The Team

get to know us

Thomas schäfer

POLYMAT
University of the Basque Country

Thomas earned his BSc from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg and MSc in Chemical Engineering from Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). He obtained his PhD in membrane technology from Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

Currently he is Ikerbasque Research Professor and responsible of the NanoBioSeparations Group at POLYMAT UPV/EHU.

 

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Fernando Cossío

University of the Basque Country
Full Professor

Professor Fernando P. Cossío obtained his PhD in 1986 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) under the supervision of Prof. Claudio Palomo. From 1987 to 1988 he carried out a postdoctoral stay with Prof. Jean-Paul Picard at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Talence (France). In 1993 he was a visiting scholar at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA, USA) in the group of Prof. Kendall N. Houk.

He has been Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations (2001-2004) of the UPV/EHU. Since 2009 he has been appointed Scientific Director of Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for the Advancement of Science.

Throughout his scientific career, he has received, among other distinctions, the following academic awards: Ignacio Rivas Award, granted by the group of Organic Chemistry of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (2011). Janssen- Cilag Prize in Organic Chemistry (2013), as well as the Special Research Prize of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Zaragoza (2016). In 2020 he received the Medal of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry, and joined the Chemistry Europe Fellows class of 2020/21. In 2022, he has been appointed correspondent member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences.

His research interests include different aspects of medicinal chemistry (design, chemical synthesis and validation of inhibitors of epigenetic enzymes), physical and computational chemistry (study of reaction mechanisms), experimental and computational chemistry on (3+2), (4+2) and (8+2) cycloadditions and, more recently, the interface between supramolecular chemistry and particle physics (neutrinoless double beta decay nuclear reactions).

Twitter account: @CossioFp

Group website link

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Iván Rivilla

Donostia International Physics Center

Ivan Rivilla is an Ikerbasque Research Associate at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) in Donostia – San Sebastián. His research focuses on the design and synthesis of new chemical entities with diverse applications, including sensors for particle physics, pathogen detection, and antitumoral activity. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Material Sciences from the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real, Spain, in 2008. His academic excellence was recognized in 2003 with the university’s award for the best academic record. Additionally, he received the Manuel Laborde award in 2013 for the best innovative idea at the Gipuzkoa Campus through the Ma+D-spin-off initiative and again in 2020 with DÉTENTE-SARS.

Ivan has developed a robust postdoctoral career across several prestigious institutions before his current position at Ikerbasque. From 2009 to 2012, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Chemistry in Huelva (LCH) at the University of Huelva. He then joined the Biological Chemistry and Molecular Modeling group (QBMM) at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in Donostia – San Sebastián from 2012 to 2019. Following this, he conducted research at the DIPC from 2019 to 2020 before continuing his association there as an Ikerbasque Research Associate. Throughout his career, Ivan has significantly contributed to advancing scientific knowledge and practical solutions in his field, collaborating on many projects and leading human formation initiatives.

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Philipp Holliger

Program Leader
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Phil graduated with distinction from ETH Zürich, Switzerland before moving to the Cambridge Centre for Protein Engineering for Ph.D. and postdoctoral work with Sir Greg Winter (Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 2018). In 2005, he was appointed Program Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. His research spans the fields of chemical biology, synthetic biology and in vitro evolution.

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Carlos A. M. Afonso

Carlos Afonso

Full Professor
at Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon

Carlos A. M. Afonso (1962, Portuguese) is currently Full Professor at Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon. He received his PhD in 1990 under supervision of Professor C. D. Maycock, subsequently became Assistant Professor at New University of Lisbon and Associate Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon (2004-2010), and took a postdoctoral fellow (1990) at Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine (W.B. Motherwell) and sabbatical leave (1997/1998) at University of Bath,UK (Jonathan Williams) and at the University of Toronto (Robert Batey).

His current research is mainly focused on catalyzed synthetic methodologies, green chemistry (reactions in water, ionic liquids, PEG, solvent free, catalyst reuse, membrane technology, photochemical reactions, electrosynthesis, flow chemistry), synthetic valorisation of national natural resources, development of new ionic liquids, biotransformations and synthesis of bioactive molecules.

