Dr. Sara Hernández Mejías

Sara earned her BSc in Physics in 2011 from the University of the Basque Country (UPV, Spain) and her MSc in Biophysics in 2012 from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM, Spain). She completed her PhD in Biophysics summa cum laude (2016) under Prof. Cortajarena, focusing on nanostructured photo- and electro-active materials based on engineered protein self-assembly. From 2016 to 2022, she conducted postdoctoral research in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain, studying photoinduced processes in synthetic photosystems using pump-probe spectroscopy. In 2022, she established the BioEngineered Nanophotonics Research Group, bringing together her interdisciplinary expertise in biohybrid materials. Her research has been supported by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the Spanish Ministry of Science, and private foundations such as La Caixa and BBVA. She has received the AntalGenics Award from the Spanish Society of Biophysics and a distinction from the FECYT, recognizing her as a leading scientist in biohybrid development.

Email. sara.hernandez@imdea.org

Telephone number. (+34) 91 299 8854

ORCID. 0000-0002-7440-2657

Bluesky account. @sarahmejias

Google Scholar profile (Click here)

Atikur Rahman (PD Since July 2024)

Atikur obtained his BSc (Hons.) and MSc in Chemistry in 2013 and 2015 from the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India. For his doctoral study, he joined the PPN Group in 2017 at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, India. From 2017 to 2022, he pursued a PhD in Chemistry at INST, focusing on investigating the underlying mechanism of exceptional photophysical properties in dye-loaded gold nanoparticles by tuning plasmon-molecule coupling using Organoboron compounds. He also worked as a Research Associate from 2022 to 2023 at the same institute for developing stimuli-responsive plasmon-molecule coupled systems. In 2024, he started his postdoc in the bio-engineered nanophotonics group at IMDEA Nanoscience as IDEAL Postdoctoral Fellow. In the group, he will evaluate different strategies for generating Artificial photoenzymes for photocatalysis. He enjoys watching football matches, literature, and movies.

Position. Postdoctoral researcher (Since August 2024)

Research line. Generating Artificial Photoenzymes for Photocatalysis.

Email. atikur.rahman@imdea.org

X account. @atikur_chem

Google Scholar profile (Click here)

Angelo Alonzo Beratto Ramos (PD Since March 2024)

Angelo obtained his BSc in Bioengineering in 2016 from the Universidad de Concepción (UdeC), Chile. He joined the Interdisciplinary Group in Marine Biotechnology (GIBMAR), where he worked on the spectroscopic characterization of algal biomass, production of bioactive compounds, and optimization of microalgal cultures. From 2018 to 2023, he pursued a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the UdeC, focusing on the production, reconstitution, and immobilization of recombinant proteins onto porous surfaces to generate nanofiltration membranes. In 2024, he started his Postdoc in the Bio-engineered Nanophotonics group at IMDEA Nanoscience supported by a grant from the national agency of research in Chile. In the group, he will evaluate different strategies for protein immobilization with applications in structural studies and photocatalysis. He enjoys hiking, literature, theater, and cinema.

Position. Postdoctoral researcher (since March 2024)

Research line. Selective light conversion for applications.

Email. angelo.beratto@imdea.org 

Google Scholar profile (Click here)

Asier García González (PhD Since October 2024)

Asier obtained his BSc degree in Physics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain) in 2023. He is now studying for an MSc degree in Physics of Condensed Matter and Biological Systems at the same university. During his senior year, Asier obtained a research grant from the Nicolás Cabrera Institute in collaboration with the applied physics department of the UAM. There, he worked on a project on synthesizing and characterizing iron oxide nanoparticle-based composites for lithium-ion batteries, where he worked with a bunch of characterization techniques such as electron microscopy (FESEM and TEM), OCT, and DLS. He joined the group in October 2023 to work on the “Elucidation of photostability mechanisms in engineered photosystems” project for his MSc thesis. He started in October 2024 as a PhD student in the group to explore the effect of amino acids in the photoinduced electron transfer. He is passionate about languages, science, and theatre, participating in various representations and short films as an actor.

Position. PhD student (Since october 2024)

Research line. Electronic modification of chromophores by engineered enviroments. 

