Metallodrugs to Modulate Cancer Cell Machinery

Sonia Infante studied her Bachelor in Chemistry at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). She obtained a Master degree of Science and Technology in ‘Nanoscience’ from the same university in 2016 carrying out her Master’s project at the group of Prof. Reyes Jimenez-Aparicio, working in the field of organometallic chemistry.

She worked during her PhD in the field of organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry at IMDEA Nanociencia. In particular, Sonia focused on the synthesis of osmium organometallic complexes and their effects on biological systems (yeasts and human cancer cells). In Summer 2019 Sonia visited the Barber Lab (UCSF, CA, US), pursuing a collaboration with Prof. Barber to investigate the possibility of intervening the cancer cell pH dynamics with her osmium complexes. Currently, she is working as a postdoc in the Barber’s lab, having fun studying different biology systems and playing with microscopy.

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Ana C. Carrasco graduated in Chemistry in 2015 at the Universidad de Valencia (Spain) carrying out the last academic year at The University of Manchester (United Kingdom) where she worked on the synthesis of enantiopure quaternary amino acid derivatives in Prof. Jonathan Clayden’s lab. Afterwards, she obtained a Master of Science in Organic Chemistry at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain) in 2016 working on the field of photo- and organocatalysis in the laboratories of Dr. José Alemán.

She graduated as the second PhD student in the Pizarro group carrying out a research project at IMDEA Nanociencia exploring the field of bioinorganic chemistry and organometallic catalysis in biological systems, focusing her research on the development of novel organoiridium switches for cancer research. During her PhD Ana visited the Macchioni lab at the University of Perugia in Summer 2019, and the ALBA and ESRF synchrotrons in several occasions to work with our collaborators Dr. JJ Conesa and Dr. Eva Pereiro. Ana was awarded three poster prizes and published 4 papers coming from her PhD work. Additionally, Ana has been recently awarded the II Premio AEBIN to the best research paper published in 2020 by a young researcher.

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Dr Francisco Martínez-Peña obtained a degree in Chemistry from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain (2011). Before concluding his degree, he did a placement at the Clinical Analysis Laboratory of the Hospital University of Albacete, and in October 2010 he was granted a fellowship in the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Castilla-La Mancha to work in the microwave synthesis of 1,3,5-triazines derivatives with optoelectronic devices. In October 2011, he joined the Instituto de Química Médica (IQM-CSIC) in order to perform the synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of new compounds with potential PPAR and cannabinoid activity. In 2012, he obtained his Master in Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He then moved as a research assistant to the group of Chemistry of Lactams and Bioactive Heterocycles to search for new catalytic process for obtaining products with potential therapeutic applications. In May 2014 he started his PhD studies under the supervision of Dr. Ana M. Pizarro working in pH-dependent metallodrugs to target the cancer microenvironment. He received his PhD degree in March 2018, being the first PhD graduate from the Pizarro group. Francisco is currently carrying out a post-doctoral project at Scripps Research in the Lairson laboratory, a chemical biology and therapeutics discovery group.

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Dr Abraha Habtemariam obtained his BSc degree from the University of East Anglia and his PhD from the University of Sussex. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto (Canada) he joined Peter Sadler's group at Birkbeck College (University of London) and in 1996 moved to the University of Edinburgh. In 2007 he moved to the University of Warwick as a Senior Research Fellow. With an h-index of 42, his research interests are focused on the synthesis and mechanism of action of platinum-group metal anticancer complexes. In 2011 he was awarded the fellowship by the China Fellowship Fund to establish academic collaborations with China, and in 2013 he visited the Salassa lab for a year funded by Ikerbasque Basque Foundation for Science to undertake a collaborative research project at CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastian (Spain), a premier research institute in Spain for nanotechnology. In 2017 Dr. Habtemariam was awarded with a "Cátedra de Excellencia" within the Attracting Talent programme by the Comunidad de Madrid from April 2017 to April 2018. Based in IMDEA Nanociencia in Dr. Pizarro's lab, he joined forces with the group and strengthened the projects with his vast expertise on organometallic metallodrugs.

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Dr. Federica BATTISTIN

Dr. Federica Battistin graduated in Chemistry in 2014 at the University of Trieste. She obtained the PhD in 2018 in the same university under the supervision of Prof. Enzo Alessio. Her PhD project concerned the synthesis of water soluble Ru(II) complexes as building blocks for the preparation of supramolecular assemblies with porphyrins. During her PhD studies, she has been a visiting researcher at Ruhr University in the group of Prof. Nils Metzler-Nolte (six months, 2016), supported by the Erasmus+ grant. She was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the field of organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry at IMDEA Nanociencia. In particular, Federica focused her research on the synthesis of organometallic complexes for cancer research.

Federica is currently carrying out her post-doctoral research at University of Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Roger Alberto.

