Luis M. Liz-Marzán - Biography#
Luis M. Liz Marzán studied Chemistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela (1983-88), where he also obtained a PhD degree in 1992, for his thesis on “Microemulsions, a new reaction medium for the synthesis of ultrafine magnetic particles”. He then spent 2 years (1993-1995) as a postdoctoral researcher at the Van’t Hoff Laboratory of Utrecht University, where he started his own research line in the field of plasmonic nanoparticle colloids. He continued research in this emerging field when he moved back to Spain in 1995, starting a group at the recently created University of Vigo. Through his own research and numerous collaborations with other researchers worldwide, he has become a world leader in the application of colloid science to nanoplasmonics. His research was not restricted to synthetic aspects, but also had the ambition to carry out high level characterization and theoretical modeling to understand growth mechanisms, optical properties and self-assembly, to finally devise biomedical applications such as early diagnosis.
Liz-Marzán climbed the full academic ladder at the University of Vigo (full professor since 2006) and in 2012 was invited to join the Basque Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials, CIC biomaGUNE, as Ikerbasque Research Professor and Scientific Director. He thus created a new group (The Bionanoplasmonics Laboratory) and continue a prolific activity, while reshaping the Center, which has since acquired international recognition and a the María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence award by the Spanish State Research Agency.
He has also been Invited Professor at other institutions, including Tohoku University in Japan, University of Michigan, Melbourne University, University of Hamburg, Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, King Saud University, Jiangnan University and Ecóle Normale Supèrieure Paris-Saclay.
His international recognition can be appreciated in a long list of awards, a large citation rate (H-index around 100), hundreds of invited lectures, as well as major research grants, including two ERC Advanced Grants.
