Luis Liz-Marzán, Ikerbasque professor and scientific director of CIC biomaGUNE, will be receiving the Franco-Spanish “Miguel Catalán-Paul Sabatier” Prize from the French Chemical Society (SCF) for his important work in colloid chemistry applied to nanoplasmonics, as well as for his collaboration with the French chemical community. This prize, set up in conjunction with the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ), is awarded in France to a Spanish chemist every even-numbered year, and in Spain to a French chemist every odd-numbered year. The presentation of the Binational Awards will take place as part of the Grand Prize-giving Ceremony of the French Chemical Society at 18:30 hours on October 5 in Clermont-Ferrand (France).
In the context of this award-giving ceremony, the French Chemical Society has organized various lectures on October 5 and 6 (see full program), which may be followed by videoconference. Luis Liz-Marzán is one of the speakers and is scheduled to speak about colloidal plasmonic nanomaterials in his lecture entitled “Colloidal Plasmonic Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Assembly and Bioapplications” at 15:00 on 5 October (see here).
The French Chemical Society portrays Prof Liz-Marzán as one of the world leaders in colloid physical chemistry applied to nanoplasmonics:
"He has been one of the pioneers in the colloidal synthesis of metallic nanoparticles, making highly significant contributions toward morphology control, surface chemistry and assembly of these nanoparticles. However, his group's research has not been restricted to the synthetic aspects, but has included state-of-the-art morphological and optical characterization, the application of theoretical methods designed to model the growth and optical properties of the particles and, finally, their implementation to design applications geared towards ultrasensitive detection and early diagnosis of diseases.
From his basic research, he has designed new sensors for the purpose of specifically identifying chemical compounds in extremely low concentrations. In addition to plasmonic nanomaterials, he is also interested in semiconductor and magnetic nanocrystals and the formation of luminescent, magnetic nanostructured materials. These nanoparticles may have applications in a range of fields, such as solar energy, information storage and bioimaging."
In addition to highlighting the numerous prizes Liz-Marzán has been awarded and listing all the organizations that he is a member of, the SCF states that "his work has made him the most cited Spanish researcher in the field of materials science, with 500 papers published in prestigious journals –Science, Nano Today, Materials Today, Nature Reviews Materials, ACS Nano, etc. –".They also state that Luis Liz-Marzán has developed very strong ties with France, where he has collaborated with the ENS, the Claude Bernard University, ISIS Strasbourg and the Paris-Diderot University. He was visiting professor at the École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay (2018-2019), visiting professor at the Collège de France (2019-2020) and has recently been invited by the Collège de France to take up a visiting professorship (2020-2021).