The project of a USAL researcher, Carlos Hernández, on ultrafast nanotechnology, selected by the BBVA Foundation.

The Leonardo scholarships of the BBVA Foundation have selected two leading researches on nanotechnology in their last call. Our country currently has 370 nanotechnology research groups, according to the article published by the newspaper, El País. One of the projects chosen is that of Carlos Hernández, a professor at the University of Salamanca and a member of the research group on Laser and Photonic Applications.

Moreover, he is the leading manager of this project on ultra-fast nanotechnology and, as described in the article, they have been able to create an X-ray laser, something that has been very difficult to achieve until now, due to the small wavelength of these rays. This beam is emitted in attosecond pulses, a measure that is equivalent to a trillionth of a second. The USAL researcher says that this type of technology could be applied in today’s computers and mobiles, because there is a great interest in developing it.

The other project selected by the Leonardo Scholarships BBVA Foundation is that of Pablo del Pino, Ramón y Cajal researcher who works at the University of Santiago de Compostela, and aims to create nanomedicines that could go directly to a specific place in the body. A very complicated task if we consider the fact that, as the researcher points out in the article, the immune system recognizes them as dangerous and degrades them. Hence, the importance of disguising nanomedicines, he says.

The University of Salamanca demonstrates, once again, the high level of our researchers.

My sincere congratulations!