Prof. Jose A. Garrido
Jose A. Garrido is an ICREA Research Professor and leader of the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group, which explores novel electronic materials, such as graphene and other 2D materials, and their potential in electronic and bioelectronic applications.
He received his Master’s and PhD degrees in Telecommunication Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 1996 and 2000, respectively. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a postdoc at the Walter Schottky Institute, Technische Universität München (Germany). He obtained his habilitation in experimental physics at this university in 2010 and from 2011 to 2015 held a lecturer (privatdozent) position at its department of physics.
In 2015 Jose A. Garrido joined the ICN2 where, in addition to his role as Group Leader, he is Vice-Director. He is the coordinator of the European project BrainCom, in which 10 institutions from 6 countries participate in the development of a brain implant that allows verbal communication in patients with aphasia. He is also the coordinator of the i-VISION project funded by La Caixa Foundation, where 5 institutions join forces in the development of a retinal implant to restore vision. In addition, he is also the leader of the GraphCAT project, which is part of a large initiative of the Catalan government aiming at supporting emerging communities with large innovation potential. The project involves over 20 institutions including industry and academia.
Jose A Garrido is also founder, Chief Scientific Officer, and member of Board of Directors of INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, an ICN2 spin-off that aims at the commercialization of graphene-based neural devices for medical applications. In March 2021, INBRAIN raised over 14M€ Series A led by Alta Life Sciences, Asabys Partners and CDTI to develop intelligent graphene-based neuroelectronic therapies for brain related disorders. In July 2021, INBRAIN signed a long-term partnership with the pharma Merck (Germany), creating a subsidiary (INNERVIA bioelectronics) to explore bioelectronic vagus nerve therapies for severe chronic diseases.
Prof. Kostas Kostarelos
Kostas read Chemistry at the University of Leeds and obtained his Diploma in Chemical Engineering and PhD from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, studying the steric stabilization of liposomes using block copolymer molecules. He carried out his postdoctoral training in various medical institutions in the United States and has worked closely with Professors Th.F. Tadros (ICI plc, UK), P.F. Luckham (Imperial College London), D. Papahadjopoulos (UCSF, USA), G. Sgouros (Memorial Sloan-Kettering, NY, USA) and R.G. Crystal (Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY, USA). Following his promotion to Assistant Professor of Genetic Medicine and Chemical Engineering in Medicine at Cornell University Weill Medical College, he relocated to the UK as the Deputy Director of Imperial College Genetic Therapies Centre in 2002. In 2003 Kostas joined the Centre for Drug Delivery Research and the Department of Pharmaceutics at the UCL School of Pharmacy as the Deputy Head of the Centre. He was promoted to the Personal Chair of Nanomedicine and Head of the Centre in 2007.
Kostas joined the University of Manchester in 2013 and is an Honorary Professor of University College London.
Kostas is Professor and Chair of Nanomedicine at the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences of the University of Manchester. He is leading the Nanomedicine Lab that is part of the Centre for Tissue Injury and Repair and the National Graphene Institute. Research at the Nanomedicine Lab has a long history in developing liposomes, colloidal nanoparticulates (polymeric microspheres, solid nanoparticles), natural (e.g. peptide) and synthetic macromolecules (e.g. dendrimers) and novel nanomaterials (e.g. nanocarbons) as vector systems for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. A variety of biologically active entities (peptides, proteins, plasmid DNA, siRNA, stem cells) and more conventional small molecules to achieve anti-angiogenic or cytotoxic activities have been developed along with imaging probes (radionuclides, NIR, opoacoustic) to design multi-functional (theranostic) modalities. The primary therapeutic targets for clinical translation of these technologies are cancer (solid and metastatic) and neurodegenerative disorders.