Samuel Sánchez

Samuel Sánchez

Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya

Engineering Sciences

Samuel (Chemistry, UAB, 2008) is Group Leader and Deputy Director.at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia. In 2009, he worked at NIMS, Japan, from 2010-2013 he was Group Leader at the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Germany. From 2013-2018 he was Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart. He was one of the first selected members of the Young Academy of Spain in 2020. He received several awards: Guinness World Record® 2010 and 2017 for smallest jet engine;  MIT TR35 “Innovator of the year U35” Spain 2014; Princess of Girona Scientific Award 2015; and National Research Award for Young Talent by FCRi, in 2016, Banco Sabadell Award 2022 and RSEQ Reseach Excellence Award 2022. He obtained the ERC Starting Grant 2012, 2 ERC PoC 2016 and 2018 and the ERC-Consolidator Grant in 2019. He holds 7 patents, >160 publications, h-index 68 and >16000 cites.

Research interests

Samuel Sánchez is leader of the “Smart Nano-Bio-Devices” group, working in the multidisciplinary field of Nanosciences with interest in developing hybrid robotics systems across different length-scales, from the nano- to the macroscale. Research interest spans from fundamental science, translational approach of nanodevices to the clinic to the exploitation of the protected intellectual property developed by the group. Currently, the main research lines in the group are: 1. Nanofabrication of nanobots as smart drug delivery systems for biomedical applications.; 2. Study of collective phenomena of active nanosystems; 3. Development of personalized medicine based on multifunctional biocompatible nanobots for patient-derived tumors and other diseases, 4. Use of medical imaging tools to track self-propelled nanobots in vivo and 4. 3D Printing living systems based on skeletal muscle tissues for tissue engineering, drug screening and living soft robotics.

Selected publications

- Vilela D, Guix M, Parmar J, Blanco-Blanes À & Sánchez S 2022, 'Micromotor-in-Sponge Platform for Multicycle Large-Volume Degradation of Organic Pollutants', Small, 18, 23, e2107619.

- Arqué X, Torres MDT, Patiño T, Boaro A, Sánchez S & de la Fuente-Nunez C 2022, 'Autonomous Treatment of Bacterial Infections in Vivo Using Antimicrobial Micro- and Nanomotors', ACS nano, 6(5):7547-7558.

- Arqué X, Patiño T & Sánchez S 2022, 'Enzyme-powered micro- and nano-motors: key parameters for an application-oriented design', Chemical Science, 13 (33), 42-48.

- Mestre R, Fuentes J, Lefaix L, Wang J, Guix M, Murillo G, Bashir R & Sanchez, S 2022, 'Improved Performance of Biohybrid Muscle-Based Bio-Bots Doped with Piezoelectric Boron Nitride Nanotubes', Advanced Materials Technologies, 8, 2, 2200505.

- Wang L, Huang Y, Xu H, Chen S, Chen H, Lin Y, Wang X, Liu X, Sánchez S & Huang X 2022, 'Contaminants-fueled laccase-powered Fe3O4@ SiO2 nanomotors for synergistical degradation of multiple pollutants', Materials Today Chemistry, vol. 26, pp 101059.  

- Wang Y, Soto Rodriguez PED, Woythe L, Sánchez S, Samitier J, Zijlstra P, & Albertazzi L 2022, 'Multicolor Super-Resolution Microscopy of Protein Corona on Single Nanoparticles', ACS applied materials & interfaces, vol.14, no. 33, pp 37345–37355.

- Valles M, Pujals S, Albertazzi L & Sánchez S 2022, 'Enzyme Purification Improves the Enzyme Loading, Self-Propulsion, and Endurance Performance of Micromotors', ACS nano, 16, 4, 5615–5626.

Selected research activities

- 1 patent licensed

- Banco Sabadell Research Award 2022 "Ciencias y la Ingeniería"

- RSEQ "Excelencia Científica" Award 2022

- About 50 media appearances

- 2 Cooperations with private sector

- about 15 invited talks and seminars