 

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Philipp Menke


University of Bonn

Philipp obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from FH Aachen – University of Applied Science, followed by a Master’s degree in molecular and applied biotechnology from RWTH Aachen. Throughout his academic journey, his focus revolved around the automation of laboratory procedures, the enhancement of bioprocesses, and proficient data management. Presently, Philipp is engaged in his doctoral research within the research group of Professor Günter Mayer at the University of Bonn. His research focuses on the identification and characterization of new desoxyribzymes for catalysis.

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Francisco Gama

Izertis

Seasoned professional with background in telecommunication engineering and bioinformatics, over a span of 15 years, his career has been characterized by a commitment to excellence, notably contributing to the development of disruptive analytical solutions for molecular diagnostics and laboratory information systems with Roche Diagnostics, Switzerland, and iSoft Healthcare, Spain, where has consistently collaborated with international multidisciplinary teams.

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philippe harb

Izertis

Philippe is a results-driven business consultant renowned for his expertise in AI-based process automation, leading IT teams, and data analytics, brings a wealth of experience in bridging technical infrastructure and business operations. With proficiency in Python, SQL, and BI technologies, Philippe has a proven track record of delivering rapid, tangible results for clients across various industries, notably telecom and banking. Merging strong business acumen with a relentless pursuit of continuous learning, Philippe is poised to help top consulting firms navigate digital transformation, ensuring sustainable growth through a unique blend of business development prowess and technical expertise.

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Kim Stryk

PhD student
University of Bonn

Kim obtained her B.Sc. and M.Sc. at TU Dortmund in Chemical Biology and then undertook an ERASMUS internship at the National University of Ireland in Galway. Currently, she is doing her PhD
in the research group of Professor Günter Mayer at the University of Bonn.

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Giuliana Mosconi

POLYMAT
University of the Basque Country

Giuliana Mosconi is a pharmacist and PhD in Biological Sciences from the National University of Cordoba, Argentina. She has pursued interdisciplinary research across microbiology, nanoparticles synthesis and polymer science. Her doctoral research has been focused on developing polymeric surfaces with antimicrobial activity using nanostructured hybrid materials for both biomedical and industrial applications.
In 2021, she initiated her postdoctoral project, funded by a fellowship from CONICET,
aimed at contributing to the development of hydrogels based on polyelectrolytes with
inorganic nanoparticles for biomedical applications.
Giuliana joined NanoBioSeparations group at POLYMAT, leaded by Dr. Thomas Schafer in 2024 to work on developing functionalized membranes integrated with DNA-based biocatalytic reactors.

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Jean-François Lutz

CNRS Research Director
Head of the Laboratory of Chemistry of Informational Macromolecules

Dr. Jean-François Lutz is the director of the Institute of Supramolecular Science and Engineering in Strasbourg. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Montpellier II in 2000 and his habilitation degree from the University of Potsdam in 2009. Before joining ISIS, he was post-doctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University (2001-2003), leader of the research group Nanotechnology for Life Science at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (2003-2010) and leader of the Precision Macromolecular Chemistry group at the Institut Charles Sadron (2010-2022).

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Michael Ryckelynck

Full professor of Biochemistry
Head of the team "Digital Biology of RNA"

Prof. Michael Ryckelynck acquired a robust expertise in RNA biology during a thesis he carried out under the direction of Dr. Richard Giégé (Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMC) that he concluded by obtaining a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology in 2005. In 2006, he joined the group of Professor Andrew Griffiths (Institute of Supramolecular Science and Engineering (ISIS), University of Strasbourg) first as a post-doctoral fellow prior to being appointed assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Strasbourg in 2007. During this period, he significantly contributed to the development of several key components of droplet-based microfluidics; in particular, he adapted the technology to perform serial reactions of molecular biology within picoliter water-in-oil droplets. In 2013, he joined IBMC (UPR 9002-Architecture and Reactivity of RNA) where he created his own group (“Digital Biology of RNA”) in 2016. The team has now acquired a strong worldwide recognized expertise in the use of microfluidic-assisted functional screening of RNA (or chemistries of nucleic acids) libraries to discover new light-up RNA aptamers, fluorogenic RNA-based biosensors and aptamer inhibitor. In 2021 he co-founded the start-up company MicroOmix S.A.S. that develops microfluidic equipment and reagents for the secretomic profiling of cell populations with single cell resolution.”

