PhD Students

Camilla Pegoraro

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: cpegoraro@cipf.es

Camilla Pegoraro holds a BSc and MSc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Padova (IT), where she graduated in December 2019. Her Master's thesis research at the University of Reading (UK) focused on PEG-based polymer therapeutics. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. within the MSCA EU Horizon 2020-funded Innovative Training Network (ITN) BIOMOLMACS (Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement n° 859416). Her research focuses on developing polypeptide-based systems that specifically target mitochondria, either inherently or through the use of known targeting molecules, with potential applications in mitochondrial dysfunction-related diseases, including cancer. Camilla conducted research stays at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich (DE) and the University of Groningen (NL). At the Max Planck Institute, she studied bio-nano interactions in mitochondrial membrane models, while at the University of Groningen, she synthesized a novel polyproline-based molecular motor conjugate. Her Ph.D. work has resulted in one patent, one scientific review, and three research papers. From 2022 to 2024, she was also a member of the Young Scientist Committee of the Spanish-Portuguese Local Chapter of the Controlled Release Society.

Antoni Serrano Martí

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: aserrano@cipf.es

Antoni Serrano Martí finished his degree in Biotechnology at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in July 2017. He is now a Ph.D. student in the program of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Valencia. During this period, he has performed research stays in other laboratories, including the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Matthias Gunzer at the Institute for Experimental Immunology and Imaging at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) and the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Horacio Cabral at the University of Tokyo (Japan). These research stays have involved his Ph.D. project regarding identifying new biomarkers and developing combination polymer conjugates in metastatic prostate cancer. He has presented his work at national and international congresses, receiving an award at the Nanomedicine Meets the Tumor Microenvironment (NanoTME2023) conference.

Maria Ibáñez Vives

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: mibanez@cipf.es

Maria Ibáñez Vives completed her degree in Chemistry and then finished her Master's in Applied and Pharmacological Chemistry at the Jaume I University (UJI) of Castellon in 2019. During this time, she also studied medical chemistry, which involved an internship at the Hospital La Fe (Valencia) in the drug discovery group. From 2020 and 2021, she worked as an organic chemist in the Biosupramat group of the UJI, specializing in supramolecular chemistry. Finally, she received an FPI grant and joined the Polymer Therapeutics Lab at the CIPF for her Ph.D. to develop a polypeptide combination nanoconjugate for intranasal administration designed as a retroactive therapy for Alzheimer's disease. In this project, Maria introduced two innovations - synthesizing nanocarriers with inherent activity using taurine and the implementation of microfluidics.

Amina Benaicha Fernández

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: abenaicha@cipf.es

Amina Benaicha Fernández graduated in Pharmacy from the Universitat de València in 2020. Next, she carried out her Master's degree in Biochemical Biotechnology at the Universitat Politècnica de València from 2020-2022. She developed her Master's thesis project, "Polyglutamate nanoconjugates for the treatment of pediatric solid tumors," in the Polymer Therapeutics lab at the CIPF. In 2022, she received an AECC grant to stay in the CIPF as a Ph.D. student to develop a theranostic nanoplatform for treating and diagnosing glioblastoma multiforme. This project uses polymer-drug conjugates with inherent imaging abilities, which provide our conjugates with the ability to diagnose, monitor disease progression, and treat patients.

Karolina Gwizdała

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: kgwizdala@cipf.es

Karolina Gwizdała graduated from the Gdańsk University of Technology (Poland) with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry in 2020. She then obtained a Master's degree in Green Technology and Chemical Technology, specializing in the Technology of Polymer, Cosmetics, and Functional Materials at the same university from 2020-2023. Her Master's thesis focused on obtaining an anatomical nasal septum implant through 3D printing, modifying the implant with active substances, and evaluating biodegradability. Her Ph.D. project forms part of the ITN MSCA Multismart, a European project funded by the European Union's Horizon 2021 research and innovation program (Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement n°101072585). Her Ph.D. project focuses on designing star-shaped tripeptides with fibrillar organization combined with stem cell therapy to treat spinal cord injury.

