Biography

I obtained my academic degree in Biochemistry in 2005 at the School of Pharmacy and Biochemistry (FFyB) from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina. Then, I reached my PhD degree in 2011 (UBA) working in the “Synthesis and Characterization of New Polymeric Materials with Environmental Applications”. After that, I had a postdoctoral training at the University of Córdoba (UNC, Argentina) working in advanced solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ss-NMR) experiments for chemical and structural characterization for two years (2011-2013). Also, I had different short stays at the University of Malaga (Spain) for characterization of copper complexes in the period 2015-2020, at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory for a SAXS Project (LNLS, Brazil, 2016) and at the University of Durham (2017) for high-resolution NMR experiments with Dr. Paul Hodgkinson.

Nowadays, I have been working as Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry (FFyB-UBA) and as Adjunct Researcher from The National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) since 2006 and 2013, respectively. My research project combines the synthesis, characterization and environmental applications of novel copper and cobalt complexes with imidazole/pyridine ligands bearing either gem-diol or carbonyl moieties as well polymeric material/hydrogels and organoclays for homogenous or heterogenous activation of hydrogen peroxide and the concomitant generation of reactive oxygen species (hydroxyl and superoxide free radicals) for advanced oxidation processes. My main experience relates to the structural characterization of a broad kind of organic/inorganic materials and copper/cobalt complexes by ss-NMR, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) and single-crystal X-ray crystallography and their uses in the remediation of wastewater containing dyes, herbicides, drugs and pesticides.

Specifically, I developed a transfection reagent named PolyAr87 composed with synthetic polyethyleneimine polymers for transfection in cell lines for the production of high value proteins. PolyAr87 was actively commercialized in numerous technical advisories during the current COVID-19 pandemic to private companies and public sector. In this sense, mAbxience and Immunova companies used PolyAr87 to generate segments of the Spike protein in the development of hyperimmune serum for the treatment of symptoms caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

I published 49 scientific publications, 3 patents of invention, 5 chapter books and more than 65 communications to scientific meetings (national and international). I have received several prizes related with my PhD thesis and in different national/international symposiums. I am the supervisor of five PhD students and Principal Investigator in three Projects granted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Argentina as well editor reviewer in Frontiers and MDPI Publishers.