Ignacio Insua López (Nacho)

I am a PhD student working on novel stimuli-responsive nanomaterials as antimicrobials. I graduated from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2012 with a Minor Thesis. During this time I developed, under the supervision of Prof Christian F. Masaguer, the synthesis and biological evaluation of new family of dopamine receptor ligands. I then moved to the private sector, and carried out an MSc in the pharmaceutical company InKemia-IUCT (Spain) with a research project about the high-throughput biosynthesis of nucleoside analogs and their biological evaluation as anti-breast cancer drugs. On my spare time, I like to play rugby and have a passion for music. I have played the bass for two bands.

  •  Education:
    • Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
      • BSci, Pharmacy, 2007 – 2012
    • MSci, Chemistry and Pharmacy Industry, InKemia-IUCT, 2013.
  • Research Career:
    • USC, Spain. Research student on Drug Discovery in the group of Prof. Enrique Raviña, 2010 – 2011.
    • USC, Spain. Undergraduate Research Scholarship in the group of Prof Christian F. Masaguer, 2011 – 2012.
    • USC, Spain. Minor Thesis “Synthesis of novel 1,4-disubstituted triazoles as potential D3 receptor ligands by means of Click Chemistry” in the group of Prof Christian F. Masaguer, 2012 – 2013.
    • University of Birmingham, UK. PhD student in the School of Chemistry. 2013 – Present

Scientific Contributions

Publications in Peer Reviewed Journals

  1. Insua, I. et al. Synthesis and binding affinity of new 1,4-disubstituted triazoles as potential dopamine D3 receptor ligands. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2013, 23, 5586–5591.
  2. Monzó, J., Insua, I., Fernandez-Trillo, F., and Rodriguez, P.  Fundamentals, achievements and challenges in the electrochemical sensing of pathogens. Analyst, 140, 7116–7128 (2015).
  3. I. Insua et al., Enzyme-responsive polyion complex (PIC) nanoparticles for the targeted delivery of antimicrobial polymers. Polym. Chem. 7, 2684–2690 (2016).
  4. Insua, I., Wilkinson, A., and Fernandez-Trillo, F. Polyion complex (PIC) particles: Preparation and biomedical applications. Eur. Polym. J. (2016), 81, 198–215.
  5. I. Insua, S. Majok, A. F. A. Peacock, A. M. Krachler, F. Fernandez-Trillo, Preparation and antimicrobial evaluation of polyion complex (PIC) nanoparticles loaded with polymyxin B, Eur. Polym. J. (2016), 10.1016–j.eurpolymj.2016.08.023.
  6. Insua, I., Zizmare, L., Peacock, A. F. A. F., Krachler, A. M. & Fernandez-Trillo, F. Polymyxin B containing polyion complex (PIC) nanoparticles: Improving the antimicrobial activity by tailoring the degree of polymerisation of the inert component. Sci Rep 7, 9396 (2017).

Poster Contribution to Conferences

  1. Emerging Nanomaterials for Healthcare; Warwick (UK); November 28th, 2014; Novel Stimuli Responsive PolyIonComplex Particles – Prize for Best Poster Presentation