Polymers Webinar | Polymers and Some of Their Applications
the chair
3rd Polymers Webinar
Polymers and Some of Their Applications
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the organizing committee, I am delighted to welcome you to the seminar on "Polymers and Some of Their Applications". We are privileged to have two distinguished speakers with us, Prof. Dr. Ana Grenha and Dr. Bruno Medronho, both from the University of Algarve, who will share their invaluable insights into the innovative role polymers play in medicine.
This seminar promises to be a fascinating exploration of how polymer science is shaping the future of healthcare. We look forward to engaging discussions and thought-provoking presentations.
Thank you for joining us, and we hope you enjoy the session!
Date: 7 February 2025
Time: 12:00 pm CET | 7:00 pm CST Asia | 11:00 am WET
Webinar ID: 832 9702 9104
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Meet the Event Chair
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Bruno Medronho
Laboratory of Plant Biotechnology, University of Algarve, Portugal;
Bruno Medronho graduated in Chemistry from the University of Coimbra in 2004 and completed his PhD in Macromolecular Chemistry (mixed fellowship) in 2009 at the same institution. During his PhD candidature, Bruno received 2 years of scientific training at Lund University (Sweden) at the Division of Physical Chemistry (Prof. Ulf Olsson) and has also been an invited guest researcher at Paderborn University (Prof. Claudia Schmidt, Germany) and at Wellington University (Sir Paul Callaghan and Prof. Petrik Galvosas, New Zealand). In 2012, Bruno became a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Algarve (UAlg), where he has since been coordinating a new research line, focusing on biopolymer dissolution, and regeneration and novel bio-based materials. He is currently a Principal Researcher at the University of Algarve and a Visiting Professor at the Surface and Colloid Engineering group at FSCN in Mid Sweden University, Sweden.
Prof. Dr. Ana Grenha
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve, Portugal;
Ana Grenha received her PhD in Pharmacy–Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in 2007. She joined the University of Algarve in Portugal for a Professorship in Pharmaceutical Technology in 2007 and received her Habilitation in Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Lisbon in 2022. Since July 2023, she has been Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology. She is the PI of the Drug Delivery Laboratory, part of the Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMAR-UAlg), which is mainly dedicated to respiratory drug delivery, with a particular focus on inhalation. She is also an active collaborator of the iMed from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon. The research group is also keen on exploring the potential of natural materials, namely polysaccharides, fostering new applications that benefit from their intrinsic properties. Additionally, there is strong expertise on encapsulation technologies, which have been applied in distinct sectors ranging from pharmaceutics in the context of drug delivery, to aquaculture in the development of specific feeding strategies, and to food science in the context of supplementation.
She has been the PI of several funded projects and has authored ca. 50 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, 6 book chapters, and 2 patents (1 pending) in the field of drug inhalation. She has supervised about 4 PhD and 15 Masters thesis students, all in the field of drug delivery. She was awarded the Investigador Universidade do Algarve 2022 prize and the Robalo Cordeiro Award from the Portuguese Society of Pneumology in 2020 for a scientific project on pulmonary immunization strategies.
She is currently the Director of the Integrated Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences at UAlg, has been a member of the Board of Directors of CCMAR-UAlg since 2018, and has been part of the Drug Delivery to the Lungs (DDL) Conference Committee since 2019.
Sponsors and Partners
Organizer
On Friday, 7 February 2025, MDPI and Polymers organized a webinar entitled "Polymers and Some of Their Applications".
Please find the closing summary by our Chair, Prof. Dr. Ana Figueiras, below.
In the seminar “Polymers and Some of Their Applications”, we learned about the exciting area of polymer science, especially cellulose derivatives and polysaccharides. The seminar was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Ana Figueiras, who invited Dr. Bruno Medronho and Prof. Dr. Ana Grenha to present their most recent and innovative research. Concerning environmentally friendly applications, Dr. Medronho advocated for novel cellulose derivatives that can mitigate microplastic effusion through flocculation. Prof. Dr. Grenha explored the importance of natural polysaccharides in inhalable therapies, highlighting their potential in drug delivery systems for respiratory diseases. Together, the presentations underscored the versatility of natural polymers in solving contemporary challenges.
The webinar was hosted via Zoom and required registration to attend. The full recording can be found below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of the page.