In January, CRS researchers gathered in Albacete, Spain, for the 16th Spanish-Portuguese Conference on Controlled Drug Delivery. Organized by the Spanish-Portuguese Local Chapter (SPLC), this biannual congress brings together industry experts and academic scientists to showcase the latest advances in drug delivery technology and translational research. This year’s event was the most successful in history with over 180 attendees and 9 technical sessions over three days.
“A focus for this year’s meeting was market implementation of novel therapeutics,” described Dr. Cristina Fornaguera Puigvert, Associate Professor at Institut Químic de Sarrià and newly appointed President of the SPLC. This theme was emphasized with a novel Roundtable for Advanced Therapies and Medicinal Products session, inviting perspectives from Professor María José Alonso (University of Santiago de Compostela), Dr. Maria Teresa Peracchia (Sanofi), and Eva Martín (Kinrel). The panelists integrated their experiences across academia, industry, consulting, and technology transfer to explore challenges related to the clinical translation of drug delivery systems.
The Roundtable for Advanced Therapies and Medicinal Products was a new and highly successful session
“Another special highlight of this year’s conference was the plenary lecture, which was showcased online for all CRS members,” shared Dr. María Victoria Lozano López, Associate Professor of Pharmacy at University of Castilla-La Mancha and Past President of the SPLC. The plenary lecture was given by Dr. David Mooney, Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard University, who discussed his group’s latest research on therapeutic vaccines. The livestream was shared with all 19 CRS Local Chapters, boosting global engagement with the meeting.
The rest of the conference featured 12 keynote speakers, more than 40 oral presentations, and 100 poster presentations. Technical session topics included Therapy and Prevention of Infectious Diseases (invited lecturer: Dr. Joana Azeredo, Associate Professor at the University of Minho), Cancer Treatment and Targeted Therapies (invited lecturer: Dr. María Blanco, Professor at University of Navarra), 3D Systems, Bioprinting and Drug Testing Platforms (invited lecturer: Dr. Claus-Michael Lehr, Professor at Saarland University), Gene Delivery and Cell-Free Therapies (invited lecturer: Dr. Mariana Oliveira, Assistant Researcher at the University of Aveiro), Mucosal and Skin Drug Delivery (invited lecturer: Dr. Alejandro Paredes, Senior Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast), Emerging Technologies Machine Learning and Advanced Tools in Drug Delivery (invited lecturer: Dr. Khair Alhareth, Associate Professor at Université Paris Cité), Oral Drug Delivery (invited lecturer: Dr. David Brayden, Professor at University College Dublin) and Nanoparticle Design and Engineering (invited lecturer: Dr. Noemi Csaba, Associate Professor at University of Santiago de Compostela). Awards were given for Best PhD Thesis, 1st/ 2nd/ 3rd Oral and Poster Presentations, and SPLC Representative to the CRS Annual Meeting.
Attendees came from beyond Spain and Portugal, representing countries across Europe including France and the UK. In a post-event survey, all respondents rated the conference as highly successful, in particular giving high ratings for the invited speaker talks (4.9/5) and that they would recommend the event to a colleague (4.9/5).
The conference was supported by 13 sponsors, marking the highest level of sponsorship for a SPLC meeting in history. Sponsors reviewed the meeting very positively, calling it a “huge success.” Significant logistical and facilities support was also provided by the University of Castilla-La Mancha. The conference was organized by the SPLC Organizing Committee, a Scientific Committee, and the Local Chapter’s Young Scientists Committee. More information about the conference and organizing committee members can be found on the conference website.
The SPLC Young Scientists Committee organizes a biannual conference on the off-years between SPLC Conferences. The 6th SPLC Young Scientists Meeting will be held in 2027 in Madrid.
For more information about the SPLC and to stay updated with future events, check out the Local Chapter website and join as a member. SPLC membership is open to all CRS members.
Andrea Joseph is an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University
