N4N Group Members

Meet our group, under the lead of Dr. Lorenzo Albertazzi.

TUE, Eindhoven

Roger Riera Brillas, PhD
Yuyang Wang, PhD
Marrit Tholen
Ana Ortiz Perez
Cristina Izquierdo Lozano
Joppe Oldenburg, PhD
Stijn van Veen
Larry Fitzpatrick, PhD
Miao Zhang, PhD
Karin Legerstee, PhD

To see our former members, check the Alumni section.

Lorenzo Albertazzi

I obtained a MSc in Chemistry (2007) and a PhD in Biophysics (2011) from Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa, Italy). I then joined Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, The Netherlands) as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2013, I was awarded a fellowship at the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS) at TU/e, and in 2014 I became a NWO/VENI fellow. In 2015, I moved to IBEC to start the ‘Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine’ group. In 2018 I was also appointed Associate Professor at the TU/e department of Biomedical Engineering. For most of my career I have been jumping between Chemistry and Biophysics; in this research group I now aim to combine both to achieve a molecular understanding of synthetic materials in the biological environment, using optical microscopy and nanoscopy.

IBEC e-mail: lalbertazzi@ibecbarcelona.eu

TU/e e-mail: l.albertazzi@tue.nl

Roger Riera Brillas

I obtained my BSc in Biotechnology at the University of Barcelona in 2015, completing the final project at the University of Stuttgart. In 2017, I obtained my MSc in Bioengineering at Institut Químic de Sarrià (IQS). I joined the Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine (N4N) group in IBEC for my MSc project on STORM imaging of polyplexes and then moved in 2018 to the TU/e to perform my PhD studies. I successfully defended my PhD regarding super-resolution imaging of cell membrane receptors with PAINT in March 2023. Then, I continued with a PostDoc in the N4N group to help transition super-resolution imaging from academia to clinics for diagnostic purposes. My main research interests are super-resolution imaging (PAINT in particular), live-cell imaging, single-particle tracking, circulating tumor cells (CTC), and diagnostics.

Start date: July 2018

e-mail: r.riera.brillas@tue.nl

Stijn van veen

Hi I’m Stijn, part of the Dutch minority in the group. I obtained both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Molecular Life Sciences at Wageningen University. During my master’s thesis, I was part of a multidisciplinary cooperation focused on imaging the mechanical invasion process of phytopathogens. Now I’m once again in a multidisciplinary cooperation called MimicKey where we aim to study extracellular vesicles (EVs) in greater detail and mimic their properties. The goal of my PhD is to set up high-throughput super-resolution microscopy techniques to characterize both EVs and artificial nanoparticles.

Start date: July 2021

e-mail: s.m.a.v.veen@tue.nl

Marrit Tholen

Hi! I am Marrit and I am from Eersel, the Netherlands. I obtained both my BSc degree in Medical Sciences and Technology (2017) and my MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering (2019) at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). My MSc thesis focused on the development of targeted nanoparticles for mucosal vaccination and thereafter, I persued an internship at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, where I worked on gelatin colloidal gels as a potential treatment for osteomyelitis. In September 2020, I joined the Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine group at the TU/e as a PhD student, where I am working on engineering probes for super-resolution microscopy of nanoparticles.

Start date: September 2020

e-mail: m.m.e.tholen@tue.nl

Cristina Izquierdo Lozano

Hi! I’m Cris and I am from Reus, a small town in Catalonia. In 2020 I obtained my BSc in Biotechnology and BSc in Computer Engineering in Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona). In 2019 I joined the Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine group in IBEC (Barcelona), where I carried out both of my BSc thesis, using Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy to characterize polymeric nanoparticles and developing a MATLAB app to automatically correlate images obtained from two different microscopes. In 2021 I moved to Eindhoven to start my PhD in the TU/e, where I use Machine Learning to analyze super-resolution data

Start date: January 2021

e-mail: c.izquierdo.lozano@tue.nl

Larry fitzpatrick

Hi, I’m Larry, originally from Dublin, Ireland. I obtained my PhD in Chemistry (Bionanointeractions) from UCD in 2017. My PhD studies where based on the uptake and intra-cellular trafficking of Nanoparticles into and around live-cells, primarily investigated by spinning-disk confocal microscopy. Before that, I obtained my BSc in Science and Nanotechnology in 2012 from what was then DIT, but is now TU Dublin. After my PhD, I did my first Postdoc in the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, Durham University writing a custom image analysis pipeline in python for a custom microscopy. In October 2021 I joined N4N at TU/e, where I’m focused on the super-resolution imaging of cell membrane receptors using live-cell PAINT. My main research interest lie in live-cell imaging, single-particle tracking and micro-fluidics.