Dr. Adriana ARNÁIZ

Dr Adriana Arnáiz Vivas graduated in Veterinary Medicine by Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2007. In 2008, she was granted a Medical Research Council (MRC-UK) studentship to start her PhD in the Cancer Cell Unit at the MRC/Hutchison Research Centre. There, she explored the potential applications of genetics, microbiology and molecular biology in cancer therapy and diagnostics, resulting in the development of a multifunctional theragnostic nanosystem for the encapsulation, distribution and targeted delivery of biological material and drugs to cancer cells, which led her to graduate as a PhD from Cambridge University (UK) in 2013. She joined IMDEA Nanociencia in 2014 where she researches the use of unique metallodrugs, nanomaterials and nanocarriers for the treatment and diagnosis of tumours in a range of cellular models, from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. In addition to her contribution in the AMP group, she manages the Cell Culture and Microbiology Unit at IMDEA Nanociencia.

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Rosa María MARTÍNEZ NAVARRO

Rosa Mª Martínez graduated in Biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 2014. In 2016, she obtained a title as Advanced Technician in Clinical Diagnosis in IES Villaverde, carrying out the practical work at the Institute of Biomedical Research ‘’Alberto Sols’’, under the supervision of Dr. Lisardo Boscá at the Department of Metabolism and Cell Signaling, where she worked on the study of thermoregulation, atherosclerosis and the use of aptamers as a drug router after a heart attack.

At IMDEA Nanociencia, she provided technical support at the Cell Culture and Microbiology Unit at IMDEA Nanociencia.

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Adrián LUGUERA RUIZ

Adrián Luguera Ruiz obtained his BSc degree in Chemistry at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2017. From 2015 to 2017 he joined the “Organic Synthesis applied to Pharmacology and Design of new Radiotracers” group as an undergraduate student, supervised by Aurelio G. Csäky and Silvia Roscales. During this time he worked on the development of new [18F]-PET radiotracers for the in vivo detection of Alzheimer’s disease and other CNS diseases. In 2018 he obtained his MSc degree in Organic Chemistry at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where he joined the “Medicinal Chemistry Laboratory” group to work on the development of antibody-drug conjugates as anti-tuberculosis drugs under the supervision of Professor María Luz López Rodríguez. He then joined the CITIUS programme working at Janssen as Junior Research Fellow for 6 months. He carried out the synthesis of small molecules with pharmacological activity against CNS and immunological diseases, actively participating in hit-to-lead processes.

In 2019 he joined the Metallodrugs group at IMDEA Nanociencia as a PhD student, working on the development of new rhodium(III) half-sandwich complexes as switchable organometallic compounds in aqueous media reactions. Three months into his PhD Adrián was tempted out of it to work in a pharmaceutical company.

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Fabio BOCOS

Fabio Bocos González was born in Valladolid (Spain) in 1994. He obtained his degree in Chemistry in 2016 at the Universidad de Valladolid (UVa). In September 2016, he moved to Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) where he obtained his MSc in Nanoscience and Nanochemistry in September 2017. He did his MSc thesis project on Synthesis and Characterization of pH-Responsive Ruthenium Organometallic Complexes with Cytotoxic Activity in IMDEA Nanociencia (Madrid), under the supervision of Dr. Ana M. Pizarro. After his MSc he went to work at PPG Ibérica, S.A.

Sonia PAZ OUTEIRAL

Sonia Paz Outeiral took her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela, and studied chemistry during Erasmus+ mobilities at the University of Bergen (Norway) and the University of Leeds (United Kingdom). Furthermore, she developed a research project at the Hochschule Osnabrück (Germany) about surface modification and polymers with medical applications. In her undergraduate dissertation she synthesized a series of dinuclear metallacycles derived from iminophosphoranes and continued with her career as inorganic chemist studying a Master’s Degree in Chemical Sciences and Technologies at the Complutense University of Madrid. She carried out her Master’s project at the Pizarro research group (2018) focused on catalytic transfer hydrogenation studies of organoiridium complexes as potential anticancer drugs. She is currently working towards her PhD at the Esteruelas group at Universidad de Zaragoza.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/soniapazouteiral/

Julia GARCÍA LORENTE

Ricardo MORENO BALLESTEROS

Ricardo Moreno got his B. Sc Chemisty in Wrocław University, Poland (2018). He spent 18 months working at the department of Porphyrins in the lab of Dr. Miłosz Pawlicki at UWr. The research was focused in the synthesis of novel oxatriphyrins based on quinoxaline derivatives which leaded to tuned spectroscopic properties. Afterwards, he received a scholarship from the European Social Funds for carrying out his M. Sc Chemistry at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland (2018-2020). His master thesis was directed towards the synthesis of salinomycin (ionophore natural product) derivatives with potential anticancer, antimicrobial and antifungal properties. The project took place in the Bioorganic department under the supervision of Dr. Michał Antoszczak and Dr. Adam Huczyński.

