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Juan

Pellico Sáez

Ramón y Cajal Researcher

Nanomaterials for Medical Imaging

Contact data:

Extension: 436183
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Department: Smart Molecular, Inorganic and Hybrid Materials
Group: Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites

Biography

I am a Ramón y Cajal researcher at ICMAB since 2025. I obtained my PhD in Chemistry from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2016.

Following my PhD, I pursued postdoctoral research at the Advanced Imaging Unit of the Spanish Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC).

I then continued my postdoctoral work in the United Kingdom, first as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Oxford (2018–2019), and later as a Senior Researcher at King’s College London (2019–2024) where I led various research initiatives focused on the application of nanomedicines in medical imaging.

Research interest

As a materials scientist, my research centres on the integration of advanced nanomaterials with radionuclides to develop next-generation agents for medical imaging and therapy. My current research interests include:

1) Developing innovative imaging probes based on single nanoparticle tracers

2) Investigating the mechanisms of radionuclide incorporation into nanomaterials,

3) Establishing robust methodologies for nanoparticle quantification and isolation and

4) Investigating precise dose-response relationships for nanoparticle administration.

Awards:

2024 - Ramón y Cajal fellowship. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. Spanish government 2024 - Beautriu de Pinós Fellowship. Government of Catalonia. (voluntarily rejected for incompatibility with Ramón y Cajal fellowship) 2023 - Top 5% of highly cited works from the Royal Society of Chemistry Journals certification. 2023 - Research Innovation Award. Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. King’s College London. 2023 - Best Image of the Year Award, Preclinical Nuclear Imaging Symposium. University of Hull, UK. 2016 - Summa Cum Laude PhD distinction. Complutense University of Madrid. Spain. 2015 - Excellence Award for Young Researchers. European Society of Molecular Imaging. 2015 - Technical Staff Fellowship. Spanish Government.

Scientific Highlights:

1. Ana M. López-Estévez, Amaia Carrascal-Miniño, Dolores Torres, María José Alonso, Rafael T. M. de Rosales and Juan Pellico*. “Biodistribution of 89Zr-radiolabelled nanoassemblies for monoclonal antibody delivery revealed through in vivo PET imaging”. ACS Omega 2025, just accepted

2. Juan Pellico, Laurence Vass, Amaia Carrascal-Miniño, Francis Man, Jana Kim, Kavitha Sunassee, David Parker, Philip J. Blower, Paul K. Marsden and Rafael T. M. de Rosales*. “In vivo real time Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) and single particle PET”. Nature Nanotechnology 19, 668–676 (2024).

3. Katarzyna M. Wulfmeier, Philip J. Blower, Galo Paez Fajardo, Steven Huband, Rafael T. M. de Rosales, David Walker, Samantha YA Terry, Vincenzo Abbate and Juan Pellico*. “Mechanisms of inclusion of thallium-201 into Prussian blue NPs for nuclear medicine applications”. J. Mater. Chem. B, 2024, 12, 8087-8098.

4. Juan Pellico*, Ananda Jadhav, Laurence Vass, Agathe Bricout, Mostafa Barigou, Paul K Marsden, Rafael TM de Rosales. “Synthesis and 68Ga radiolabelling of calcium alginate beads for positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) applications”. Chem. Eng. Sci., 264 (2022), 118159.

5. Juan Pellico, Peter J. Gawne, Rafael T. M. de Rosales*. “Radiolabelling of nanomaterials for medical imaging and therapy”. Chem. Soc. Rev., 2021, 50, 3355-3423

6. Juan Pellico, Irene Fernández-Barahona, Jesús Ruiz-Cabello, Lucía Gutiérrez, María Muñoz- Hernando, María J Sánchez-Guisado, Irati Aiestaran-Zelaia, Lydia Martínez-Parra, Ignacio Rodríguez, Jacob Bentzon, Fernando Herranz*. “HAP-multitag, a PET and positive MRI contrast nanotracer for the longitudinal characterization of vascular calcifications in atherosclerosis”. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13, 38, 45279–45290.

7. Irene Fernández-Barahona, María Muñoz-Hernando, Jesus Ruiz-Cabello, Fernando Herranz, Juan Pellico*. “Iron oxide nanoparticles: an alternative for positive contrast in Magnetic Resonance Imaging”. Inorganics 2020, 8(4), 28

8. Jose M Adrover+, Juan Pellico+, Irene Fernández-Barahona, Sandra Martín-Salamanca, Jesús Ruiz-Cabello, Andrés Hidalgo, Fernando Herranz*. “Thrombo-tag, an in vivo formed nanotracer for the detection of thrombi in mice by fast pre-targeted molecular imaging”. Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 22978-22987

9. Juan Pellico, Connor M. Ellis, Jack Miller, Jason J. Davis (C.A.), 2019. “Water gated contrast switching with polymer-silica hybrid nanoparticles”. Chem. Comm., 2019, 55, 8540-8543

10. Juan Pellico, Connor Ellis, Jason J. Davis*. “Nanoparticle based paramagnetic contrast agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging”. Contrast Media Mol. Imaging 2019, 1845637.

11. Juan Pellico, Irene Fernández-Barahona, Marina Benito, Ángel Gaitán-Simón, Lucía Gutiérrez, Jesús Ruiz-Cabello, Fernando Herranz. “Unambiguous detection of atherosclerosis using bioorthogonal nanomaterials”. Nanomedicine:NBM, 17, (2019) 26-35.

12. Juan Pellico, Ana V. Lechuga-Vieco, Elena Almarza, Andrés Hidalgo, Cristina Mesa-Nuñez, Irene Fernández-Barahona, Juan A. Quintana, Juan Bueren, Jose A. Enríquez, Jesús Ruiz-Cabello, Fernando Herranz. “In vivo imaging of lung inflammation with neutrophil-specific 68Ga nano-radiotracer”. Scientific Reports 7:13242, 2017.

13. Juan Pellico, Jesús Ruiz-Cabello, Irene Fernández-Barahona, Lucía Gutiérrez, Ana V. Lechuga- Vieco, Jose A. Enríquez, M. Puerto Morales, and Fernando Herranz. “One-Step Fast Synthesis of Nanoparticles for MRI: Coating Chemistry as the Key Variable Determining Positive or Negative Contrast”. Langmuir, 2017, 33 (39), 10239–10247.

14. Juan Pellico, Jesús Ruiz-Cabello, Marina Saiz-Alía, Gilberto del Rosario, Sergio Caja, María Montoya, Laura Fernández de Manuel, M. Puerto Morales, Lucía Gutiérrez, Beatriz Galiana, Jose A. Enríquez, and Fernando Herranz*. “Fast synthesis and bioconjugation of 68Ga core-doped extremely small iron oxide nanoparticles for PET/MR imaging”. Contrast Media Mol. Imaging 2016, 11, 203-210.

Patents

Title registered industrial property: “223Ra Core-doped iron oxide nanoparticles, preparation method and use thereof” Inventors: Juan Pellico Sáez, Aitor Herráiz, Rafael Torres Martín de Rosales, Fernando Herranz Rabanal Entity holder of rights: King’s College London & Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. EP24382095

Title registered industrial property: “Single core radionuclide-metal oxide nanoparticles: a new biocompatible nanosystem for dual hot spot imaging” Inventors: Juan Pellico Sáez, Riju Bhavesh, Jesús Mª Ruiz-Cabello Osuna, Fernando Herranz Rabanal Entity holder of rights: Fundación Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III. Approved as PCT, EP14382301