A brand new ICN2 group led by Prof. Kostas Kostarelos aims to bring nano closer to medicine
Nanomedicine@ICN2
Prof. Kostas Kostarelos becomes senior group leader at the ICN2 after a long-standing collaboration that is now reinforced through the ICN2 Severo Ochoa talent attraction strategy. He will direct the Nanomedicine Lab at the University of Manchester and lead the new ICN2 Nanomedicine Group. With his arrival and the upcoming hiring of a series of collaborators, the ICN2 develops a stronger profile in the deployment of biomedical research lines with a special focus on graphene and 2D materials. Prof. Kostarelos has been leading the Graphene Flagship Biomedical Technologies Work Package since its inception with fellow ICN2 group leader, ICREA Prof. Jose A. Garrido, as the Work Package Deputy Leader.
Prof. Kostas Kostarelos has joined the ICN2 as a Severo Ochoa Distinguished Professor to lead a new group devoted to Nanomedicine. He is developing this new endeavour while maintaining his positions at the University of Manchester as Professor and Chair of Nanomedicine at the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. The Nanomedicine Lab there is a component of the National Graphene Institute and the Manchester Cancer Research Centre. This announcement marks the culmination of a process that started years ago and brings to the ICN2 an influential researcher with a profound impact in the translation of carbon 2D nanomaterials, like graphene, into pharmaceuticals, biotech and medical devices, together with his know-how and network of international connections.
Prof. Kostarelos will lead two teams in nanomedicine (ICN2 and University of Manchester) in a joint effort to develop medicines at the nanoscale. His research covers multiple areas of application, such as clinical bioelectronic and microfluidic devices; nanomaterials as vector systems for therapeutic and diagnostic applications; development of graphene and 2D materials in medicine; and the discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in oncology and neurology. Graphene and 2D materials will play a central role in a number of research lines carried out in the context of the Graphene Flagship Biomedical Technologies Work Package.
The new ICN2 Nanomedicine Group will be hiring junior and senior members over the upcoming weeks and months, strengthening the institute’s profile in the study and development of new and existing nanoparticle systems and carbon nanomaterials for biomedical applications. The primary therapeutic targets for clinical translation of these technologies have been cancer (solid and metastatic) and brain pathologies (Parkinson’s, stroke, Alzheimer’s, glioblastoma). As such this new group reinforces the already well established Health Application Domain within the ICN2 Strategic Plan as developed for the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation (SEV-2017-0706) funded by the Spanish State Research Agency.
Please join us in welcoming Prof. Kostas Kostarelos as new ICN2 Group Leader and celebrating a stronger ICN2 in the biomedical arena.