During summer 2019 under the Erasmus+ programme, he spent 3 months working at Pizarro's research group. The main task was to perform catalytic studies of previously synthetized osmium complexes to identify their capacity to carry on transfer hydrogenation reactions. Furthermore, in collaboration with the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry, he studied the capacity of iridium complexes to produce H₂. His interests reside a research career in medicinal chemistry.

Darío KHOSRAVIANI RUIZ

Michele DELL'AQUILA

Michele started his academic career at Saint Louis University – Madrid (Spain) and later transferred to Cornell University (USA), obtaining a BSc. in Human Biology, Health and Society. Michele worked on a project with Dr. Hudson Reeve and Dr. Bryan Swingle entitled “Kin-selected avoidance of competition between genetically identical bacteria” at Cornell University. He also worked in Dr. Zhenglong Gu’s laboratory at Cornell. At IMDEA Nanociencia Michele worked for three months in Spring 2018 contributing to understand the cytotoxic effect and mechanisms of action of different metal complexes specifically on yeast cells. Michele plans to become a MD/PhD.

Tori TONN

Tori Tonn studied Biology and Spanish literature at Loyola University Chicago. She spent a year abroad studying at Saint Louis University Madrid. She joined IMDEA Nanociencia for three months where she worked in the cell culture unit studying the cytotoxic effect, mechanism of action and molecular targets of different metal complexes of ruthenium and iridium. After graduating from Loyola University Chicago in May 2018, she had plans to carry out a Master's program in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.

Nov 2022. Science and Innovation Week (17^th Nov 2021). Catarina, Claudia and Alejandro participate in the workshop: “Magnetic nanoparticle staining in cells” (Neutral red and Prussian Blue stains), held at IMDEA Nanociencia. Forty students from IES Las Encinas (Villanueva de la Cañada) attended the workshop.

Jun 2022. Adriana leaves the group to work in industry. Good luck Adriana!

Apr 2022. Manuel Eymar Carballo joins the AMP group for a week. Manuel Eymar Carballo (from IES Ramiro de Maeztu) joins the group for a 4-day week as part of the programme 4ESO+EMPRESA organized by the Madrid government where with IMDEA Nanociencia participates every year.

Feb 2022. Adriana and Arturo participate in the International Day of Girl and Woman in Science, celebrated at IMDEA Nanociencia. IMDEA Nanoscience participates every year in this initiative, offering lectures and visits to the laboratories by the researchers for students of all ages, to promote the fundamental role of women in science.
Nov 2021. Science and Innovation Week (2^nd Nov 2021). Adriana and Arturo participate in the workshop: “Magnetic nanoparticle staining in cells” (Neutral red and Prussian Blue stains), held at IMDEA Nanociencia. High school students from Alameda de Osuna School and several other groups of lay persons attended the workshop.

Apr 2021. Here we leave a video we recorded recently to present our group to the Specialized Group on Organometallic Chemistry (GEQO) of the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ). We apologize in advance to our non-Spanish viewers as the recording is in Spanish, still we hope it gives you an idea of who we are!

Link GEQO: http://geqo.es/en/

Link RSEQ: https://rseq.org/

Apr 2021. Festival 10ALAMENOS9
Ana Pizarro and a few researchers from IMDEA Nanociencia participate in the "Festival 10ALAMENOS9" (Festival 10TOTHEPOWEROF9, 10^-9), an outreach online workshop for eleven years-old from schools from the Comunidad de Madrid region.

link: Festival 10alamenos9 (imdea.org)
Feb 2020. International Day of Girl and Woman in Science
Following an annual tradition, the group participates in the IMDEA Nano’s activities with our workshop on cancer cells and nanoparticles.
Nov 2019. Science Week
The group welcomes a number of visitors and prepares a workshop on nanoparticles in cells to celebrate Science Week 2019.

Nov 2019. Visit from Saint Louis University
Adriana Arnáiz leads a workshop on nanoparticles in cells at Sala Hinarejos (IMDEA Nanociencia).

Nov 2019. Visit from the Masters in Environmental and Industrial Biothecnology (UCM)
Ana Pizarro welcomes UCM Master students giving a short talk on the work that is carried out at IMDEA.

Jun 2019. Visit form the Spanish University of Distance Learning (UNED)
Ana Pizarro welcomes UNED students giving a short talk on the work that is carried out at IMDEA.

Apr 2019. Matthew Davies joins the AMP group for a week.
The group hosts student Matthew Davies, 17-year old from Old Swinford Hospital School (UK), for a four-day placement. He learns - among other exciting things – how to make DNA origami with the Flors group!
Apr 2019. School visit from Soria!
We join other groups in IMDEA Nano to welcome the IES Castilla, from Soria, and ask them to participate in the Workshop: Magnetic Nanoparticles in Cancer Cells.

