2015_11_03_xabier_unamuno

The National Center for Scientific Research research (in French, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique or CNRS), with a total of 4,894 articles referenced in 2014, ranks first in the new international ranking of scientific institutions proposed by Nature magazine, called "Nature Index".

It ranks ahead of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the German Max-Planck Center, Harvard and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) committee .

This is the place where Xabier Unamuno, graduate in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Navarra, is currently working on his final year project Master's Degree , also carried out at TECNUN.

Dr. María Blanco, professor of the Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering of the University of Navarra offered Xabier to do the project in the field of Nanotechnology and, specifically, as the young engineer indicates with the goal of"encapsulating antibiotics and antitumor drugs inside organic metallic Structures of nanometric dimensions (nanoMOFs)".

When Xabier learned that he had been admitted to the CNRS, he decided to take an intensive French course for two months. "Now I understand almost everything, but speaking is more difficult for me". However, he has no communication problems because "science speaks English" and he has no problem with this language.

Dr. Blanco's group of research , located at the School Pharmacy of the University of Navarra in Pamplona, works closely with medical teams from the University of Navarra to improve patient therapies. Clínica Universidad de Navarra medical teams for the improvement of patients' therapies. Given his prestige, he collaborates with leading European teams at research , such as the CNRS, where Xabier is currently working with his collaborative work to "obtain more specific treatments and thus avoid the side effects of current treatments".

Xabier says that to advance in his first goal, which is"to synthesize and characterize nanoscale particles" he has to "put many hours in the laboratory since these are the first weeks" and the processes he is performing "are not very well known to me". However, "having things to do, the time is running and the experience is very enjoyable".

In addition to his enjoyment, Xabier receives a stipend from the CNRS and has obtained a scholarship that allows him to afford to live in the neighboring country, which he perceives as "expensive".

Xabier goes on to explain enthusiastically that"once we have the nanoparticles, it is necessary to introduce drugs such as Genistein (an anticancer agent) and Gentamicin (a drug against bacterial infections) inside them".

The illusion oozes from Xabier's words. Putting talent at the service of Medicine, hand in hand with prestigious researchers, working first at the CNRS in Versailles and then in Pamplona, with the group of Dr. Blanco may be the best way to move towards the administration of "these particles orally avoiding possible complications in the treatment of certain types of cancer".

This field, Xabier acknowledges, brings a special motivation to work on a daily basis. When asked for details of this statement, he confirms that research to cure provides a transcendent motivation, since achieving the objectives means helping many people, reducing their ailments and bringing them closer to better health.