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Juan Luis Vázquez Rodriguez

University of Guanajuato, México

Dr. Juan Luis Vázquez Rodríguez obtained his BS degree (2016) and MS degree (2019) at the University of Guanajuato, in Guanajuato, Mexico. He did his PhD at the same university under the direction of Dr. Miguel Ángel Vázquez Guevara, where he worked with organometallic compounds as carbenes in the strategic synthesis of fluorescent compounds.

The PhD was complemented with a doctoral stay at the University of the Basque Country (2022), under the direction of Dr. Fernando P. Cossío Mora, where he carried out the synthesis of fluorescent bicolor indicators, obtaining the PhD in chemical sciences with Summa cum laude recognition in 2023 with the thesis entitled “Synthesis of new fluorescent organic dyes: photophysical evaluation and their potential applications”.

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Emma TIXIER

PhD Candidate
Team "Digital Biology of RNA"

Emma graduated from the Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg with an engineering degree in biotechnology and a master in synthetic biology. Always interested by the applications of biotechnology she did her master thesis at the Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology at UGent where she worked on an ESA funded project combining microbiology and flow-cytometry.
She continues working on biotechnology applications by  doing her PhD research in the lab of Prof. M. Ryckelynck at the IBMC in Strasbourg. She is focused on the development of functional nucleic acids in non-conventional solvents by adapting the droplet-microfluidic pipeline to these solvents.

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Ala Covas

PhD student
Université de Strasbourg

Ala completed her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg in 2021. Throughout her Chemistry Biology and Medicine Master’s program at the same university, she gained experience through multiple internships focusing on the chemistry-biology interface, particularly in peptide synthesis, bioconjugation, and catalysis.
Currently pursuing a PhD within Dr. Jean François Lutz’s team at the University of Strasbourg, her research revolves around synthesizing sequence-defined polymers and exploring their interactions with ionic liquids.

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Leire San José

University of the Basque Country

Leire San José obtained her BSc in Chemistry from the University of the Basque Country, and her MSc in Forensic Science from the University of Strathclyde (UK), obtaining the specialization in Forensic Chemistry. During her studies, she spent six months at The University of Texas at Austin.
She has worked as a postgraduate researcher at Tyndall National Institute (Ireland) and QPS GmbH (Austria).
Leire joined the Nanohybrids and Interactive Polymers group in the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP-CSIC) in Madrid in 2020, where she focused on the research of fluorescent ZnO quantum dots coupled with RAFT functionalized polymers.
Since 2023, she works in the NanoBioSeparations research group leaded by Prof. Thomas Schäfer at POLYMAT studying biomolecular interactions on diverse interfaces.

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Amanda Ribeiro Guimarães

University of the Basque Country

She earned her PhD and MSc in Science, specializing in the development of Gaussian Basis sets for DFT calculations, at the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo (IQSC–USP). From 2021 to 2023, she was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship by the European Commission to conduct in silico drug design research at the University of the Basque Country in Donostia/San Sebastián. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in in silico drug design at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) in Donostia-San Sebastián.

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Óscar Rodríguez Ballesteros

University of the Basque Country

obtained its physics degree in the University of Valladolid (Spain) and a master degree in quantum physics at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). Afterwards he obtained his PhD in the Materials Physics Center (MPC/CFM), under the supervision of Dr. Aitor Bergara and Dr. Aritz Leonardo, focused on the implementation of computational bioinformatic techniques to the study of ion channels and protein folding. Currently he works at the Donostia International Physics Center as a postdoctoral researcher specialized in the areas of computational protein design and modelling.