Margarita Gubina

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: mgubina@cipf.es

Margarita Gubina graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics and Physics in 2019. She then obtained her Master's degree from the same institution in 2021. Her Master's thesis, titled "Mapping of lipid and protein components in biological cells and tissues by mass spectrometry," focused on developing new sample preparation protocols and techniques for studying and 3D chemical mapping of biological cells using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, while preserving the maximum amount of structural and chemical information. The primary focus of her research was investigating changes in the lipid profile and microviscosity of cancer cell membranes during treatment. Currently, her Ph.D. project at the CIPF centers on characterizing and separating cellular vesicles based on their cell of origin, as part of the Cell2Spine project aimed at studying the treatment of spinal cord injuries using precision nanomedicine.

Martina La Manna

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: lamanna@uji.es

Martina La Manna graduated in Chemistry from the University of Pisa (Italy) in 2020. In 2023 she completed her Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Pisa (Italy) with a thesis entitled "Preliminary study on the synthesis of 3-(hetero)arylindole derivatives via Csp2-H bond functionalization". She started her PhD at Universitat Jaume I (Spain) in September 2023 with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship in the Multi-component Soft Materials Advanced Research Training (MultiSMART) network funded by the European Union's Horizon 2021 research and innovation program (MSC grant agreement n°101072585), under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Beatriu Escuder and Prof. Dr. Maria Jesus Vincent (CIPF, Valencia). The project is based on the study of multicomponent networks based on a biopolymer and a LMWG (low molecular weight gelator) to be applied at the interface of skin as a permeation enhancer and as a biocompatible scaffold for the safe and controlled growth of tumour organoids.

Leire Miguela Maroto

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: lmiguela@cipf.es

Leire Miguela Maroto graduated in Biology from the University of Alicante in 2023. She then pursued a Master's degree in "Cancer Biology and Clinical Oncology" (2023-2024) at the University of Salamanca, which was taught at the Cancer Research Center (CIC). During this time, she developed her Master's thesis in the laboratory of Xosé R. Bustelo, focusing on the "characterization of RAC1 mutants identified in human tumors". In 2024, she received a CIACIF grant to join the Polymer Therapeutics laboratory at the CIPF as a Ph.D. student. Her current research focuses on the "development of polymer-based anticancer nanoconjugates for intranasal administration, designed to prevent metastatic progression in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)." This project involves the rational design, synthesis, and optimization of nanocarriers capable of crossing the nasal-brain barrier, combined with drug testing on patient-relevant cellular and organotypic models, to explore novel therapeutic strategies.

Carla Ortuño Moya

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: cortuno@cipf.es

Carla Ortuño Moya graduated in Biotechnology from the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 2023. During her studies, Carla was awarded a grant by the AECC for an internship in clinical trials in oncopediatrics at La Fe Research Institute, and, following this, she participated in an academic exchange at the University of Helsinki, Finland. These experiences sparked her interest in gene therapy, leading her to pursue a master's in Biomedical Research, specializing in advanced therapies, at Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona (2023-2024). For her master's thesis, she joined the Cancer Gene Therapy Group at CIMA Research Centre, led by Dr. Cristian Smerdou, where she worked on the project "Development of a new mRNA delivery system for cancer gene therapy based on viral particles." In 2025, Carla joined the Polymer Therapeutics Laboratory at the CIPF as a Ph.D. student, where she will focus on generating dual translational nano-immunotherapeutics to re-educate the host immunity against prostate and pancreatic cancer.

Nerea Manzano

Position: Ph.D. Student
Email: nmanzano@cipf.es

Nerea Manzano Ramos graduated in Chemistry from the University of Valencia in 2023. During her studies, she interned at the Radiopharmacy Unit of the Hospital Clínico de Valencia, which awakened her interest in applying chemistry to medicine. She then studied for a master's in Applied and Pharmacological Chemistry at the Universitat Jaume I (UJI), where she completed her thesis in the Joining Medicine and Chemistry group (JMC). Her research focused on the 'Synthesis and biological evaluation of chalcones and flavonoids with oncoimmunomodulatory properties and multitarget action.' In 2025, she obtained an FPI grant and joined the Polymer Therapeutics Laboratory at CIPF as a doctoral researcher. Her Ph.D. work focuses on developing multimodal precision polypeptide-based nanoplatforms for the treatment/monitoring of solid tumors.