Biography

University professor Maria Tomoaia-Cotisel completed PhD at Babes-Bolyai University (BBU, 1979) of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and postdoctoral studies from London University, King’s College (1981, 1986, 1989), UK. She was the visiting scientist at Philipps University of Marburg, (1989/1990), Germany, State University of New York at Buffalo (1990/1991), US, National Institutes of Health, (1991-1993), and Molecular/Structural Biotech., Inc., (1994-1997), Bethesda, MD, USA. She is the founder and director of Research Center in Physical Chemistry (RC, 2007- ) at BBU. She has been the manager of various research programs with extensive collaboration with academia and industry, developing several new laboratories in RC with state-of-the art equipment for processing and characterization of innovative nanomaterials, thin coating layers and scaffolds, self-assembled layers at various interfaces, including Langmuir-Blodgett layers, as well bio-complexes for drug delivery systems. She also contributed to the development of a large infrastructure belonging to STAR Institute in BBU. She has wide experience in research, innovation and development of advanced nanomaterials and smart engineering materials, such as ceramics as well nanoparticles of gold and silver, using eco-friendly and cost-effective material processing technologies, leading to high performance of multi-functional materials and composites, especially for biomedical applications. She got awards, e.g., Gheorghe Spacu Award (1983, from the Romanian Academy), Alexander von Humboldt Award (1986, Germany), Japan Society for Promotion of Science and Technology Award (1988, Japan) and Fogarty Award (1991, USA) for science and technology. She is leading a multidisciplinary research team using cutting edge technologies ranging from physical chemists, biologists, material scientists, chemical and surface engineers, working on innovative nanostructured biomaterials, coating layers on various substrates, nanostructured scaffolds for cell culture, coated implants to be used in vivo, Langmuir-Blodgett self-assembled layers of fatty acids, lipids, carbohydrates and proteins as models of biological membranes and drug delivery systems, as well as nanocomposites for environmental science, health care and nanomedicine applications. She is a corresponding member of the Academy of Romanian Scientists. She published over 250 original scientific research papers, starting from biomolecules, through self-assembled layers at diverse interfaces, to various nanomaterials for hard tissue engineering; four US patents on pioneering intelligent bio-conjugates with high capacity for crossing the blood brain barrier to treat various disorders of the central nervous system and one Romanian patent for bone substitutes and tissue engineering; and 10 books in physical chemistry, including thermodynamics, chemical structure, biophysics, bionanomaterials, colloids and interfaces. She has given over 160 invited lectures / keynote presentations and conducted many conference sessions as Chairperson.