Prof. Soledad Penadés graduated from University Complutense of Madrid receiving a B. Sc. Degree in Chemistry and obtained her Ph. D. from the same University. She performed postdoctoral research at the Max-Planck Institut für Strahlenchemie and at the Institut für Organische Chemie in the University of Frankfurt, Germany. From 1976 till 1979 she was Associated Professor at the Medizinische Hochschule in Hannover and from 1980 to 1982 she was visiting scientist at the Max-Planck Institut fúr Kohlenforschung in Mülheim. In 1979 she became Associated Researcher of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) at the Institute for Organic Chemistry in Madrid. In 1991 she was promoted to Senior Researcher and in 2003 she was appointed Research Professor in the Institute for Chemical Research in Seville. During these years she opened a new area of research focussed on Supramolecular Chemistry and Carbohydrate Recognition. She developed model systems (glycophanes) to study the intermolecular forces involved in carbohydrate recognition in water, with particular emphasis in carbohydrate self-recognition. She participated actively in the creation of the Institute for Chemical Research in the new Research Centre of La Isla de la Cartuja (CICIC), promoted by Professor Martin-Lomas, in Sevilla. In 1997 she moved to the new Institute where she was appointed Vice-Director until 1999. During the last years her laboratory has been developing new methodologies at the interface Chemistry-Nanotechnology to obtain highly polyvalent carbohydrate surfaces (glyconanoparticles) based on metallic nanoclusters to study carbohydrate-to-carbohydrate interactions. The development and application of this Glyconanotechnology to study carbohydrate interactions and to interfere in cell adhesion processes is presently the main interest of her research.
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