Group for Functionalized Biomaterials

The Group for Functionalized Biomaterials is interested in the development of polymeric materials, functional surfaces and multifunctional nanoparticles for biomedical applications:
 
• Microparticle-based strategies for multistep synthesis and catalysis
• Surface functionalization for the engineering of viral biosensors
• Polymeric, lipidic and hybrid nano-assemblies for gene delivery
• Theranostic nanoparticles

The research activities of our group are devoted to the development of new chemical entities for bio-applications. We are mainly interested in the design, synthesis and evaluation of functionalized nanomaterials, thin surfaces and biomaterials for therapeutic applications as imaging probes, theranostic nanoparticles, viral biosensors and synthetic gene vectors.


NEWS

ESB2026 © 2026 EPFL

Pauline and Simon presented their research at the ESB2026!

— At the 35th Annual Conference of the European Society of Biomaterials in Antwerp, Belgium – September 7-11, 2026 – Pauline Skigin and Simon Dumolard presented a poster entitled, respectively: "Modular Synthesis of Crosslinkable Ionizable Lipids for DNA Lipid Nanoparticles" and "A Structure-Property Framework Highlighting the Role of siRNA Release from Chitosan-PEI Polyplexes"

DNA nuclear import © 2026 EPFL/Alessandra Cavegn

The first paper from our Sinergia project has just been published!

— We are very pleased to share that the recent study led by Alessandra Cavegn in the group of Prof. Jörg Huwyler at the University of Basel on the enhancement of plasmid DNA (pDNA) nuclear import has just been published in the Journal of Controlled Release. In our group, Pauline Skigin contributed to the design of conjugation strategies to functionalize the pDNA nanocarriers with targeting nuclear localization signaling (NLS) peptides. 

LNO@Apt-Drug © 2026 EPFL/Sandrine Gerber

Congratulations to Alessandra for her paper in RSC Appl. Interfaces!

— We are pleased to share that the publication of Alessandra Spada entitled "Orthogonal functionalization of lithium niobate nanoparticles with targeting aptamers and caged chemotherapeutics" has just been published in RSC Appl. Interfaces. 

NANOMAT2026 © 2026 EPFL/Sandrine Gerber

Sandrine participates in the NANOMAT2026 conference in Brno!

— Sandrine gave an invited lecture entitled "Bioconjugation of Aptamers to Harmonic Nanoparticles for Active Cancer Targeting" at the 10th International Conference on Functional Nanomaterials and Nanodevices (NANOMAT2026), which is held from July 7–10, 2026, in Brno, Czech Republic. 

CRS2026 © 2026 EPFL/Simon Dumolard, Perrine Robin

Perrine and Simon present their research at the CRS 2026!

— We are pleased to share that Dr Perrine Robin and Simon Dumolard participate in the CRS 2026 Annual Meeting & Exposition, which takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, from July 6–9, 2026, with poster contributions.

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