Leire Urbina
University of the Basque Country, Spain
Biography
In 2015 Leire Urbina earned a PhD grant funded by the Basque Government and incorporated as a researcher to the "Materials + Technologies" Group in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of the UPV / EHU. Strong background in polymers, advanced materials and nanotechnology and biotechnology areas. Her research is based on the use of biomass by-products and wastes for the production of new materials with high added value that can be used in various industrial sectors. Concretely she is working in the development and optimization of biosynthetic pathways to produce biopolymers via bacteria (bacterial cellulose and polyhydroxyalkanoates) using agricultural residues as a source of nutrients and the processing of their bionanocomposites. The investigation is focused on the influence of biosynthetic conditions on the final properties and generated micro/nanostructures and the development of functional (bio)nanocomposites with improved properties for applications in biomedicine and for environmental uses in the elimination of pollutants in wastewaters.