Mar 2019. School Sagrado Corazón visit IMDEA Nanociencia
The group prepares a workshop on nanoparticles in cells for IES Sagrado Corazón (Fuencarral, Madrid) to have a hint of the work carried out at the Nanomedicine.

Mar 2019. Madrid Science and Innovation Fair
The group participates in the IMDEA Nanociencia stand at the Madrid Science and Innovation Fair with our workshop on cancer cells and magnetic nanoparticles.
Feb 2019. International Day of Girl and Woman in Science
The group participates in the IMDEA Nano’s activities with our workshop on cancer cells and nanoparticles.
Dec 2018. Highschool Las Canteras visit IMDEA Nanociencia
The group prepares a workshop on nanoparticles in cells for IES Las Canteras (Collado Villalba, Madrid) to have a hint of the work carried out at the Nanomedicine.

Apr 2018. School Sagrado Corazón visit IMDEA Nanociencia
Ana Pizarro introduces the Institute to a group of students from school IES Sagrado Corazón (Fuencarral, Madrid).

Mar 2018. School Las Canteras visit IMDEA Nanociencia
Ana Pizarro introduces the Institute to a group of students from school IES Las Canteras (Collado Villalba, Madrid). The group also participates in the IMDEA Nano’s activities with our workshop on cancer cells and nanoparticles.

Mar 2018. Pablo Sanz joins the AMP group for a week
The group hosts student Pablo Sanz, 16-year old from the Instituto San Isidro in Madrid, for a four-day placement.

Feb 2018. International Day of Girl and Woman in Science
Ana Pizarro introduces the Institute to a group of students and some Madrid politicians to celebrate the International Day of Girl and Woman in Science. The group also participates in the IMDEA Nano’s activities with our workshop on cancer cells and nanoparticles.
Nov 2017. Science Week
The group participates showing our workshop on cancer cells and nanoparticles to students and groups of interested individuals who attended the activities organized IMDEA Nanociencia.

Oct 2017. Visit from Sagrada Familia School (Pinto, Madrid)
Ana Pizarro introduces the Institute to a group of students and the group prepares a workshop on nanoparticles in cells for them to have a hint of the work carried out at the Nanomedicine programme.

May 2017. Visit from Universidad para Mayores de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Ana Pizarro shows our cancer cells, and how we work with cells at IMDEA Nano, to 8 students and two teachers coming from the Universisdad para Mayores (UCM).

May 2017. David Cornejo joins the AMP group for a week
David Cornejo, 16-year old from the Instituto San Isidro (Madrid), joins us for a four-day placement. He learns how to synthesise cisplatin and how we test its antitumour activity in cancer cells.

Mar 2017. VII Jornada con Ciencia in the Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid)
Ana C. Carrasco joins the VII Jornada con Ciencia in the Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid).

Feb 2017. International Day of Girl and Woman in Science
Ana Pizarro introduces the Institute to a group of students to celebrate the International Day of Girl and Woman in Science.
Nov 2016. XVI Madrid Science Week
The AMP group prepares a workshop within the XVI Science Week in Madrid. 18 members of the Madrid Biotechnology Association (Biotech Masters and Degree students) visited IMDEA Nanociencia to learn about the research carried out in the Institute.

Nov 2016. Radio interview
Ana Pizarro joins guests ERC researcher Dr. Isabel Guillamón (UAM) and Madri+d’s director Dr. Federico Morán, invited by host Capital Radio, to communicate to the Madrid audience the activities to be carried out in the two-week Semana de la Ciencia in the Comunidad de Madrid.
https://twitter.com/Msanmartingc/status/795927562643980289?s=08

Jun 2016. Nanociencia al Servicio de la Sociedad
Ana Pizarro joins Julio Camarero to give a Lecture at Baker and Mackenzie, Madrid, invited by the PWN Global, Professional Women’s Network).

Mar 2016. School Retamar visits IMDEA Nanociencia
Ana and Adriana talk about cancer cells and nanomedicine and show the Cell Culture Room at IMDEA Nano.

Feb 2016. School IES Pradolongo visits IMDEA Nanociencia
Another chance to show the Cell Culture Facilities to school students.

Jan 2016. School IES Florida Blanca visits IMDEA Nanociencia
The director introduces the Institute to a group of students from school IES Florida Blanca (Murcia). Ana Pizarro and Adriana Arnáiz participate in the IMDEA Nano’s activities with a talk on cancer cells and nanoparticles, and a visit to the Cell Culture facilities.

Feb 2023. Arturo visits Sonia in San Francisco.

Jan 2023

Our 4^th year’s undergraduate PhD student, Arturo Villechenous, is joining the group of Prof. Claudia Turro at the Ohio State University, Columbus (OH, USA) for a three-month placement. He is studying the activation of tether complexes through electrochemistry and photochemistry pathways.
Dec 2022. Christmas meal.

