Elena Pérez Izquierdo

Biography

In the last year of my Biology Degree (Complutense University of Madrid) I joined the multidisciplinary research group of Polymeric Materials for the Controlled Release of Bioactive Compounds in Biomedicine of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology III, Medicine School (UCM) selected as a Group of Excellence by the Complutense University of Madrid since July 2005 and by the Community of Madrid since 2006. During this first year of early research immersion (2008) I was awarded the Collaboration Grant from the Ministry of Education, Social Policy and Sport and I was able to participate in current research projects that culminated in the publication of 2 scientific articles in international journals included in JCR. Subsequently, I completed the Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Faculty of Pharmacy (UCM), combining it with the collaboration in projects of the same research group and the development of the TFM and pre-thesis (tesina) entitled: "Preparation and characterization of nanoparticles based on copolymers of lactic acid and polycaprolactone", defended before a court in July 2010 with the qualification of sobresaliente cum laude.

In 2012 I enrolled in the PhD program in Biomedical Sciences (UCM) and defended the thesis entitled "Nanohydrogels with response to tumor microenvironment stimuli for paclitaxel targeting" in March 2016 with the qualification of sobresaliente cum laude, under the direction of Dra. Maria Dolores Blanco, Dra. Rosa Olmo and Dr. César Teijón. During these years of PhD, I attended training courses/seminars, collaborated in the practical teaching of subjects assigned to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology III, published several book chapters (reviews) and scientific articles in Journals of International relevance (all of them indexed in JCR), etc. Along these years, the main scientific-technical achievements were:

- Synthesis of various types of systems for the controlled release of drugs (nanohydrogels, nanoparticles, microparticles) from mixtures of synthetic polymers (polylactic, polycaprolactone, etc) using emulsion, reverse microemulsion, spray-dryer, etc. techniques. Among the results obtained, the optimization of different formulations of nanohydrogels sensitive to stimuli of the tumor microenvironment (pH, temperature and redox potential) from different mixtures of monomers (NIPA, HEAA, 2AAECM) and crosslinking agents (CBA and NMBA) stands out.

- Encapsulation of highly hydrophobic antineoplastic drugs in different types of deformations synthesized by different strategies (physical trapping, hydrophobic bonds, ionic bonds, etc.) and in vitro characterization of the nanosystems using techniques such as FTIR, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, light scattering, determination of the degree of swelling, thermogravimetry, release kinetics, etc.

-Internalization studies of the nanosystems in several human tumor lines (MCF7, T47D and HeLa) and cytotoxicity assays at different concentrations and incubation times.

- Analysis of the effect of the nanosystems on the different phases of the cell cycle by flow cytometry technique and evaluation of the cell toxicity induced by the nanosystems by quantification of the ROS species generated.

-Biocompatibility study of the synthesized formulations after intravenous administration in Wistar rats. Development of hematological, biochemical, anatomopathological and antioxidant analysis from tissues and organs extracted from Wistar rats.

- Studies of tumor growth suppression in a xenograft cancer model developed in athymic mice after administration of nanohydrogels using a single subcutaneous dosis.

In September 2015 I joined the European University of Madrid (UEM) as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, teaching in English and in Spanish theoretical and practical lessons in the Degrees of Dentistry, Pharmacy and Biotechnology, an activity that I supplemented with the collaboration in the mentioned research group of UCM. From 2017 I started part of my postdoctoral research in the Applied Biotechnology Group of the European University of Madrid, led by Dr. Jesus Fernandez, which allowed me to expand the application of the systems synthesized so far in another area. This collaboration were possible after the award of several internal research projects at UEM and Santander Foundation. In December 2018 I got the ANECA accreditation as Profesor Contratado Doctor and Profesor de Universidad Privada, and in July 2020 I got my first sexenio de investigación.