Eneko Larrañeta

Eneko Larraneta graduated with a BSc in Chemistry from University of Navarra (Spain) in 2007. The same year he returned to the School of Sciences at University of Navarra to undertake a PhD in Supramolecular Chemistry. He graduated in 2012 with the thesis entitled: “Self-assembled Gels of Poloxamines and Poloxamers with Cyclodextrins”. After finishing his PhD, he worked as a research fellow in nanotechnology for drug delivery in Prof. Irache’s laboratory (Universidad de Navarra – Spain) for 1 year and a half. Subsequentlly in 2013 he moved to Belfast and started a research fellowship in microneedle technology for transdermal drug delivery with Prof. Donnelly in the School of Pharmacy of Queen’s University Belfast. He was apointed as a Lecturer in Septembre 2016.

Dr. Larrañeta is member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Society for Applied Microbiology. He has published more than 50 papers in indexed journals, co-edited a book and published 4 book chapters. Moreover, he has delivered multiple invited talks at conferences and international universities. During his independent career he has attracted funding from funding bodies such as: EPSRC, Wellcome Trust, Academy of Medical Sciences, Society for Applied Microbiology and Royal Society. Additionally, he has worked in collaborative projects with leading pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies. Due to this work, Dr. Larrañeta is the author of a patent developed in collaboration with one of these companies.

Dr Larrañeta is currently working on the development of diverse types of implantable devices such as subcutaneous drug eluting implants or drug loaded surgical meshes. These devices are commonly made of polymeric materials. The properties of these materials can be tailored by altering the composition of these devices. In this way, drug release profiles can be tailored to the specific applications adapting to patient’s needs. Finally, stateof-the-art techniques such as 3D printing can be applied for the development of implantable devices.