Dec 2022. Christmas is coming! Arturo prepares a tree packed with fluorophores for Twitter’s #chemistree

Dec 2022. 12^th Early Stage Researchers Workshop in Nanoscience (15^th December). Arturo presents part of his PhD project with an oral communication in the Workshop.

Claudia and Alejandro participated with a poster about their investigation and Claudia was awarded with the ‘Best Poster Session’. Congratulations Claudia!!

Dec 2022. Sergio Millán joins the group and the Cell culture and Microbiology Unit. Welcome Sergio!

Nov 2022. Sonia’s paper on potent Os(II)-arenes is out in Inorganic Chemistry! Well done everyone!

Sep 2022. Alejandro joins the group as a PhD student. Alejandro will focus his PhD project on the synthesis of rhenium-based metallodrugs. Another master student from the group of Prof. Reyes Jiménez-Aparicio! Welcome Alejandro!

Sep 2022. Arturo joins the group of Prof. Alceo Macchioni in Perugia (Italy) for a short stay (6 weeks) in order to study the hydrogen production and water oxidation reactions of half-sandwich rhodium and iridium complexes

Aug 2022. Arturo assists to the 44^thInternational Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC) giving an outstanding talk in the conference. He also met past members of the group, it was nice to see you Dr. Ana Carrasco!

Jul 2022. Sonia leaves the group to join Prof Barber group in San Francisco.

Jun 2022. Sonia, Arturo and Claudia assist to “XXXVIII REUNIÓN BIENAL RSEQ-2022”, celebrated in Granada (Spain), from 27 to 30 June 2022. Sonia presented her project based on Osmium(II) half-sandwich complexes with an oral communication, while Claudia and Arturo presented their amazing work in the poster sessions.

May 2022. Arturo and Claudia participate in the contest “Tesis en 3 minutos”, held on 18 May 2022 at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

Apr 2022. Asia Patriarchi joins us. Asia joins our lab from Alceo Macchioni’s group (Univeristy of Perugia) for a couple of months prior to star her PhD. She did a great job in the lab and also she enjoyed the weather in Madrid!

Mar 2022. Claudia and Catarina participate in the science fair “Madrid Es Ciencia” celebrated at IFEMA (Madrid). The fair has had the participation of schools, universities, scientific institutions, museums and Royal Societies of Science.

Mar 2022. Silqcom. Claudia and Arturo participate in the Silqcom 2022 in the poster online session.
Dec 2021. 11^th Early Stage Researchers Workshop in Nanoscience. The 11^th Early Stage Researchers Workshop in Nanoscience goes online!! Ana Pizarro is one of the organisers this year. Claudia, Arturo y Sonia participated with a poster about their investigation.

Oct 2021. Sonia Infante Tadeo Thesis Defense. Dr. Infante defends her PhD work (Sobresaliente Cum Laude!) in front of a tough tribunal (left to right: María Contel, Eugenio Vázquez, José Alemán, Tarita Biver, and Luca Salassa). Brilliant presentation. Brilliant defense of her 4-year work.

Jun 2021. Sonia's paper on exciting new osmium tethers is accepted!
First paper accepted from Sonia's PhD work in Chemical Science, "Osmium(II) Tethered Half-Sandwich Complexes: pH-dependent Aqueous Speciation and Transfer Hydrogenation in Cells"

Jan 2021. Dr Adriana Arnaiz gives birth to a baby girl
Alma Bonilla Arnáiz is born on the 3rd of January, what a georgeous present in such tough times, welcome to the world Alma!
Dec 2020. 10^th Early Stage Researchers Workshop in Nanoscience
The 10^th Early Stage Researchers Workshop in Nanoscience goes online!! Ana Pizarro is one of the organisers this year. Exciting new times! And the prizes go to... Ausegul Develioglu (Online Poster Award), and Ahmad Sousaraei (Best Twitter Communication Award)

Dec 2020. Farewell Federica Battistin
Dr. Battistin leaves us to join Prof. Alberto's lab at UZH. Best of luck Federica!

Dec 2020. One dinner; four celebrations
We manage to meet up for socially distanced lunch to welcome Claudia, say farewell to Federica, congratulate Ana on her PhD title, and celebrate we part to enjoy Christmas holidays.

Nov 2020. Ana Cristina Carrasco Thesis Defense
Dr. Carrasco defends her PhD work (Sobresaliente Cum Laude!). Brilliant Thesis and brilliant viva. Thank you to the online Tribunal (Prof. Ruiz, University of Murcia; Prof. Manzano, University of Castilla La Mancha; Prof. Mascareñas, CICUS; Dr. Ribagorda, UAM, and Prof. Terenzi, University of Palermo) that walked with Ana on this special day. Congratulations Ana!! Fantastic work done on iridium(III) complexes!!

