About us
The Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials- CIC biomaGUNE, member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), is a non-profit research organization created to promote scientific research and technological innovation at the highest levels in the Basque Country following the BioBasque policy, in order to create a new business sector based on biosciences.
Located in the Science and Technology Park of Gipuzkoa (Donostia-San Sebastián), the activity of CIC biomaGUNE is conducted by a team of 10 international and dynamic research groups, which develop high- level research at the interface between chemistry, physics and biology, with particular emphasis on the properties and applications of nanostructures at the biomolecular level. The final aim of CIC biomaGUNE’s research is to contribute to understanding the way in which biological systems interact with nanometer- sized materials, at the molecular level.
The main research lines deal with the design, preparation and characterization of biofunctional nanostructures and their in vitro and in vivo biological evaluation, to be used in the study of biological processes and the development of biomedical tools such as theranostic or multitherapeutic platforms.
To carry out this ambitious program of research, the Center counts with a unique research infrastructure equipped with the most advanced nanoscience, biochemistry and molecular imaging facilities, including fully equipped research laboratories, Technological Platforms and the Molecular Imaging Facility, one of the biggest preclinical imaging research infrastructures in Europe.
José M. Mato is the Director General of CIC biomaGUNE since its definition in 2005. The scientific activity started in December 2006, under the direction of Manuel Martín-Lomas, who took the responsibility of shaping the identity of the Center. After an initial phase where the first research teams were selected from the international scientific community, the Molecular Imaging Facility was built and soon approved as a National Facility by the Spanish Government in 2010. Luis M. Liz-Marzán took over the Scientific Directorate from Manuel Martín-Lomas, starting this activity in January 2013 until December 2021. Since January 2022, Aitziber L. Cortajarena is the Scientific Director of CIC biomaGUNE.
CIC biomaGUNE celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2021. In the course of these fifteen years, with an average critical mass of around 140 researchers, the Center has obtained national and international recognition as a scientific leader and knowledge builder in the field of biomaterials. Among other achievements, our activity has resulteed in the generation of knowledge (publications, patents, PhD theses) the internationalization of research through collaboration with international bodies and institutions, as well as opening our facilities to the scientific community and the industrial sector.
In 2018 CIC biomaGUNE earned the accreditation as a “María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence”- the highest recognition of scientific excellence in Spain awarded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) - which further confirms this recognition.
José M Mato
General Director
CIC bioGUNE and CIC biomaGUNE
Dr. José M Mato, professor and General Director of the Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials, CIC biomaGUNE, studied Chemistry at the University of Madrid. He moved to the Department of Cell Biology and Morphogenesis at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, where he obtained his PhD degree in 1977. In 1980, Dr. Mato moved to the Department of Metabolism & Nutrition at the Jiménez Díaz Foundation in Madrid as an assistant professor. In 1982, he was a visiting scientist at the NIDCR-NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, and in 1986 a visiting professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1987 he was appointed research professor at the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and five years later the president of the CSIC. In 1997 Dr. Mato was appointed as professor of the Department of Medicine at the University of Navarra and in October 2003 moved to take up his present position as General Director of CIC bioGUNE. Since 2005 Prof. Mato has combined his position at CIC bioGUNE with the position of General Director of CIC biomaGUNE.
Aitziber L. Cortajarena
Scientific Director
CIC biomaGUNE
Dr. Aitziber L. Cortajarena is Ikerbasque Research Professor and Principal Investigator at CIC biomaGUNE since 2016.. During 2021 she was Scientific Vice-Director of CIC biomaGUNE. Dr. Aitziber L. Cortajarena is the Scientific Director of the Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials - CIC biomaGUNE since 2022.
Dr. Cortajarena earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Universidad del País Vasco in 2002. Then, she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University (USA) on protein design, structure, and function. In 2006, she was Visiting Scientist at the Weizmann Institute, Israel. Then, continued her work at Yale University, as an Associate Research Scientist. In 2010, she joined IMDEA Nanociencia (Madrid) where she developed her independent research group on bionanotechnology, before moving to CIC biomaGUNE in 2016. In addition to leading several European projects, including an ERC Consolidator Grant and an ERC Proof of Concept, she was awarded by Ikerbasque in 2019 in recognition of her professional career as a researcher and for her scientific contributions.
Luis M. Liz-Marzán
Scientific Director of the Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence
CIC biomaGUNE
Dr. Luis M. Liz-Marzán is Ikerbasque Research Professor since 2012. He was the Scientific Director of the Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials - CIC biomaGUNE from 2012 until 2021 and Scientific Director of the Maria de Maeztu Excellence Unit Program (2018-2022)
He obtained a Ph. D. Degree in Chemistry from the University of Santiago de Compostela and carried out post-doctoral work at the Van’t Hoff Laboratory of Utrecht University (The Netherlands). He joined the University of Vigo in 1995, where he became Full Professor in 2006, and has been visiting professor at Tohoku University (2005), University of Michigan (2008), University of Melbourne (2010), University of Hamburg (2010), Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (2011), and King Saud University (2014-2015). He received numerous research awards and honors, including two ERC Advanced Grant (2011 and 2018), and holds several editorial responsibilities.