The Spanish Society for Nanomedicine is now a reality: "The progress in this area depends on collaboration across disciplines"

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To coordinate efforts in nanomedicine at the national level, to increase impact, and to strengthen Spain's position internationally. They are the goals of the recently launched Spanish Society of Nanomedicine, led by Puerto Morales, a researcher at the Madrid Institute of Materials Sciences.

This CSIC centre hosted the launch of the Society this Monday, April, 20. During the event, the first research prize on Nanomedicine was awarded to Álvaro Somoza (IMDEA Nano) and Concepción Serrano López-Terradas (ICMM) got a secondary award. These prizes were founded by the Catedra Exobiopharma de Nanomedicina from the Universidad de Zaragoza (UNIZAR).

"Progress in nanomedicine depends on collaboration across disciplines: from the design of nanomaterials to their biological evaluation and clinical translation," said Puerto Morales during the event. "Working together makes us stronger," she pointed out.

In her own words, nanomedicine offers tools to address important challenges in medicine such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and sustainable healthcare. "We need better diagnostics, smarter therapies, safe biomaterials, more selective delivery systems, and new ways of combining treatment and monitoring," said the researcher, and she added: "Nanomedicine offers tools for all of that".

That is why this society aims to create a national reference point representing the interests and advances of Spanish nanomedicine; to coordinate strategies at the national and international levels with other scientific societies and related platforms; and to promote training, dissemination, and knowledge transfer at all stages of the research and professional career.

This society, whose origin is linked to the CSIC Nanomedicine HUB, aims to support young scientists. "The SENM can also play a role in training the next generation of scientists. Supporting young researchers, promoting mobility, and creating opportunities for interaction are essential to ensure continuity and innovation in the field," explained Puerto Morales.

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I Prizes on Nanomedicine & special speakers

The launch event was also a day for the first prizes on research on Nanomedicine. This year, the award was for the researcher Álvaro Somoza for his work entitled "Adaptamer-conjugated gold nanoparticles enable oligonucleotide delivery into muscle stem cells to promote regeneration of dystrophic muscles", published at Nature Communications 16, for its "quality and impact".

The jury also awarded, as a second prize, a work carried out by Conchi Serrano, a researcher at the ICMM. The paper was entitled "Graphene oxide scaffolds promote functional improvements mediated by scaffold-invading axons in thoracic transected rats", published in Bioactive Materials 47, for her "great in vivo work".

Both researchers were able to present their work to the audience right in the middle of the day. First of all, Twan Lammers, a researcher from the Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging (Germany) spoke as an international keynote, and then María José Alonso, from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, gave an 'expert nanomedicine session'.

Lucía Gutiérrez, secretary of the SENM, was in charge of the official closing and took the opportunity to announce that the society aims to continue with prizes on research and for PhD work, as well as the organization of the Summer School on Nanomedicine and the SBAN congress.

Regarding the SENM

In 2025, a group of researchers and professionals associated with the Nanomedicine Connection of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) decided to formalize a national association: the Spanish Society of Nanomedicine (SENM).

The main objective was to consolidate a space that would bring together all individuals and institutions interested in the scientific, technological, and clinical development of nanomedicine in Spain, with a broader focus on the scientific, clinical, and professional community.