Start date: October 2021

e-mail: l.w.fitzpatrick@tue.n

Yuyang Wang

I am Yuyang originally from China. I obtained my PhD degree in 2020 at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands. Before that I obtained my BSc (2012) and MSc (2015) at Jilin University in China. Since my master’s research, I have been actively working on nanotechnology and optics related research projects, with a strong focus on answering biological question with microscopic approaches. From 2019 I started a new research project on correlative light electron microscopy (CLEM), in which I work on stimulated emission depletion microscopy (STED) with the aim to resolve single fluorescence molecules with optical microscopes.

Start date: October 2019

e-mail: y.wang8@tue.nl

N4N alumni

Natalia Feiner-Gracia was our 1st PhD student
Pietro Delcanale, former Post-doc
Maria Arista Romero, former PhD student
Adrianna Glinkowska Mares, former PhD student
Beatriz Santiago González, former Post-doc
Sílvia Pujals, former senior researcher
Teodora Andrian, former PhD student
Edgar Fuentes Fuentes, former PhD student
Madhura Murar, former PhD student
Rodica Alis Olea, former PhD student

Emmanouil Archontakis, former PhD student
Laura Woythe, former PhD student

Natalia Feiner Gracia

Hi, I’m Natalia and I am from Barcelona. In 2013 I received my BSc in Biotechnology from the University of Barcelona. During my BSc I did an internship in the Instituts für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Immunologie und Hygiene in Cologne (Germany) where I studied immunological and immunopathological effects of NADPH oxidase family. I received my MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnical University of Barcelona. During the MSc I joined a CSIC research center in Barcelona where I focused on the formulation, functionalization and characterization of PLGA nanoparticles as drug delivery systems. Currently I am performing my PhD between IBEC and Eindhoven Technical University. During the last 3 years I gained expertise in the use of super resolution techniques to characterize nanoparticles and their interactions with cells. Specifically, my work is focused on the stability and the nano-bio-interactions occurring in the blood vessels.

Part of n4n group: 2015 – January 2020

e-mail: nfeiner@ibecbarcelona.eu

Pietro Delcanale

Hello! My name is Pietro and I’m from Italy. I obtained my MSc degree in Physics in 2013 from the University of Parma and in March 2017 I obtained a PhD in Applied Physics from the same institution. Right after, I joined the Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine group in IBEC as junior postdoctoral researcher. My work is mainly focused on the use of single-molecule imaging techniques for quantitative purposes. Other research interests include molecular photo-physics or photosensitization processes in biological systems and delivery of photo-activated molecules.

Part of n4n group: February 2017 – February 2020

e-mail: pdelcanale@ibecbarcelona.eu

Maria Arista Romero

Hello, I am Maria and I am from Sevilla, a very pretty city in the south of Spain. I graduated in Biochemistry at the University of Sevilla and then I studied a MSc in molecular genetics, studying the role of Survivin in the elongation of transcription in yeast. I then realized that my passion was biochemical engineering, so I moved to Barcelona to study a MSc in Bioengineering at Institut Químico de Sarriá (IQS). My thesis was focused on a dual nanoparticle drug delivery system for bladder cancer. In 2017 I started my PhD on new nanomaterials that can block different pathogens, in special influenza virus, using super-resolution microscopy.

Part of n4n group: January 2017 – June 2021

e-mail: marista@ibecbarcelona.eu

Beatriz Santiago González

I am Beatriz from Santiago de Compostela. I obtained my MSc and PhD in Chemistry (2012) at the University of Santiago de Compostela. I then joined the Materials Science Department at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) as a postdoctoral researcher where I was awarded with a MIUR fellowship. In 2017 I moved to Barcelona as a postdoctoral researcher at Bioengineering Institute of Technology (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Spain) and then in 2018 to International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (Portugal) as a Marie Curie COFUND research fellow. My research revolves around the rational design of functional colloidal nanomaterials for their application in biomedical theranostics, photonics and catalysis.

I am now a Marie Skłodowska-Curie individual fellow at TU/e where the aim of my project is to develop novel fluorescent nanomaterials as a new generation of advanced optical probes for disruptive innovations in super-resolution imaging.

Part of n4n group: May 2019 – August 2021

e-mail: b.santiago.gonzalez@tue.nl

Adrianna Glinkowska Mares

Hi, I am Adrianna from Łódź, Poland. In 2012 I obtained my Engineering degree in Chemical Technology at Łódź University of Technology (LUT). In 2014 I obtained my MSc degree at LUT in the field of Nanotechnology, presenting my research done at National Technical University of Athens in the Dielectrics Group. After graduation I worked for 3 years in the pharmaceutical industry as a Formulation Development Engineer of drug delivery systems, at Nanomi B.V. (Lupin Ltd.) in The Netherlands. In 2017 moved to Barcelona, where I began my predoctoral research with INPhINIT fellowship, in the field of microfluidic technology, to improve our healthcare in the future!

