Silvia Muro

Silvia Muro

Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya

Life & Medical Sciences

Dr. Muro obtained her PhD in Sciences from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and then moved to University of Pennsylvania as a Postdoctoral Associate and Research Assistant Professor in Pharmacology. In 2008 she joined the Bioengineering Department and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research at the University of Maryland, where she was a tenured Associate Professor since 2012. Since November 2017, she is an ICREA Professor in the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia. Dr. Muro has published 80+ articles and chapters in drug delivery and has received awards from the Controlled Release Society, the American Society for Nanomedicine, the UMD Outstanding Life Sciences Invention in 2011, the Junior Faculty Outstanding Engineering Research award, and is a member of the NIH Nanomedicine Study Section.


Research interests

Dr. Muro’s research sits at the interface between molecular-cellular biology and nanotechnology-drug delivery. Her lab studies the biological mechanisms ruling how our cells and tissues transport cargoes to precise destinations within our bodies, and then applies this knowledge toward the design of “biologically-controlled” nanodevices for improved delivery of therapeutic agents to specific disease sites. Focusing on genetic conditions that cause metabolic, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular syndromes, as well as on a new transport pathway she helped discover, her goal is to gain non-invasive, efficient, and specific access within the body and its cells, to enable effective treatment of these life-threatening disorders and other maladies characterized by similar pathological traits.

Selected publications

– Manthe RL, Rappaport JA, Long Y, Solomon M, Veluvolu V, Hildreth M, Gugutkov D, Marugan J, Zheng W & Muro S 2019, ‘δ-Tocopherol Effect on Endocytosis and Its Combination with Enzyme Replacement Therapy for Lysosomal Disorders: A New Type of Drug Interaction?‘, J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 370(3):823-833.

– Roki N, Tsinas Z, Solomon M, Bowers J, Getts RC & Muro S 2019, ‘Unprecedently high targeting specificity toward lung ICAM-1 using 3DNA nanocarrier‘, J Control Release. 305:41-49.

Selected research activities

-Talks & presentations.

-Mid-Atlantic DNA Nanotechnology Symposium, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, USA (Nov. 2019).

-European Symposium on Lysosomal Storage Disorders, Madrid, Spain (Nov. 2019).

-Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. University at Buffalo, USA (Oct. 2019).

-Annual Meeting of the Controlles Release Society. Valencia, Spain (Jul. 2019).

-Advances on Lysosomal Diseases. Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona, Spain (May 2019).

-Advances in Basic Discoveries and Therapetuic Approaches in Lysosomal Diseases, Galveston, USA (Mar. 2019).

-Mid-Atlantic Soft Matter Workshop. Shady Grove, USA (Feb. 2019).

-Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA (Feb. 2019).

-Grants.

-IBEC Faster Future Crowdfunding Program, Spain, Principal Investigator, 01/10/2019-30/09/2020.

-BBR MPower Program, USA, Principal Investigator, 01/09/2019-30/06/2020.

-MINECO RETOS Program, Spain, Pincipal Investigator, 10/01/2019-22/09/2022.

-Panels & boards. 

-Scienfic Review Group NANO, National Institutes of Helath, USA. (Feb. 2019, Jun. 2019, Oct. 2019)

-Agencia Estatal de Investigacion – MINECO RETOS (Dec. 2019).

-Czech Science Foundation. (Jul. 2019).

-Co-Chair, “Global health & neglected diseases”, Annual Meeting of the Controlled Release Society, Valency, Spain. (Jul. 2019).

-Editorial board, WIREs Nanomecidine & Nanobiotechnology”. (01/01/2019-)