Education

Dr. Martinez-Cartagena completed his Ph.D. and master's degree at the Research Center for Applied Chemistry (CIQA) in Mexico, under the guidance of Prof. Jorge Romero-Garcia. During this period, he conducted groundbreaking research on the development of biocompatible conductive conjugated copolymer nanoparticles using innovative biocatalysis techniques. His work during this phase of his academic journey was recognized with the CONACYT Doctoral Fellowship. Additionally, he was awarded the Fund Designed to Promote the Development of Science and Technology Fellowship in 2021, which allowed him to work at Dr. Gabriela Romero's laboratory at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Upon successfully obtaining his Ph.D. degree with honors, Dr. Martinez-Cartagena secured a postdoctoral position at the Research Center in Advanced Materials (CIMAV) in Mexico, funded by the CONACYT Frontiers in Science postdoctoral fellowship. During his time at CIMAV, he focused on investigating electrophysiological mechanisms associated with photothermal stimulation mediated by nanoparticles in various biological systems. Subsequently, Dr. Martinez-Cartagena embarked on a new endeavor as a postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this role, his primary focus revolved around the controlled synthesis of random and block copolymers tailored specifically for biomedical applications.

Research

Dr. Martinez-Cartagena specialized in various aspects of polymer synthesis, including Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT), Nitroxide Mediated Polymerization, emulsion polymerization, the synthesis of conjugated conductive polymers, chain-growth synthesis, biocatalysis, photosensitive materials, and free-radical polymerization. His research focused on applying these techniques to a wide range of fields such as biomedicine, electrophysiology, industrial coatings, and energy storage. For instance, he successfully synthesized self-assembled polymeric nanoparticles and semiconductor polymeric nanoparticles for the purpose of neuron stimulation.

Responsive Polymers for Therapeutics

Publications