PhD Theses

New ICMAB graduate! Congratulations Dr. Adriana Kyvik!

Dr. Adriana Kyvik, former PhD researcher under the supervision of Dr. Imma Ratera (NANOMOL group at ICMAB), defended her PhD thesis entitled "Self-Assembled Monolayers for Biological Applications: Design, Processing, Characterization and Biological Studies" publicly on 25 January 2019 at the ICMAB-CSIC Auditorium. We have interviewed her to know a little bit more about her PhD and her life at the ICMAB!

icmab

28 January 2019

The members of the examining committee were: Pascal Jonkheijm (Universtiy of Twente, The Netherlands), Elena García-Fruitós (IRTA, Spain), Elena Martinez (IBEC, Spain).

Dr. Adriana Kyvik did her Bachelor in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in Trondheim (Norway), and came to ICMAB to the NANOMOL group. She enjoys sports, cooking, dancing, traveling and learning languages.

Why did you choose the ICMAB?

I chose ICMAB because it offered research englobing my interests.

How would you explain your research to a non-scientific audience?

I have been performing research in the field of surface material modification to study biological phenomena. For example, how cells behave in response to different types of material coatings. This is very relevant in biology to study the behavior of cells and for applications in the biomedical field to develop new types of coating for medical devices.

What are the main applications of your research? Can you give us an example?

Fundamental biological studies or coatings of biomedical devices to avoid biofilm formation, such as coating for catheters to avoid bacterial infections.

In the time you have been here, what have you liked the most about your experience at our Research Center and in the Barcelona area?

I have learned a lot during my stay at ICMAB and have developed myself at a scientific and academic level. Nonetheless, the social part of the Nanomol group: I have made very good friends and had fun outside the lab with my co-workers.

How do you think this experience will contribute to your training and to your future?

I believe a PhD prepares you to be able to confront and solve problems, useful for industry or academia.

What are your plans once you finish your PhD?

To take a break and probably travel a bit before looking for a job.

Describe in 3 keywords…

Your research: Self-assembled monolayers, biological interfaces, surface modification
Barcelona: Mountains, culture, music
Your experience at ICMAB: Lab, cells, friends

PhD Thesis Abstract: Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) is a versatile strategy for surface functionalization to achieve functional and smart materials. In this research, SAMs on gold surfaces have been designed, processed, characterized and used as a surface biofunctionalization strategy for specific biological applications.

The studies performed include the control of lipid bilayer diffusion, cell adhesion and tubulogenesis studies, and also the creation of antimicrobial surfaces. More specifically, dynamic SAMs on surfaces whose properties can be modified with an electrochemical external stimulus have been developed and used to interrogate biological systems.The same platform has been applied to two different applications in order to overcome present challenges when performing biological studies.

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