Muro Galindo, Silvia – ICREA Memoir 2021

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 90+ articles and chapters in drug delivery and has received awards from the Controlled Release Society, American Society for Nanomedicine, UMD Outstanding Life Sciences Invention in 2011, Junior Faculty Outstanding Engineering Research award, has been a member of the USA NIH Nanomedicine Study Section and is an elected Felow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

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

– Roki N, Solomon M, Casta L, Bowers J, Getts RC, Muro S 2021. ‘A method to improve quantitative radiotracing-based analysis of the in vivo biodistribution of drug carriers‘. Bioeng Transl Med. 6(2):e10208.

– Qamar B, Solomon M, Marin A, Fuerst TR, Andrianov AK, Muro S. 2021, ‘Intracellular Delivery of Active Proteins by Polyphosphazene Polymers‘. Pharmaceutics.13(2):249.

– Chen Y, Toth EA, Ruan B, Choi EJ, Simmerman R, Chen Y, He Y, Wang R, Godoy-Ruiz R, King H, Custer G, Travis Gallagher D, Rozak DA, Solomon M, Muro S, Weber DJ, Orban J, Fuerst TR, Bryan PN 2021. ‘Engineering subtilisin proteases that specifically degrade active RAS’. Commun Biol. 4(1):299.

– Muro S 2021, ‘Drug Delivery Systems: A Few Examples of Applications, Drug Cargoes, and Administration Routes‘. Curr Pharm Des.; 27(17):1975-1976.

Selected research activities

Awards & Honors:

-Induction to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Enineering (AIMBE), USA. Mar.2021

Conferences & Seminars:

-Site-specific Drug Delivery of Nanoscale Therapeutics to ICAM-1. Seminar, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Nov.2021

-Modulating Design Parameters of ICAM-1-Targeted 3DNA Nanocarriers to Tune Pulomonary Targeting for Drug Delivery. Pharmaceutical Research and Drug Development Conference, Washington DC, USA. Sep.2021.

-Direct Targeting of Migrating White Blood Cells to Restore Blood-Brain Barrier Homeostasis. Controlled Release Society. Jul.2021.

-Specific siRNA Delivery to Mouse Lungs Using 3DNA Nanocarriers. Research Day, U. Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Apr.2021

-Developing a Gaucher Disease Pharmacological Model of the Blood-Brain Barrier. Research Day, U. Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Apr.2021

Directed theses:

-Analysis of ICAM-1 expression and alternative spliced isiforms in acid sphingomyelinase deficiency. Pau Marti, TFG, Universidad Ramon LLull, Sep.2021.

-Preparation and characterization of PLGA nanoparticles for enzyme replacement therapies. Guillem Vives, TFG, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Jan.2021.