5th Conference on IDD - 5th Conf on IDD – Detailed programme and speakers

María J. Blanco-Prieto, Full Professor – University of Navarra, Spain
María Blanco-Prieto obtained a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Paris-Sud (France). Following that, she underwent post-doctoral training at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland. She then joined the University of Navarra, where she currently holds the position of Full Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology.
Maria Blanco focuses her research on the development of nanomedicines for cancer treatment (particularly childhood cancer), as well as tissue regeneration of the heart and brain through tissue engineering. Throughout her career, she has authored over 175 research papers and book chapters, 5 patents, and presented over 230 communications at scientific conferences, often as an invited speaker.
Her contributions to drug delivery research have been recognized with numerous national and international awards. Maria is a member of the National Academy of Pharmacy of France and Galicia, and the Academy of Medicine of France. In 2021, she became a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and in 2022, she was elected as a member of the Academia Europaea. Since January 2023, she has been the President of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS).

Elena Del Favero, Associate Professor – University of Milan, Italy
Elena Del Favero is a soft matter physicist, with a PhD in Biochemistry. She is Professor of Medical and Applied Physics at the University of Milan.
Her experimental research focuses on bio-soft matter and nanomaterials of biological and pharmacological interest. She applies a biophysical approach and in particular: laser light scattering (visible, UV), calorimetry, Neutron, and X-ray techniques to study the structural organization and dynamics of biomimetic colloids on different length-scales, from the mesoscale (hundreds of nm) to the very local scale (tenths of nm). The main research topics of her group are the structural and thermotropic properties of lipid membranes, the structure of stimuli-responsive nanoparticles for gene and drug delivery and controlled release, the self-aggregation and membrane interaction of peptides and proteins, and the structure and biomechanics of polymeric scaffolds for tissue regeneration. She published more than 110 papers in peer-reviewed scientific international journals.

Ryan Donnelly, Professor – Queen’s University Belfast, Irland
Professor Ryan Donnelly holds the Chair in Pharmaceutical Technology at the School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast, where he is Director of Research. A registered pharmacist, his research is centred on design and characterisation of advanced polymeric drug delivery systems for transdermal and intradermal drug delivery, with a strong emphasis on improving patient outcomes. He is currently developing a range of novel microneedle technologies through independent research, but also in collaboration with several major pharmaceutical companies.
His work has attracted more than £30 million in funding and he has authored over 1000 peer-reviewed publications, including 11 patent applications, 7 textbooks, 28 book chapters and approximately 360 full papers. He leads a personal research group of approximately 50 people from 15 different countries and has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences.
Professor Donnelly is Europe/Africa Editor of Drug Delivery & Translational Research. He has won the International Association for Pharmaceutical Technology (APV) Research Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Pharmaceutical Sciences (2024), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Harrison Medal (2024), the Kydonieus Foundation Transdermal Delivery Award (2024), the European Journal of Pharmaceutics & Biopharmaceutics Most Cited Paper Award (2023), the Drug Delivery & Translational Research Best Paper Award (2023), Visit Belfast’s Ambassador Award for Life & Health Sciences (2022), the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences Innovative Science Award (2020), Evonik’s Resomer Award (2018), the Controlled Release Society’s Young Investigator Award (2016), BBSRC Innovator of the Year (2013), the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Pharmaceutical Research Meritorious Manuscript Award (2013 & 2022), the GSK Emerging Scientist Award (2012), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Science Award (2011) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland’s Gold Medal (1999).

Ling Peng, Research Director – CNRS, France
Dr. Ling Peng is a research director of exceptional class at the Interdisciplinary Center on Nanoscience in Marseille (CINaM), which is a part of the French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS). She is working actively at the interface of chemistry and biology, and has gained international recognition in developing innovative dendrimer materials for biomedical applications. Notably, she has inaugurated the concept and synthesis of self-assembling supramolecular dendrimers, which have inspired and transformed the field of dendrimer science for biomedical applications in drug delivery, gene therapy and biomedical imaging. Dr. Peng is the Distinguished Member of the French Chemical Society, and was honored with the Prize of Dr & Mme Henri Labbé by the French Academy of Sciences in 2017, the Grand Prize of the French Chemical Society SUD PACA and the André Collet Prize of Supramolecular Chemistry by the French Chemical Society in 2024.

Nicolas Tsapis, Associate Professor – University Paris Saclay, France
Nicolas Tsapis did his PhD on model biological membranes at ENS (Paris, France). In 2001, he went to Harvard University as a post-doctoral fellow with Prof. David A. Edwards and David A. Weitz. There he studied the drying process of droplets containing colloidal particles from a fundamental and applied point of view.
In October 2003, he joined the team of Prof Elias Fattal as a CNRS researcher (Univ Paris-Sud, France). His research activity focuses on three main topics: Contrast agents for theranostics, spray drying from fundamentals to therapeutic applications and nanomedicines.
In 2009, he obtained the CNRS bronze medal and in 2014 he was appointed CNRS research director. Since 2020, he is the vice-director of Institut Galien Paris-Saclay. He is the co-author of about 140 publications and 8 patents among which one led to the founding of Imescia (https://imescia.com/).