Email. asier.garcia@imdea.org 

Adhil Kabeer (PhD Since September 2024)

Adhil completed his Integrated Bachelor of Science-Master of Science degree from IISER Bhopal (Batch 15), India. For his  thesis, he worked on the synthesis of novel nanoclusters and their ultrafast spectroscopic characterization. Adhil is passionate about science education and outreach, engaging in tutoring, lectures, and discussions. He joined the group in September 2024, having secured the IDEAL-MSCA Cofund PhD grant. In his leisure time, he enjoys playing sports, including cricket, football, and badminton. 

Position. PhD student (Since September 2024)

Research line. asier.garcia@imdea.org 

Email. adhil.kabeer@imdea.org 

Claudia Flórez Echavarría (PhD Since October 2023)

Claudia obtained her BSc degree in Biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain) in 2022. She is now studying MSc degree in Biotechnology in the same University. In 2022, she joined the animal reproduction department at the National Institute of agriculture and food research (INIA, CSIC, Spain) as internship trainee to work in the optimization of animal reproduction protocols for mountain goat and capercaillie. She did her master thesis in the group on protein engineering for chromophore emission optimization. In October 2023, she started as a PhD student in the group. She is passionate about painting and cinema. Besides, she likes hiking and uses each opportunity she has to enjoy it.

Position. PhD student (Since October 2023)

Research line. Protein structure modulators for chromophore function modification. 

Email. claudia.florez@imdea.org

X account. @claudiabioeng

Google Scholar profile (Click Here)

Gonzalo Pérez Serrano (PhD Since October 2023)

Gonzalo obtained his BSc degree in Biology in 2022 at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM, Spain). He is currently doing the MSc degree in Biotechnology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain). He was member of the Zoonosis Service as a student trainee at the Veterinary Health Surveillance Center (VISAVET) and worked as an assistant teacher at Antonio Buero Vallejo school. He performed his master thesis in our group on the design of bio-hybrids by using non-natural amino acids that he defended in Septembre 2023. He started in October 2023 as a PhD student in the group to explore vibrational coupling of protein backbone and chromophores. He is passionate about traveling, learning about new cultures and science. 

Position. PhD student (Since October 2023)

Research line. Protein structure modulators for chromophore function modification.

Email. gonzalo.perez@imdea.org

X account. @gonzalopserrano

Google Scholar profile (Click here)

Sebastián Mesa Apestegui (PhD Since July 2023)

Sebastián obtained his BCs degree in Mechanical Engineering and then in Industrial Engineering, both from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain), spending a year as an Erasmus student at Tampere (Finland). He also made a research stay at Delft University of Technology (The  Netherlands), studying crack growth behavior under fatigue loads on 3D-printed titanium alloys. After,  he pursued a Master’s Degree in Advanced Materials, Nanotechnology and Photonics at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). Upon graduation, he stayed at Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination (LCC) of the CNRS (France) to work on the chemical synthesis of heterocyclic compounds to develop 2D materials. He joined the group in August 2023 to do his PhD studying photocatalytic properties of 2D materials in combination with photoactive proteins. He loves learning about science and nature. He enjoys walking in the countryside, watching plants and animals, reading, and playing sports. 

Position. PhD student (Since August 2023)

Research line. Selective light conversion for applications.

Email. sebastian.mesa@imdea.org 

Co-directed with Dr. Victor Vega, expert group in 2D nanosheets 

Alejandro Venegas Gómez (PhD Since September 2022)

Alejandro obtained his BSc degree in Biology from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain) in 2019 and his MSc in Biomaterials from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM, Spain) in 2021. For his MSc thesis, he joined the group of María Vallet-Regí, where he worked on mesoporous nanocomposite 3D bone scaffolds for leukemia model generation and iron oxide nanoparticles functionalization against bacterial infection. From 2021 to 2022, he worked as an animal caretaker technician for the Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz and Centro de Biología Molecular (CBM, Spain). He is committed to science dissemination and participated in writing science diffusion articles on “disidentia.com.” He joined our group in September 2022 to do his PhD in Biophysics for the development of a magnetic biosensor for theragnosis applications. He is a creative and passionate scientist who loves to practice freediving and gliding to explore new places.

Position. PhD student (Since October 2022)

Research line. Development of magnetic trackers. 

Email. alejandro.venegas@imdea.org

Co-directed with Dr. Fran Teran, expert group in magnetic nanoparticles