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    nanoscience and nanotechnology: small is different

Dr. Ana María Pizarro Arranz

Position: Assistant Research Prof.
PhD: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Previous Position: University of Warwick (UK)
Research: Metallodrugs in cancer research
Group webpage: Metallodrugs
Joining Date: January, 2014
User Name: ana.pizarro
Telephone: +34 91 299 88 47
Pizarro Arranz

Ana M. Pizarro completed a PhD in Chemistry at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 2004 under the supervision of Prof. C. Navarro-Ranninger, working on trans-platinum cytotoxic compounds. She was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship (EIF) to work in the laboratory of Prof. P. J. Sadler FRS at the University of Edinburgh (UK) on new organometallic ruthenium-based organometallics. She then moved to the University of Warwick (UK) where she focused on how selected metallodrugs (based on ruthenium, osmium and iridium) exert their anticancer effects in tumour cells. In January 2014 she was awarded a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship and joined IMDEA Nanociencia as an Assistant Professor. Her main interest lies in exploiting the extraordinary features of transition metal complexes inside the human cell to modulate its machinery at the molecular level in the nano-space. Additionally, Dr. Pizarro coordinates the Cell Culture Unit and Microbiology at IMDEA Nanociencia. She is one of the ten guarantors of the Severo Ochoa centre of Excellence award at IMDEA Nanociencia. She got tenure in April 2019.

Research Lines

  • Our ultimate goal is to generate metal-based drugs whose mechanism of action is understood and whose targets are identified. These metallo-medicines will exploit the extraordinary features of transition metal complexes, in particular the capability for in tumour activation (for example, pH-responsive systems), as well as the potential to generate oxidative stress through in-cell catalysis.
  • We are also interested in exploring the possibility of loading our cancer modulating metallo-drugs into different types of nanocarriers - from plant-generated virus and virus-like nanoparticles to magnetic iron oxide based nanosystems and mechanically interlocked nanotubes- in order to confer control on the drug’s release and reactivity.

Relevant publications