Nicholas A. Peppas, Sc.D.
Dr. Nicholas A. Peppas, Sc.D., recognized with more than 180 international awards, 14 honorary doctorates and memberships in 18 Academies, serves as the Cockrell Family Regents Chaired Professor in the Departments of Chemical, Biomedical Engineering, Pediatrics, Surgery and Pharmacy, and is the Director of the Institute of Biomaterials, Drug Delivery and Regenerative Medicine of the University of Texas at Austin (USA). Peppas is a strong proponent of a multinational, diverse, inclusive and convergent approach to solve medical problems in many countries around the world.
He has more than 1,800 publications with 192,460 citations (H=201) and is coauthor or coeditor of 37 books. His inventions (54 US patents) include articular cartilage, new vocal cords, non-thrombogenic biomaterials, artificial organs, and delivery systems for insulin (diabetes), calcitonin (osteoporosis), interferon-beta (multiple sclerosis) and other applications. He has trained more than 123 doctoral students, has educated and taught more than 5,600 students. More than 1,050 scientists have worked with him in his laboratories and have published papers with him.
Peppas has had numerous recognitions by academies, universities, companies and organizations in the USA, Canada, Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, UK, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Greece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Czechia, India, China, Korea, Japan and Singapore.
His work on biomaterials, drug delivery, bionanotechnology and nanomaterials follows a multidisciplinary approach by blending modern molecular and cellular biology with engineering principles to design the next generation of therapeutic agent release systems for treatment of diabetes, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, medical systems, and devices for patient treatment. His contributions have been translated into more than twenty medical products with multibillion dollar markets. It is estimated that 800 million patients have benefited from the products that have come out of the fundamental principles, translational research, development and commercialization efforts of Professor Peppas via new companies, devices, and drug delivery systems. Over the past four decades, he has set the fundamentals and rational design of biomedical systems and developed models of drug and protein diffusion in controlled release devices and biological tissues.
José M. Pérez de la Lastra, Ph.D.
Dr. Pérez de la Lastra is a scientist at the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology of CSIC. He leads the macromolecule biotechnology group in the department of Life and Earth Sciences. His research is based on the development of biotechnological applications from the immune system of different organisms. In particular, his work focuses on the study of the innate immune defence of animals that live in pathogenic environments, in which they have to be adapted to resist a very high microbial load.
Currently, his work focuses on the identification, characterization and biotechnological production of antimicrobial peptides encoded in the genome with application in medicine and agriculture under the One Health approach. He also studies the use of chicken egg yolk (IgY) antibodies as antimicrobial agents for biotechnological applications.
Dr. Pérez de la Lastra is author of more than 100 SCI articles (index H of 32) and several book chapters. He has experience in teaching master’s and doctorate degrees at several Universities (UCO, UPNA, UCLM, MP and ULL). He has supervised a total of five doctoral theses and several TFGs and TFMs, some of them international under the Erasmus program. He has experience in reviewing publications and projects in the area and in disseminating the results of research in conferences, seminars and workshops.
Scientific output: SCI articles: 118, Publications ranked Q1: 79, Citations from most cited paper: 441, Book chapters: 16, Overall citations: 3467 (1525 from 2018), H-index: 32 (20 since 2018), i10-index: 59 (32 from 2018) (source: google schoolar, January 2023), RG index: 1.361 (Researchgate, January 2023), Research 6-year-tracks: 5 (last in 2021). Patents: 2 (1 PCT), Technology transfer contracts: 6
Juan M. Irache Garreta, Ph.D.
Dr. Juan M. IRACHE studied Pharmacy at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, where he also obtained a Ph.D. in 1990. After his military service, from January 1992 till October 1993, he worked as a postdoc under the supervision of Professor Dominique Duchêne at the Department of Galenics in the University of Paris South (URA CNRS 1218, led by Prof. Francis Puisieux) in Châtenay-Malabry, France.
Previous to his appointment at the University of Navarra, he was Associate Professor (Maître de Conférences Universitaire; Arreté du Journal officiel de la République française of 29/September/1993) of Biopharmaceutics at the University of Rouen (France) from 1993-1996.
Since 2009, he is Full Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology.
Between 1997 and 2003, Dr. Irache was a member of the Promoter Committee of the post-grade specialization in Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy (Especialización en Farmacia Industrial y Galénica, Minister of Education and Science). In 2004, he became a member of the National Committee of this post-grade specialization in Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy. He served as President of the Spanish-Portuguese Local Chapter of the Controlled Release Society (2005-2006), member of the council of APGI (Association de Pharmacie Galénique Industrielle, International Society of Drug Delivery Sciences and Technology; 2000-2008), President of SEFIG (Spanish Society of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology), and as member of the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP, 2008-2012).
Currently, he leads the research group Nanomedicines and Vaccines (NANO-VAC) (http://www.unav.edu/web/investigacion/investigadores/grupos-de-investigacion/biomedicina-y-salud). His research is focused on the design and evaluation of nanocarriers (e.g. polymer nanoparticles, SNEDDS, protein nanodevices) for (i) the delivery of drugs, actives and biomacromolecules through biological barriers, and (ii) the development of new mucosal adjuvants for vaccination and immunotherapy.
He is co-author of more than 250 peer reviewed articles, over 35 book chapters and 18 issued inventions covered by patents. In the same way he has participated in the supervision of more than 30 Ph.D. dissertations and 15 post-doctoral fellowships. In the last years, three companies have been issued from developments carried out in the research group: Bionanoplus (https://www.bionanoplus.com/), InnoUp Farma SL (http://innoupfarma.com/), and Nucaps Nanotechnology SL. http://www.nucapsnanotechnology.com/es/).
In November 2012, he was elected European Corresponding member of the French National Academy of Pharmacy and, since April 2016, he is Corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Catalonia (Spain). Finally, since 2019, he is Editor for Reviews in International Journal of Pharmaceutics.
Ingrid Morales Pérez, Ph.D.
Dr. Morales is a faculty member at the University of La Laguna (ULL) in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences within the Medicine Section. She is currently co-directing the group focused on Neurology and Experimental Neurobiology.
Her research revolves around understanding the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging, specifically studying neurodegenerative and neuroprotective processes in Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Morales is currently investigating the development of potential new drugs and alternative drug administration routes beyond traditional methods to assist patients.
Throughout her scientific career, she has worked extensively at the ULL in the group led by Dr. Manuel Rodríguez Díaz. For the past 15 years, she has been employed by CIBERNED (Network Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research), allowing her to collaborate on various projects with prominent national groups in this field. Notable collaborations include working with Dr. Carlos Matute (University of the Basque Country, Bilbao), Dr. Obeso (Integral Center for Neuroscience at HM Hospitals, Madrid), and Dr. María Cruz Oroz (Parkinson’s disease and neurodegeneration at BCBL-Basque Center on Cognition, San Sebastián). These experiences have provided her with extensive knowledge of Parkinson’s disease from different perspectives, including genetics and clinical aspects.
Dr. Morales is author of more than 30 SCI articles. She also has experience in teaching barchelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at ULL and UM universities (UCO and ULL). She has been supervised 2 doctoral theses and several TFGs.