Dr. Sara Hernández Mejías. 

Sara obtained her BSc in Physics in 2011 from Basque Country University (UPV, Spain) and her MSc in biophysics in 2012 from the Madrid Autonomous University (UAM, Spain). She joined the group of Prof. Cortajarena to pursue her PhD in the development of nanostructured photo- and electro-active materials based on encoded protein self-assembly of engineered proteins. She finished the PhD in 2016. From 2016 to 2022, she performed her postdoctoral studies at international laboratories in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain, supported by fellowships like the Carl Tryggers Foundation research grant (Sweden) or Programa de Atracción de Talento (Spain). During her postdoctoral research she focused on studying photoinduced processes in synthetic photosystems using pump-probe spectroscopy. In 2022, she launched her independent career at IMDEA Nanoscience research institute (Spain), awarded with La Caixa Junior Leader grant, and established a bio-engineered nanophotonic research group.

Email.  sara.hernandez@imdea.org

Telephone number. (+34) 91 299 8854

ORCID. 0000-0002-7440-2657

Twitter. @sarahmejias3

Claudia Flórez Echavarría

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

Research line. Protein structure modulators for chromophore function modification.

Email. claudia.florez@imdea.org

Twitter. @claudiabioeng

Gonzalo Pérez Serrano 

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

Research line. Protein structure modulators for chromophore function modification.

Email. gonzalo.perez@imdea.org

Twitter. @gonzalopserrano

Upasana Das 

Upasana obtained her BSc degree in physics in 2018 at the Physics at Cotton University (India) and her MSc degree in Physics in 2021 at the University of Delhi (India). In 2017, she was awarded the Summer Research Fellowship to work at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Bangalore, India) in spectral analysis optimization for the classification of Carbon Stars. In 2018, she joined the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (New Delhi), awarded the Indian Academy of Sciences fellowship to work on the design of compact blue lasers. She joined our group in February 2023 to do her PhD in spin transition studies on engineered bio-hybrids. She is an enthusiastic and quick learner. She loves traveling, exploring new places, and trying local cuisines.

Position. PhD student  

Research line. Engineered protein environments for exciton dynamics on demand.    

Email. upasana.das@imdea.org 

Alejandro Venegas

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

Research line. Selective light conversion for applications.

Email. alejandro.venegas@imdea.org

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

Sebastián Mesa Apestegui

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

Research line. Selective light conversion for applications.

Email. sebastian.mesa@imdea.org 

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

Teresa Espinosa González 

Teresa obtained her BSc degree in Biology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM, Spain) in 2023. She is now studying a MSc degree in Physics of Condensed Matter and Biological Systems at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain). In January 2023, for her BSc and external internships, she joined the group of Jesús Miguel Sanz at the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas (CIB, CSIC), where she worked on new non-covalent methods to immobilize enzymes on magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with DEAE. In September 2023, she began a Master’s Degree in Physic of Condensed Matter and Biological Systems. She joined the group in October 2023 to work on her project on exciton polarization by engineered protein environment. She loves practicing team sports and painting. Besides, she enjoys learning about different branches of science and hiking in search of different plant species.

Position. Master student

Research line. Engineered protein environments for exciton dynamics on demand.

Enrique Cristóbal Olalla

Enrique enrolled at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, Spain) in 2020, where he is currently studying for a BSc degree in Chemistry. He started as a BSc student in October 2023 to do his Bachelor´s thesis. His project aims to understand the stiffness of linear proteins to use them as a template for supramolecular photosystem development. He brings to the group his chemical background to perform multi-functionalization of proteins, combining different orthogonal reactivities and studying protein dynamics by using FRET. He enjoys learning about anything, especially science and languages, which he self-teaches. 

Position. BSc student

Research line. Protein structure modulators for chromophore function modification.