Dr. Aitor Manteca is a AECC Fellow at the Biomolecular Nanotechnology Lab at CIC biomaGUNE led by Prof. Aitziber López Cortajarena since 2021, funded by the Gipuzkoa Fellows and AECC grants. He has authored 9 peer-reviewed articles as first, second, or corresponding authors and contributed to the creation of two start-ups.
Dr. Manteca has delivered over 15 keynote, invited, and selected talks at international events. He holds dual B.Eng degrees in Industrial Chemistry and Material Science, with research stays in The Netherlands and Spain. In 2010, he earned the Iñaki Goenaga scholarship to study magnetoresistive properties, resulting in a publication in Biosensors and Bioelectronics. He later worked in R&D at ITW-Krafft, integrating nanomaterials into polymers and completing an M.Eng in Renewable Materials.
From 2013–2017, he pursued a PhD at CIC nanoGUNE, studying titin's nanoscale properties under Prof. Raul Pérez-Jimenez and Prof. David de Sancho. His research yielded a European PhD with Cum Laude, publications in JBC and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, and the spin-off Evolgene Genomics.
A secondment in Germany, funded by EBSA, expanded his expertise in molecular cardiology. His postdoctoral research (2017–2021) with Dr. Axel Innis (INSERM) and Prof. JC Baret (CNRS) focused on peptide-based bacterial ribosome inhibitors using droplet microfluidics, supported by an EMBO Grant. He published in ACS Synthetic Biology and Biochemistry.
At CIC biomaGUNE, Dr. Manteca has secured several grants to support his research in protein engineering, quantum-inspired algorithms, microfluidics and immunotherapy. His collaborations include CRG, NavarraBiomed, CNRS, Pasteur Institute, and the University of Toronto (supported by an MSCA staff exchange grant), alongside industrial partners like Multiverse Computing.
He also co-leads outreach events such as Pint of Science and Biophysics Day. He has supervised and advised multiple PhD and graduate students and developed innovative technologies, including a droplet sorter and quantum-based epitope analysis tools, with patents underway.