the synthesis of bio-organometallic compounds under the supervision of prof. Concepcion Lopez. Then I joined to Magnetic Nanomaterials group under the supervision of prof. Amilcar Labarta where I developed new chemical routes to obtain magnetic Nanoparticles based on iron oxides. Their magnetic properties were also studied and correlated to their structural properties. After my PhD I took a postdoctoral position at the University of Carnegie Mellon where I worked in prof. Sara Majetich’s group. In Pittsburgh, I focused on the study of the magnetic and structural properties of assemblies of single-crystal cube-shaped and spherical Fe3O4 Nanoparticles obtained from high temperature decomposition method. During this period I acquire a wide array of skills related to performing research in nanotechnology. These skills include synthesis of nanomaterials by chemistry methods, preparation of nanoparticle assemblies, surface functionalization, structural and magnetic characterization among others. Recently I joined to Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites group with a Grifolls grant. Here I am going to study albumin nanocages using iron oxide Nanoparticles as a template. In addition, I am going to focus on the potential biomedical applications of those structures such as MRI contrast agents and drug delivery.
As the new academic course starts, we have new members in the N&N group: We welcome Michaela and Gustavo!
Michaela comes from the Czech Republic and she is going to work with Marti Gich for a short period:
I am going to study study epsilon-Fe2O3 in detail: its synthesis, properties, and applications. In the laboratory, I am going to study sol-gel process for preparation of iron oxide nanoparticles. Afterwards, the nanoparticles will be characterized by different techniques to examine their composition, structure and magnetic properties.
Gustavo is a permanent researcher of CONICET, Argentina. He will be at the ICMAB for a year in N&N group thanks to a grant from the Argentine government.
My current scientific interests are focused on magnetic colloids, dipolar interactions between particles and effects of liquid matrix solidification on the final distribution of nanoparticles as well as distribution of their anisotropy orientations. I am also interested on magnetic systems relevant to potential applications in medicine. In particular, heat dissipation for magnetic hyperthermia and magnetic induced transport for magnetofection gene therapy. At the N&N group, I will work on the synthesis and characterization of anisotropic magnetic nanoparticles as generators of magnetomechanical stimuli inside cancer cells as a new way to induce apoptotic cell death. We will work in performing insitu observation by optical microscopy of magnetic-microparticles movements induced by rotating magnetic fields.
Elisa carried out her PhD here at ICMAB, within the N&N Group, and in collaboration with Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), under the supervision of Anna Roig (ICMAB) and Anna Rosell (VHIR), in the framework of the UAB PhD program.
The awards ceremony will take place on November 18, 2016, at 6.30 pm, at Hotel Campus (Edifici Blanc).
Elisa is now working in a startup biopharmaceutical company (Addex Therapeutics) in Geneva (Switzerland), which develops new molecules for the treatment of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and epilepsy. Elisa is investigating the effects of these molecules in humans, in different Clinical Research studies.
Congratulations Elisa!
More information about the Extraordinary PhD award resolution here.
The thesis can be found in the UAB Digital Document Repository : http://ddd.uab.cat/record/128025