Nanomedicine Lab

Group Leader: Kostas Kostarelos

Nanomedicine@ICN2

Main Research Lines

  • Nanomaterials as vector systems for therapeutic and diagnostic applications

  • Development of graphene and 2D materials in medicine

  • Clinical translation of bioelectronic devices

  • Discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in oncology and neurology

Nanomedicine Research Lines

The Nanomedicine@ICN2 group, established at the end of 2019, is dedicated to the development of nanomaterials and devices for therapeutic and diagnostics applications. It has strong links with the Nanomedicine Lab at the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at the University of Manchester, with Prof. Kostas Kostarelos leading both teams. Graphene and 2D materials have a central role in a number of research lines carried out by the group in the context of the Graphene Flagship and beyond. The group also works on liposomes and other nanoparticle systems for various biomedical applications, ranging from cancer therapeutics to neurodegenerative disease interventions.

Group Leader

Kostas Kostarelos

Kostas Kostarelos

ICREA Research Professor & Severo Ochoa Distinguished Professor
kostas.kostarelos@icn2.cat

Prof. Kostas Kostarelos read Chemistry for his BSc at the University of Leeds (UK). He obtained his Diploma in Chemical Engineering and PhD in Chemical and Particle Engineering from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London (UK), studying the steric stabilization of liposomes using block copolymer molecules (with Professors Th. F. Tadros and P. F. Luckham as advisors). He carried out his postdoctoral training in various medical institutions in the United States with D. Papahadjopoulos (UCSF, CA, USA), G.Sgouros (Memorial Sloan-Kettering, NY, USA) and R. G. Crystal (Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY, USA) using liposomes to transport pDNA, radionuclides, viruses and small molecules for various therapeutic purposes.

Kostas was Assistant Professor of Genetic Medicine & Chemical Engineering in Medicine at Cornell University Weill Medical College in 2002 when he relocated to the UK as the Deputy Director of Imperial College Genetic Therapies Centre in London (UK). In 2003 he joined the Centre for Drug Delivery Research (CDDR) at the UCL School of Pharmacy as the Deputy Head of the Centre. He was promoted to the first personal Chair of Nanomedicine in the United Kingdom and Head of the CDDR in 2007. The entire Nanomedicine Lab was embedded within the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences and the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester in 2013, working closely with Kostya Novoselov (Physics Nobel Laureate, 2010).

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