Bianca Martins Estevão

Among the subfields of nanotechnology, I have always been fascinated by the interface with nanomedicine, where I could explore chemistry in biological applications. In this scenario, during my master's degree, I developed new drugs and their encapsulation in copolymers for use in PDT against microorganisms. This inspired me to further explore the use of nanomaterials to improve biomedical applications, and so I embarked on a PhD project to develop new nanoparticles for use against cancer cells. During my PhD, I conducted research for 18 months at the University of Piemonte Orientale under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Leonardo Marchese and Prof. Dr. Enrica Gianotti. During this time, I developed nanoparticles of mesoporous silica for application in bioimaging and PDT, resulting in 7 articles. In addition, I was able to improve my knowledge in cell culture and molecular biology. The opportunity to learn my way around different fields such as chemistry and biology helped me to develop a critical sense and teamwork through collaborations. These experiences led me to be awarded several innovative postdoctoral fellowships in the field, which brought in an amount of more than 50,000. During my postdoc in Brazil, I developed a nanocluster of ZnO-PEI coated with a real pancreatic cell membrane, which led to interesting results on the buffering effect in hypoxic tumor medium. Also, gold nanoparticles coated with mesoporous silica were developed for smart drug application targeting the efflux of lactic acid from cancer cells in conjunction with the photothermal effect. During this time, I had a great experience at UNISTRA together with Prof. Luisa de Cola's group, working with nanocages and large pore silica for tumor hypoxia application in glioblastoma and developed a new porous B-Si nanoparticle. In addition, I have advised some students on the development of QD, lignin-curcumin nanoparticles for applications in PDT, encapsulation of Ir complexes in MCM-41, and the study of protein corona in silica nanoparticles. I am worked at IIT with Prof. Paolo Decuzzi on the development of porous PLGA microparticles for applications in NDD and cancer under an MSCA grant, publishing a review and a detailed article on micromaterial-based drug delivery, and other works are in the writing phase. I am currently a postdoc at the University of Messina working alongside Prof. Sabrina Conoci in a project based on the development of nanostructures and their application to combat osteosarcoma. (Fonte: Currículo Lattes)