Advanced Materials Laureate 2017

Luis M. Liz-Marzán is currently Ikerbasque Research Professor and Scientific Director of the Basque Centre for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials (CIC biomaGUNE), in San Sebastian. Since 2015 he is also the PI of the CIC biomaGUNE node of the Biomedical Research Networking Center: Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (Ciber-BBN). He is a PhD from the University of Santiago de Compostela and has been postdoc at the van't Hoff Laboratory (Utrecht University) and visiting professor at various institutions worldwide. He was a Guest Professor at Jiangnan University, China (2018-2020); Invited Professor at École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay (2017-2018); Professor of Chemistry at King Saud University (2014-2015); Humboldt Fellow at Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm, Germany (2011); Humboldt Fellow at University of Hamburg, Germany (2010); Wilsmore Fellow at University of Melbourne, Australia (2010); Visiting Professor at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), USA (2008); Full Professor at the University of Vigo, Spain (Jan 2006 - Aug 2012); Visiting Professor at Tohoku University, Japan (2005); Titular Professor at the University of Vigo, Spain (1997-2005); Assistant Professor at the University of Vigo, Spain (1995-1997); Assistant Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain (1995) and Postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University, The Netherlands (1993-1995).

Dr. Liz-Marzán is recognized by his work on the application of colloid chemistry to the (nowadays crowded) field of nanoplasmonics. He has been one of the pioneers in the colloidal synthesis of metal nanoparticles, with relevant contributions toward the control over the morphology of such nanoparticles, as well as toward tailoring nanoparticle surface chemistry and self-assembly. Recent work by the group has focused on surface bioconjugation (e.g. with glycans and cross-linkable polymers) but also on drug delivery and understanding nanoparticle fate within living cells. The scope of the research in Liz-Marzán's group has not been limited to synthetic aspects, but had the ambition to perform morphological and optical characterization at the highest level, to apply theoretical methods to model particle growth and optical properties, and ultimately applying them to the design of applications, mainly related to ultrasensitive detection and early diagnosis of diseases.