New SAB Member for the 'Materials for Health' Area: Carmen Freire
We are pleased to announce that Carmen Freire, Coordinating Researcher at CICECO (Aveiro, Portugal), has joined the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) for the M4HTH (Materials for Health) area at ICMAB. This new appointment strengthens our international collaborations and expertise in functional and sustainable materials for biomedical applications.
Carmen Freire in her lab at CICECO | Credit: CICECO
Carmen Freire is a Coordinating Researcher at CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, in Portugal. She is a renowned expert in the chemistry of biopolymers from renewable resources.
She leads a team that explores a wide range of biopolymers, with particular focus on polysaccharides and proteins, and their properties, such as transparency, mechanical strength, electroactivity, antimicrobial, and antioxidant effects, to create innovative and sustainable composite and nanostructured functional materials that can replace conventional ones across various fields. These materials include thermoplastics, biocomposites, nanocomposites, fibers, membranes, transparent films, microneedle patches, or hydrogels.
Carmen Freire was born in 1976 in Venezuela. In 1994 concluded high school at Escola Secundária José Estevão (Aveiro), and motivated by an enourmous interest in Chemistry, started her degree in Industrial Chemistry at the University of Aveiro, where she graduated in 1998 and continued with a PhD in“Eucalyptus globulus Low Molecular Weight Organic Compounds: Behavior During Wood Kraft Pulping and Pulp Bleaching”, at the Chemistry Department of the University of Aveiro, finishing in 2003.
Following her postdoctoral work in a joint project between the University of Aveiro and the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble on “Surface Chemical Modification of Cellulose Fibers for Novel Paper and Composite Materials”, she became a leading researcher at the BioPol4Fun group within CICECO. First, from 2006 to 2011 as Auxiliary Researcher in the group, and since 2011 as Pincipal Researcher (FCT Researcher).
Her expertise covers the development of advanced materials from cellulose and other polysaccharides, such as kitosane or gelatin, sustainable composite materials, and bio-based nanomaterials for health and environmental applications.
Key Achievements
Over 160 articles published in peer-reviewed journals with more than 20,000 citations
3 National and 2 European patents
Supervision of many PhD theses, postdoctoral fellows, and master’s theses
Coordination and participation in numerous international research projects
Editorial board member and reviewer for major journals in green chemistry and materials science
You can find more details about Carmen Freire’s work here and in her Google Scholar profile.
We look forward to working closely with Carmen Freire and benefiting from her expertise in the exciting field of materials for health applications!