Oct 2020. Ana's paper on activation studies of iridium tethers is out!
Third paper out from Ana’s PhD work in Inorganic Chemistry, “Activation of the Ir−N(pyridine) Bond in Half-Sandwich Tethered Iridium(III) Complexes”. Excellent job Ana and Vanessa!

Oct 2020. Claudia joins the AMP group
Claudia Cardozo Yusti joins the group with an FPI grant. Claudia has previous experience working on metal complexes, working in Venezuela and Colombia. We are made up to have you, Claudia!

Mar 2020. Lockdown
Emptying the office and waiting for the unknown

Mar 2020. Ana's paper on super-potent iridium tethers is out!
Second paper out from Ana’s PhD work in Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, “Structurally Strained Half-Sandwich Iridium(III) Complexes As Highly Potent Anticancer Agents”. Great job everyone!

Feb 2020. Three newcomers
Julia García joins the group to carry put her Masters project on yeast work, and Juan Sánchez-Camacho Sánchez to work on Os-based metallodrugs for a few months. Catarina Leis joins the Cell Culture and Microbiology Unit at IMDEA Nanociencia. Welcome you three!

Jan 2020. Ana’s paper on the synchrotron work is out!
First paper out from Ana’s PhD work in Angewandte Chemie, “Unambiguous Intracellular Localization and Quantification of a Potent Iridium Anticancer Compound by Correlative 3D Cryo X‐Ray Imaging”. Great collaborative work with CNB-CSIC, ALBA and ESRF. Well done everyone!

Jan 2020. Great meeting organised by at IMDEA Nanociencia
Federica, Arturo, Ana C. and Sonia attend the 2nd International Conference on Nanomaterials Applied to Life Sciences 2020 (NALS 2020) in Madrid, while Ana Pizarro takes part in the discussion Women in Science.
Dec 2019. Christmas dinner
Enyoing some nice dinner in Campus to cellebrate what was a fantastic year for the group

Nov 2019. Learning chemistry while visiting an old friend
Arturo, Ana C. and Sonia attend a course on Following Chemical Reactions organised by the GEQO section of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry in Valladolid

Nov 2019. Everyone away
While Ana Pizarro truly enjoys the I Jornada de Química Inorgánica Biológica at ICMOL, Valencia, invited by Jorge González, Arturo, Federica, Sonia and Ana enjoy their one-day Metals in Medicine meeting in Paris. They really enjoyed it, the hosting was apparently first class!

Oct 2019. Dario’s farewell
Dario’s work on yeast – supervised by Adriana – has been of great help for the group. You’ll be missed Dario, enjoy your Masters at the Almán group!

Sep 2019. Ana and Sonia at USOCS19
Ana and Sonia attend the 1^stUK-Spain Organometallic Chemistry Symposium, Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Ana recieves the Best Poster Presentation award, well done Ana!

Aug 2019. The girls are back from their travels
Both Ana and Sonia finish their placements abroad. You’ve been missed.

Jul 2019. 9th International Symposium on Bioorganometallic Chemistry, York
Great meeting. Ana Pizarro travels to York to present the group’s work on iridium complexes, and the results of a great collaboration with Conesa, Pereiro, Cloetens and Carrascosa. God, I miss the UK… Meeting new friend, catching up with old ones.

Jul 2019. Brand new cell culture room in IMDEA Nanocienci
IMDEA Nano opens up a new room for biological work, in the picture below the two new BSL2 cabinets. Some key players worked really hard for it.

Jul 2019. Busy months of welcomes
- PhD student Arturo Villechenous starts his project on rhodium metallodrugs. Welcome Arturo!!
- Dr Federica Battistin joins us to work on Ru and Os catalysts to be loaded into carbon nanotubes in an exciting collaboration with Emilio Pérez @IMDEA Nano
- Darío Khosraviani joins our lab for a couple of months prior to star his Masters at the Alemán group in UAM
- Ricardo Moreno, ERASMUS+ Master student from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, starts his Masters final project with us.
Jun 2019. Ana Carrasco travels to Italy
Ana C. joins the laboratory of Prof. Alceo Macchioni at Università degli Studi di Perugia to study the catalytic strength of som of her Ir-Cp* catalysis supported with an ERASMUS+ fellowship

Jun 2019. Farewell to Adrián
Adrián leaves his recently started PhD project to join Eurofins Scientific, best of luck Adrián!

May 2019. XXXVII Biennial Meeting of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry in San Sebastián
Ana Pizarro joins the RSEQ meeting where she will be talking about the groups research on iridium complexes targeting mitochondria

May 2019. Sonia at UCSF
Sonia starts a three-month placement at the Diane Barber laboratory at UCSF, San Francisco, to look into the capabilities of her Os metallodrugs to modify the internal pH of cancer cells.

