Dr. Tania Hidalgo (H-index:10) has been awarded with the “Atracción del Talento” grant from the Community of Madrid in order to develop her investigation at the Advanced Porous Materials unit in the IMDEA Energy Institute (Madrid, Spain) as Postdoctoral Researcher. Her job is mainly focussed in the development of porous hybrid materials (Metal-Organic Frameworks, MOFs) for the protection & immobilization of macromolecules (proteins / enzymes / drugs). In 2014, she got a Joint PhD thesis in Material Chemistry & Pharmacy issued by the University of Versailles (France) and the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) under the supervision of Dr. P. Horcajada (H-index:53), C. Serre (H-index:98), leaders in the MOF field and their bioaplication, and M.J. Alonso (H-index:89), internationally recognized galenist. Her PhD project was based on the synthesis and characterization of novel drug delivery systems, the nanoscaled MOFs (nanoMOFs), modulating their fate by external surface modifications with attractive biopolymers depending on the desired administration route. After her PhD, she started her postdoctoral experience with a MedTrain Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Fellowship leaded by Prof. Caitriona O’Driscoll (H-index: 35) in UCC (Ireland), aimed at efficient drug delivery platforms for nucleic acid delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB).Over the past years, she has acquired experience on the design, characterization and engineering of nanocarriers, working with a variety of therapeutic molecules for encapsulation and release studies (proteins, peptides, drugs, etc.) as well as she has evaluated their interaction of diverse physiological barriers (intravenous, oral or cutaneous vias), biostability, nanosafety & in vitro efficacy assays. Under this environment, she discovered her enthusiasm for innovating methodologies that will stimulate development of research approaches and technologies broadly applicable to problems in human health such as Material science, Nanomedicine or Immunology.
She is a new member of the Young Scientist Committee, looking forward to contribute to the growing science community, meeting with scientists from all over the world. Moreover, she is actively participating in the organization of Pint of Science Spain (firstly in PoS Ireland 2018 as local manager and secondly in PoS Madrid 2019-2020, responsible of Communication Department) as well as volunteering with other public engagement activities such as the “European Researchers’ Night–Marie Curie Actions”, “The Science Week” or “International Day of Women and Girls in Science”. For her, to get involved in these dissemination activities, will promote future collaborations with leading research groups on different fields, reinforcing and expanding the scientific knowledge by tackling together the fundamental challenges associated with different high-societal concerned severe diseases.
