Opening Ceremony


Luis M. Liz-Marzán

CIC biomaGUNE (BRTA), Spain

Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Fellow of the Optical Society of America

Biography: Luis M. Liz-Marzán is a PhD from the University of Santiago de Compostela and has been postdoc at the van't Hoff Laboratory (Utrecht University) and visiting professor at various institutions worldwide. After an extended academic career at the University of Vigo, in 2012 he joined the Basque Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials (CIC biomaGUNE), in San Sebastian, as Ikerbasque Research Professor and Scientific Director, a position he held until December 2021. Since 2015 he is also the PI of the CIC biomaGUNE node of the Biomedical Research Networking Center: Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (Ciber-BBN) and since 2022 he holds a part-time Chair at the University of Vigo. Luis M. Liz-Marzán is recognized by his work on the application of colloid chemistry to the (nowadays crowded) field of nanoplasmonics. He has been one of the pioneers in the colloidal synthesis of metal nanoparticles, with relevant contributions toward the control over the morphology of such nanoparticles, as well as toward tailoring nanoparticle surface chemistry and self-assembly. Recent work by the group has focused on surface bioconjugation (e.g. with glycans and cross-linkable polymers) but also on drug delivery and understanding nanoparticle fate within living cells. The scope of the research in Liz-Marzán's group has not been limited to synthetic aspects, but had the ambition to perform morphological and optical characterization at the highest level, to apply theoretical methods to model particle growth and optical properties, and ultimately applying them to the design of applications, mainly related to ultrasensitive detection and early diagnosis of diseases. Liz-Marzán and co-workers have contributed to both the comprehension of the phenomenon of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and the design of substrates that improve the performance of SERS sensors toward the detection of disease biomarkers.

Personal Hompage: http://www.bionanoplasmonics.com/Luis.php


Dr. Suong V. Hoa

Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University

Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME)
Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada

Biography: Dr. Suong Van Hoa has been working on composites materials and structures since 1979. He has worked on many aspects of composites, from analysis, design, to manufacturing and development of new materials and structures made of composites. He has been working with many companies and institutions from many countries. Dr. Hoa established the Concordia Center for Composites (CONCOM) since 1983 and it was accepted by the board of Governors of Concordia University since 1993. Dr. Hoa has been Director of CONCOM since 1993.

Dr. Hoa was given the title of Concordia University Research Fellow in 2006. He was appointed Concordia University Research Chair in Materials and Composites since 2001. He has been Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Industrial Chair in Automated Composites Manufacturing since 2012. This NSERC chair is supported by Bombardier Aerospace, Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd., Emergia Aerospace, Composites Atlantic and Delastek Ltd. Dr. Hoa is Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME), Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada.

Dr. Hoa received The Ralph R. Teetor award from the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1980. He received the G.H. Duggan medal from CSME in 1996, the NSERC Synergy award in 2006, the ADRIQ (Association des Directeurs de Recherche Industrielle du Quebec) in 2006 and 2009, the Pratt and Whitney Research fellow in 2008, the Nano Academia from Nanoqubec in 2008, the American Society for Composites Destech award in 2011, and the Agora medal from the Palais des Congres of Montreal in 2011.

Personal Homepage: https://users.encs.concordia.ca/~hoasuon/