Apr 2019. Great news for Sonia
Sonia is awarded an EMBO travel grant to visit the Barber Laboratories at University of California, San Francisco.

Apr 2019. Adriana is back from maternity leave
Welcome back Adriana!

Mar 2019. Science for everyone
Ana C. and Sonia participate in “Madrid por la ciencia y la innovación” celebrated at IFEMA

Feb 2019. Adrián joins the AMP group
Adrián Luguera Ruiz joins the group as a Comunidad de Madrid PhD student. Welcome Adrián!

Feb 2019. Two first class visitors; Dr Alessio Terenzi and Dr Abraha Habtemariam
Alessio’s and Abraha’s visit coincide at the Pizarro lab in Madrid

Feb 2019. Dr Terenzi visits IMDEA Nanociencia
Alesio Terenzi gives a talk entitled G-quadruplexes in Cancer Research: from Targets to Nanotools?
Nov 2018. AMP is back from maternity leave

Sep-Oct 2018. Lucia Lestón (UAM) joins the group
Lucía, undergraduate short-term work-placement student from UAM, joins the group for 5 weeks.

Sep 2018. News from Fran
Dr Francisco Martínez joins the Lairson group at Scripps Research in San Diego CA.

Sep 2018. Sonia Paz’s Master Thesis
Sonia Paz defends her Master’s Thesis and starts her PhD Project at the Esteruelas group in Zaragoza.

Aug 2018. Ana Carrasco and Sonia Infante at EuroBIC14
Ana and Sonia attend the 14th European Biological Inorganic Chemistry Conference (EuroBIC14), Birmingham, UK. Ana recieves the Highly Commended Poster Prize (sponsored by Springer) from Professor Mike Hannon, well done Ana!

Aug 2018. Dr Adriana Arnaiz gives birth to a baby girl
Lucía Bonilla Arnáiz is born on the 19th of August, welcome to the world Lucía!

Jul 2018. Visiting the ESRF
Ana Carrasco spends 3 days at the ESRF (Grenoble) to look at the iridium localization in cryo-samples of MCF7 cancer cells exposed to one of her PhD iridium compounds. Very exciting results!

Jul 2018. Dr Ana Pizarro gives birth to a baby boy
Robert Mark Davies Pizarro is born on the 17th of July, welcome to the world Robbie! Ana starts her maternity leave.

Jun 2018. Ana Carrasco and Sonia Infante at the 8th ESRW
Ana and Sonia attend the 8th Early Stage Researchers Workshop, at IMDEA Nanociencia, Madrid. Sonia gives an oral presentation on Osmium(II) tethered complexes for shuttling protons into cancer cells.

Jun 2018. Dr. Vanessa Rodríguez, Dr. Adriana Arnáiz, Ana Carrasco and Sonia Infante at the SBAN2018
Vanessa, Adriana, Ana and Sonia attend the 1st Spanish Conference on Biomedical Applications of Nanomaterials (SBAN2018), at the Instituto de Ciencias Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC).

May 2018. Farewell to Michelle Dell’Aquila
We say farewell to Michele Dell’Aquila after two months of work with us.

Apr 2018. Farewell to Dr Abraha Habtemariam
After twelve months we say farewell to Dr Abraha Habtemariam, who has completed his Professorship within the Attraction of Talent Award (Cátedra de Excelencia) by the Madrid Government.

Apr 2018. Fran’s second paper from his PhD project is out!
Second paper out from Fran’s PhD work in Inorganic Chemistry, “Reversible pH-responsive Behaviour of Ruthenium(II) Arene Complexes with Tethered Carboxylate”. Well done everyone!

Mar 2018. Welcome Master student form UCM, Sonia Paz Outeiral and visiting student from Loyola University Chicago, Michele Dell’Aquila
This semester we host UCM Master student Sonia Paz, who will work on catalytic Ir(III) complexes. We also host Loyola University Chicago student Michele Dell’Aquila, who will work with yeast in the group.

Mar 2018. Francisco Martínez Peña Thesis Defense
(Dr.!) Francisco Martínez Peña defends his PhD work (Sobresaliente Cum Laude!). Brilliant Thesis and brilliant viva.
Thank you to the Tribunal (left to right; Dr. Andrés de la Escosura, Dr. Miguel Vázquez, Prof. Félix Jalón, ICREA Research Prof. Patrick Gámez, and Dr. Gorka Salas) that accompanied Fran in this day. Congratulations Fran!!

Mar 2018. Rosa Mª Martínez Navarro joins IMDEA Nanociencia
Rosa Mª Martínez, Biology graduate, starts to work with us in the Cell Culture and Microbiology Unit.

