November 2018

8 nov 2018 - 09:58 CET

"Nanotechnology in our everyday life". Cycle of conferences of the Ciutat de Castelló Chair. Jaume I University. 5 November 2018.

Maria Vallet Regí, professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Complutense University of Madrid and winner of the King James I 2018 Prize for Basic Research, gave the third lecture at the Ciutat de Castelló Chair of the Jaume I University last Monday in the Menador espai cultural space building.

Professor Vallet, an honorary doctorate from the UJI, spoke about research and development in the field of nanomaterials and the different lines of applications, from new communication technologies, architecture, ceramics or the health sector.
In the conference, entitled "Nanotechnology in our day-to-day life", Maria Vallet highlighted that the advance in nanomaterial research has allowed our society to evolve from large computers or huge mobile phones, to USB sticks that have a very large storage capacity or small format mobile devices that allow us to communicate in many different ways.
In addition, the professor commented that the use of nanomaterials applied to pharmacy and medicine has allowed the design of specific antibiotics and more localized medical treatments, which ensures that other parts of the body are not affected but only the damaged part. She stressed the great expense involved in designing a new drug, which takes between 7 and 20 years to reach the market, and "the monetary investment to be made is equivalent, more or less, to the cost of six AIRBUS planes," said the professor.
Finally, Maria Vallet presented other examples of the use of nanomaterials, such as the design of nanostructures from graphite to reinforce architectural structures such as bridges; or the use of nanomaterials in ceramics applying a layer of nanoparticles so that the tile has, for example, an anti-fog treatment, etc.