The bone regenerator
María Vallet-Regí is a pioneering researcher in the field of mesoporous ceramic materials and the scientist who discovered potential biomedical applications of these materials, particularly in the field of bone regeneration and controlled drug delivery systems. For her ground-breaking contributions in this field, she received the Rey Jaime I Award for Fundamental Research in 2018.
She is the director of the Intelligent Biomaterials Research Group (GIBI), CIBER-BBN, of the Complutense University of Madrid; this group is developing various strategies to cure bone-related diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis or implant infections.
In the case of cancer, they are using silica nanoparticles to transport drugs to damaged areas where the drugs are then released in a controlled manner; when the cancer cells are detected, the nanoparticles are activated by external stimuli, such as ultrasound, and the drug that kills the cell is released. These selective methods enable an impact to be made without damaging the surrounding healthy cells.
Similarly, nanoparticles can carry antibiotics to cure infections, or customised implants can be created using 3D printers to grow stem cells capable of regenerating bone tissue.
Career and recognitions
Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, María Vallet-Regí studied chemistry at the Complutense University in Madrid, earning her PhD at the same institution in 1974. She is currently Emeritus Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Director of the GIBI research group at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Bioinorganics at the Complutense University of Madrid’s Faculty of Pharmacy.
She has written over 700 scientific papers and has 13 patents and over 38,000 citations. According to the ISI Web of Knowledge, she was the most-cited Spanish scientist in the field of Materials Science in the last two decades.
She is a full professor at the Complutense University and a numbered fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAI) and the Royal National Academy of Pharmacy (RANF). She is also a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering at the International College of Fellows of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (ICF-BSE) and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
She has won many national and international prizes, including the National Research Prize in 2008, the Jaume I Prize for Basic Research in 2018, the Societé Française de Chimie’s Prix Franco-Espagnol 2000, the RSEQ 2008 Prize in Inorganic Chemistry, the FEIQUE Research Prize in 2011, the RSEQ Gold Medal in 2011, the IUPAC 2013 Distinguished Women in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, the Miguel Catalán Research Prize in 2013, the Lilly Distinguished Career Award in Chemistry in 2016 and the Julio Peláez Prize for Pioneering Women in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, awarded by the Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno Foundation in 2017. She also has a Gold Medal for Merit in Research and University Education and is Doctor Honoris Causa at the Jaume I University and the University of the Basque Country.