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Antonio Domènech L.

Antonio Domènech L. is an engineer in Industrial Electronics and Automation from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain. Early in his career, he transitioned into data science, focusing on artificial intelligence and the development of technologies to improve accessibility.
From 2017 to 2020, he participated in seven hackathons around the world, winning awards in two of them for AI based projects.
In 2020, he co-founded SLAIT, where he served as CTO for three years, developing a solution to translate American Sign Language (ASL) into English text with AI.
In 2024, Antonio joined the Artificial Intelligence Innovation Department at Izertis as a Technical Project Manager, working on managing and developing projects that integrate advanced AI solutions. Including the participation in the Funambulist project by developing an AI toolkit.

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Danae Carreras-Garcia

University of Havana, Cuba

Danae is a mathematician from the University of Havana, Cuba, who transitioned to applied statistics and artificial intelligence during her MSc in Mathematical Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, where she is now completing her PhD. His research focuses on predictive modeling and deep learning for healthcare, including appointment scheduling optimization, and AI for patient stratification and classification.
In 2022, she collaborated with École Polytechnique in France as a visiting researcher, advancing deep learning techniques for longitudinal healthcare data. In 2023, she joined Aeroengy as a data scientist, developing mathematical models for energy efficiency and aeronautical system optimization. In 2024, she became part of the Emerging Technologies team at Izertis, contributing to R&D projects for the optimization of AI models for public and private initiatives. Since August 2024, she has collaborated with Funambulist on advancing AI applications in complex chemical synthesis, unlocking new possibilities in digital chemistry through autonomous experimentation and global knowledge modeling.

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Maria Brunderova

Postdoctoral Research Associate
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Dr. Maria Brunderova completed her BSc. and MSc. degrees in Organic Chemistry at the University of Pavol Jozef Safarik in Kosice, Slovakia, where she focused on the total synthesis of sphingoid-like compounds under the supervision of Associate Professor Martinkova. She then pursued a PhD. in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology, jointly at Charles University and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague, Czech Republic, under the guidance of Professor Hocek. Her PhD thesis explored novel enzymatic methods for generating nucleobase-modified DNA, RNA, and XNA using engineered polymerases. After completing her doctoral studies, Maria joined Dr. Philipp Holliger’s laboratory at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, where she is currently working on the in vitro evolution of catalytic XNAs.

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Günter Mayer

University of Bonn

Günter graduated from the University of Bonn, Germany before moving to a Biotech Start-up in Munich. In 2004, he started his own academic career and was appointed Reader of Translational Biology in 2009 at the Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland.  Since 2010, he is Professor of Chemical Biology and Chemical Genetics at the Life & Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Bonn and heads the Center of Aptamer Research & Development. His research spans the fields of chemical biology of aptamers and synthetic & systems biology.

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Carmelo Di Primo

University of Bordeaux
INSERM U1212 - CNRS UMR 5320 ARNA Laboratory Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie

C. Di Primo graduated in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of Paris-Jussieu (France). After two years at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana (USA) he was recruited as an INSERM researcher at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (Paris, France). In 1998 he moved to Bordeaux (INSERM-University of Bordeaux) where he started to develop an expertise using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for investigating interactions with nucleic acids. Current projects include the use of SPR in a clinical context (patented method), the use of SPR and bio-layer interferometry (BLI) for understanding molecular interactions with structured nucleic acids (aptamers and G-quadruplexes) and how protein-RNA complexes regulate translation in eukaryotes. More than ever part of his research activity is dedicated to analyzing the origin of SPR and BLI signals and promoting best practices with these techniques, which are too often misused. C. Di Primo is scientific advisor of the SPR/BLI facility at the European Institute of Chemistry and Biology (Pessac, France) and teaches these techniques in Master’s degrees at the University of Bordeaux and at the Ecole nationale Supérieure de Technologie des Biomolécules de Bordeaux (engineering school).

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