2014_09_26_CIE_rafael_serra

Rafael Serra, researcher of the department of Chemistry and Soil Science of the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra, has received a scholarship of mobility from theMax Planck Institute. Thanks to this financial aid he will travel to Germany to carry out the last phase of his doctoral thesis .

His work studies the interactions of Barium Titanate nanoparticles (a ceramic subject ) with polymers (macromolecules formed by joining smaller ones) and their applications. "In the first part of the thesis I prepared composites with nanoparticles with novel techniques and studied their properties. Now, I am investigating possible applications of these for the field of biomedicine, for example, through gels with particles for the repair of bone defects," he explained.

The financial aid awarded by the Max Planck Gesellschaft, high school of research German awarded in 2013 with the award Prince of Asturias, will allow him to continue his work at the department Biomaterials at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, in Potsdam. "The scholarship will cover the costs of research, accommodation, living expenses and travel for the period of the stay," he said.

Rafael Serra did his programs of study from Chemistry at the University of Navarra. After completing a Master's Degree, he returned to the academic center where he is currently doing research. Previously, he has spent time at the Coca-Cola headquarters in Belgium and at the Brigham and Women's Hospital at MIT in Boston.