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Biography
María José Alonso is full professor of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC).
Her lab has pioneered contributions to the design of nanostructures for the delivery of peptide/protein drugs and vaccines.
She has been the coordinator and PI of several consortia and cooperative projects financed by the WHO, the “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation” and the European Commission. Currently, she is involved in 5 European Projects and she is coordinating the TRANS-INT consortium (oral peptide delivery).
She is the author of 223 international scientific contributions with more than 10,000 cites (H factor 60). Because of the quality of her papers she has been among the TOP TEN in Pharmacology, according to the Times Higher Education international ranking. She has also edited 2 books and has been the inventor of 20 patents.
She is part of the scientific boards of a number of societies and a member of the executive board of the Controlled Release Society. She has also received 16 Awards, among them the “King Jaume I Award” given to the best researcher in the area of new technologies in Spain and the Maurice Marie Janot Award 2014 (APGI).
Author of
international scientific contributions
Inventor of
patents
Winner of
awards
EDUCATION
1981
Master in Pharmacy
University of Santiago de Compostela (USC)
1985
Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics
University of Santiago de Compostela (USC)RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1985
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, USC
Assistant Professor
1986
(Prof. P. Couvreur group). University of Paris XI, France
Visiting Scientist
1987-1998
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, USC
Associate Professor
1989
(Prof. J. P. Benoit group). University of Angers, France
Visiting Scientist
1991-1992
(Prof. R. Langer group). MIT, Cambridge, US
Visiting Scientist
2012
(Prof. R. Langer group). MIT, Cambridge, US
Visiting Scientist
1998-Full Professor
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, USC
PresentSPECIFIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN RESEARCH
Pioneering design and development of novel nanostructures (chitosan, PLA-PEG, Hyaluronan, polyaminoacids) for the targeted delivery of drugs and vaccines. These nanostructures have been applied in three major areas: infectious diseases (vaccines), metabolic diseases e.g. diabetes (insulin and related peptides) and cancer (targeting, inmunomodulation and gene therapy).
Pioneering discovery of the interaction and transport of biodegradable nanoparticles (chitosan, PLA-PEG) through biological barriers, with special emphasis in mucosal barriers (intestinal, nasal, ocular).