Prof. Silvia Muro
Dr. Muro obtained her PhD in Sciences from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and then moved to University of Pennsylvania as a Postdoctoral Associate and Research Assistant Professor in Pharmacology. In 2008 she joined the Bioengineering Department and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research at the University of Maryland, where she was a tenured Associate Professor since 2012. Since November 2017, she is an ICREA Professor in the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia. Dr. Muro has published 80+ articles and chapters in drug delivery and has received awards from the Controlled Release Society, the American Society for Nanomedicine, the UMD Outstanding Life Sciences Invention in 2011, the Junior Faculty Outstanding Engineering Research award, and is a member of the NIH Nanomedicine Study Section.
Dr. Muro's research sits at the interface between molecular-cellular biology and nanotechnology-drug delivery. Her lab studies the biological mechanisms ruling how our cells and tissues transport cargoes to precise destinations within our bodies, and then applies this knowledge toward the design of “biologically-controlled” nanodevices for improved delivery of therapeutic agents to specific disease sites. Focusing on genetic conditions that cause metabolic, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular syndromes, as well as on a new transport pathway she helped discover, her goal is to gain non-invasive, efficient, and specific access within the body and its cells, to enable effective treatment of these life-threatening disorders and other maladies characterized by similar pathological traits.