MARCOS
GARCIA FUENTES

Marcos García-Fuentes earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacy in 2004 from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), under the supervision of Professors Maria J. Alonso and Dolores Torres. His thesis focused on the design and evaluation of lipid nanoparticle systems for the oral delivery of proteins. During his Ph.D., he undertook a predoctoral research stay in 2000 with Nicholas Peppas's group at Purdue University's School of Chemical Engineering, where he gained knowledge of new cellular models for assessing drug intestinal absorption. Between 2005 and 2007, Marcos completed a postdoctoral stay at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, funded by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship. This stay, supervised by Professors Hans Peter Merkle and Lorenz Meinel, aimed to design new silk fibroin-based materials for tissue regeneration. In 2007, he rejoined USC with an Isidro Parga Pondal contract (regional equivalent to Ramón y Cajal), marking his first position as a principal investigator. In 2013, Marcos was promoted to Associate Professor and in 2020 to Full Professor. Since 2017, he has led the BiDD (Biomaterials & Drug Delivery) research group at USC's Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CiMUS). The BiDD group, under Marcos's leadership, focuses on the design of nanomedicines using biotechnological modules. Some of their technologies include: 1. Nanocapsules for lymph node-targeted delivery of antitumor agents. 2. Implantable systems loaded with bone morphogenetic proteins for forced differentiation of glioblastoma-initiating cells. 3. Polyphosphazenes modifiable by “click” chemistry for highly efficient gene delivery systems. 4. Nanocapsules for intracellular antibody delivery. 5. Nanocapsules for dual delivery of a chemokine and an RNA inhibitor of immunosuppression. 6. Matrices activated with mRNA encoding transcription factors for tissue engineering and repair. 7. Nanoparticles based on biological peptide and protein sequences. Marcos has published over 60 peer-reviewed international articles. His scientific output ranks in the top 15% most cited in his field over the past 10 years, with several publications in the top 5%, according to Web of Science Impact Beamplot. He is co-inventor of seven patents, two of which have been transferred to industry. He is involved in 21 research projects at regional, national, and international levels, several as principal investigator and/or coordinator. Since 2022, Marcos has been a member of the board of directors of the Spanish Society of Industrial Pharmacy and Galenic (SEFIG) as Research Officer and coordinator of the EuroNanoMed3 – RAIN international consortium, integrating institutions from five countries. He has received four research tranches (sexenios) awarded for the periods 2000-2004, 2006-2011, 2012-2017, and 2018-2023.