Part of n4n group: September 2017 – September 2021

e-mail: aglinkowska@ibecbarcelona.eu

Rodica Alis Olea

Hi, I am Alis and I am from Romania! I completed my BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Bucharest. Between 2015-2017. I completed my MSc in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease from Radboud University (The Netherlands). I had two 6-months interhships, the first at Radboud University Medical Center, where I studied the involvement of acid sphingomyelinase in the cellular uptake of cell penetrating peptides. The second internship was at IBEC on studying the composition and stoichiometry of polyplexes using super-resolution microscopy. I am now completing my PhD as part of the THERACAT Consortium, focusing on super-resolution imaging of bioorthogonal catalytic nanoparticles for cancer therapy.

Part of n4n group: October 2018 – 2021

e-mail: aolea@ibecbarcelona.eu

Teodora Andrian

Hi, I’m Teodora and I am originally from Romania, but I grew up in England. In 2016 I qualified with an Honours Degree in Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) from King’s College London (KCL). During this time, I did an industry internship with AstraZeneca on the validation of an ADMET predictor on internal compounds. In 2016 I completed my MPharm research project at Utrecht University (The Netherlands) on ‘thermosensitive liposomes as carriers for cytotoxic proteins’. I then carried out my hospital pre-registration training at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and qualified as a pharmacist. In 2017 I worked as a research assistant at KCL on ‘deriving proteases for enzymatic degradation of albumin nanoparticles in lung models’. I am now carrying out a La Caixa Foundation INPhINIT PhD Fellowship at IBEC, working on ‘combining super-resolution microscopy and electron microscopy to track nanoparticles inside the cell’.

Part of n4n group: October 2018 – June 2022

e-mail: tandrian@ibecbarcelona.eu

Sílvia Pujals

I am Sílvia from Barcelona. I obtained my BSc in Chemistry and IQS Chemical Engineer degree at Institut Químic de Sarrià (Universitat Ramon Llull). My MSc and PhD in Organic Chemistry were from Universitat de Barcelona (UB) in the field of cell-penetrating peptides. Then I moved to Kyoto University for my postdoc and focused on biophysics and electron microscopy. With expertise in drug delivery, peptide synthesis and optical and electron microscopy my research aims to combine a rational design of nanomaterials with advanced optical techniques for targeted drug delivery.

Part of n4n group: January 2016 – January 2022

e-mail: spujals@ibecbarcelona.eu

Laura Woythe

Hi, I’m Laura and I am originally from Germany, but I grew up in Spain. I obtained my BSc in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2015 and my MSc in Biopharmaceutical sciences at Leiden University in 2018. During my BSc and MSc, I focused on the synthesis, characterization and administration of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems. In July 2018, I started as a PhD student at the Eindhoven University of Technology where I am focusing on the understanding and improvement of targeted delivery of nanoparticles using super-resolution microscopy techniques.

Part of n4n group: July 2018 – September 2022

e-mail: l.woythe@tue.nl

Madhura Murar

Hi, I am Madhura and I come from Pune, India! I completed my BSc (2013) and MSc (2016) degree in Biotechnology from University of Pune, and Symbiosis International University (Pune, India) respectively. Then, I joined National Centre for Cell Sciences, Pune, India as a research assistant in the laboratory of Structural biology (2016-2017). In 2018, I moved to IBEC, Barcelona to pursue a PhD in Nanosciences and have been working since then in the group of Nanoscopy for Nanomedicine. The focus of my research is on ‘Nanomaterials for personalized drug delivery’.

Part of n4n group: February 2018 – February 2023

e-mail: mmurar@ibecbarcelona.eu

Edgar Fuentes Fuentes

Hi, I’m Edgar and I’m from Badalona! In 2016 I obtained my BSc in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and carried out my BSc thesis at IBEC, focusing on micellar stability in biological media and its importance in intracellular delivery of therapeutics. In 2017 I obtained my MSc in Industrial Chemistry and Introduction to Chemical Research from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). During this time, I joined IBEC to carry out my thesis on ´the synthesis of peptidic amphiphiles for highly stable supramolecular polymers in aqueous media´. In 2018 I enrolled at IBEC as a PhD Fellow, continuing my research on supramolecular polymers as drug delivery systems.

Part of n4n group: December 2017 – February 2023

e-mail: efuentes@ibecbarcelona.eu

Emmanouil Archontakis

Hello, I am Emmanouil and I’m from Greece! In 2015 I completed my BSc in Physics, then completed my MSc in “Photonics and Nanoelectronics” at the University of Crete. In 2017 I carried out my Masters research project at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL-FORTH) on “non-linear optical imaging of sub-cellular structures and tissue samples”. Currently I am a PhD Fellow at the Institute of Complex Molecular Systems at TU/e. My project is part of the THERACAT international training network, and focuses on single molecule localization microscopy of biorthogonal catalytic nanoparticles. Specifically, I am developing methods in order to test at the single molecule level the pro-dye activating efficiency of catalytic nanoparticles by combining advanced nanoscopy and spectroscopy.

Part of n4n group: March 2019 – March 2023

e-mail: e.archontakis@tue.nl