Jan 2018. Vanessa’s first paper in the group is out!
“Gold(III) bis(thiosemicarbazonate) compounds in breast cancer cells: Cytotoxicity and thioredoxin reductase targeting” is accepted in European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, well done everyone!!
Sep 2017. Fran’s first paper from his PhD project is out!
Francisco Martínez-Peña publishes some of his PhD project’s work in Chemistry -- A European Journal. “Control of Reversible Activation Dynamics of [Ru(6-1-C6H5(C6H2)NH2)(XY)]n+ and the Effect of Chelating-Ligand Variation” is out, and we also have the inside cover!!

Sep 2017. UCM Master student Fabio Bocos González defends his Master’s project
Fabio defends his Master Thesis obtaining the highest mark. Well done Fabio, fantastic work done on Ru(II)-arene complexes!

Jul 2017. Farewell to UCM Master student Fabio Bocos González, and to Loyola University Chicago undergrad student Tori Tonn
Fabio Bocos finishes his Master’s project with us. Tori also leaves us to finish her degree back at home.

Jul 2017. Ana C. Carrasco and Ana Pizarro attend BioBilbao2017
Ana and Ana C. travel to Bilbao to attend a scientific meeting of bioinorganic chemistry, organised by the Asociación Española de Bioinorgánica (AEBIN). Ana Carrasco presents her first nine-months results at the meeting.

Jul 2017. Claudia Camarero joins the AMP group
Claudia Camarero joins the AMP group for three weeks before starting her university degree in Biology. Welcome Claudia!

Jun 2017. Fran, Sonia and Ana at the 7th ESRW (IMDEA Nanociencia)
Francisco Martinez receives from Dr Granados the Best Poster Prize at the “7th Early Stage Researchers Workshop” in Nanoscience, Ana Carrasco gives a talk on her PhD work, and Sonia Infante presents her first poster in the group.

May 2017. Tori Tonn joins the AMP group
Tori Tonn, from Loyola University Chicago, joins the AMP group to help Vanessa carry out a number of biological studies.

Apr 2017. Dr Abraha Habtemariam visits the AMP group
Abraha Habtemariam joins us with a Professorship of Excellence by Attraction of Talent Programme by the Madrid government. WELCOME ABRAHA!!!

Feb 2017. PhD student Sonia Infante Tadeo and UCM Master student Fabio Bocos join the AMP group
Sonia Infante joins the AMP group to start her PhD research project on osmium metallodrugs (PhD studentship funded by the Comunidad de Madrid government and IMDEA Nano). Welcome Sonia!!
Fabio Bocos González also joins the group to carry out his Master’s project focused on ruthenium compounds, welcome Fabio!
Oct 2016. Ana Cristina Carrasco joins the AMP group as a PhD student
After completing an MSc at José Alemán's group at UAM, Ana joins us to start her PhD on iridium activatable metallodrugs. Welcome Ana!!

Sep 2016. Ana Pizarro and Francisco Martínez travel to Budapest to attend EUROBIC13
Fran and Ana both present the group’s work at EuroBIC13, Budapest
Jul 2015. Dr Vanessa Rodríguez Fanjul joins the AMP group as specialised technician
Vanessa will be sharing her expertise in molecular and cell biology with the group.

Jul 2015. Undergraduate student M Carmen Lorenzo visits the AMP group
M Carmen Lorenzo visits the group to carry out 130 h of research as part of her undergraduate studies.

May 2015. AMP is back from maternity leave

Jan 2015. Dr Ana Pizarro gives birth to a baby girl
Dolores Elizabeth Davies Pizarro is born on the 19th of January, welcome to the world Lola! Ana starts her maternity leave.

Sep 2014. Dr Adriana Arnáiz joins IMDEA Nanociencia
Adriana will manage the day-to-day running of the Cell Culture facilities at IMDEA Nanociencia.

Jul 2014. Undergraduate student Alberto Garrido visits the AMP group
Alberto Garrido visits the group to carry out 130 h of research as part of his undergraduate studies.

Jun 2014. We move to Lab 229
Ana and PhD student Fran move to (pristine) new lab 229, on the second floor of IMDEA Nanociencia (Cantoblanco University Campus).

May 2014. Francisco Martínez-Peña joins the group.
Fran is the first PhD student in the newly formed AMP group.

Apr 2014. Ana Pizarro responsible of the Cell Culture facilities at IMDEA Nanociencia
Ana takes in the responsibility of overseeing the work in the Cell Culture Room at IMDEA Nanociencia.

Jan 2014. Dr Ana M Pizarro joins IMDEA Nanociencia
Ana M Pizarro starts her Ramón y Cajal 5-year tenure-track contract. The adventure of creating a research line on metallodrugs at IMDEA Nanociencia begins.

Facilities

We work mainly in two laboratories: Wet lab (Synthetic and Analytical Chemistry), no. 229, and Cell Culture Room (Cell Biology), no. 134; have a look at our photos!

Cell Culture Room

In the Cell Culture Room we work with human (mainly cancer) cells