Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez: “We contribute to the biotechnological, environmental and digital revolutions”

Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez has been the scientific director of BCMaterials since 2018. In these six years leading the center, BCMaterials has experienced exponential growth in terms of scientific production, research staff and funding. Close to the completion of the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, in this interview we examined with Lanceros-Méndez the current situation of BCMaterials and the future challenges for the center.

How would you define the current moment of BCMaterials, both from the point of view of the scientific production and the structure of the center?

We live a sweet moment. Our scientific production has been increasing significantly in recent years. However, this is not particularly relevant. The most important thing is that it has improved a lot from the point of view of impact, both measured by publication citations and by the areas in which we have made scientific innovation. This way BCMaterials has become a very good research center, making very relevant scientific contributions.

These are also sweet times because next year the Strategic Plan will end. This Plan has meant the definitive consolidation of BCMaterials, both in the number of researchers and in the appropriate research infrastructure for all lines and areas of research. We are carrying out a good number of projects with real impact, both in the generation of scientific knowledge and in the transmission of that knowledge to society.

The level of internationalization achieved is particularly relevant in a center like ours, with more than 20 international projects with competitive financing, which for our size is truly excellent.

You have just referred to the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan. What milestones would you highlight about what has been achieved in this period?

The most important word regarding this Strategic Plan is consolidation. BCMaterials has established itself as a reference center at a national and international level. It is a recognized and recognizable center. It is recognized for its scientific excellence. Therefore, it attracts talent, projects, companies and other research centers that want to work with us. And it is recognizable because it has very well-defined lines of research.

BCMaterials is contributing with new materials to the three revolutions that are taking place: the biotechnological revolution, that related to the sustainability of materials and processes, and the digital one. All these revolutions need materials and processes and BCMaterials is contributing to all of them with new material proposals, from synthesis, to processing, obviously characterization, but also in device development, proofs of concept to demonstrate the validity of these materials.

There are three new European projects with the participation of BCMaterials (Giance, Unicorn and Piezo 2D) that started to run in 2024. What are their approaches and what do you expect from them?

The Giance project is a RIA (Research & Innovation Action) project. It is is based on graphene, or more specifically, in materials related to graphene. What is intended is for this scientific knowledge generated a long time ago to pass to the industry. The objective is to make 11 demonstrators ranging from the aeronautical industry, aerospace, water cleaning, hydrogen storage... It is the implementation of sensors and actuators in all these varied industries. That is, generating 2D materials in a sustainable way, always taking into account environmental impacts and implementing these materials in scalable proofs of concept.

The Unicorn project, within the Pathfinder category, aims to generate a new generation of scintillating materials. The goal is to make radiation sensors that are particularly relevant not only in the medical, military, weapons industries, but also for astrophysics. They are sensors capable of detecting the different types of radiation associated with a certain process.

Finally, the Piezo 2D, a Marie Curie Staff Exchange project, is based more on fundamental science. It is about the relevance of 2D materials. They are materials with a relatively large surface area in two dimensions which are nanomaterials in the third dimension. They offer great technological properties. In this case, the name “Piezo” refers to the fact that the materials we are going to work with are piezoelectric (materials that transform a mechanical impact - be it a force or a deformation - into an electrical signal and vice versa). They are very useful materials for making sensors and actuators for digitalization or 'energy harvesting', for example.

BCMaterials is being very active regarding the European doctoral network programs. What can you tell us about those that are already underway and those to come?

We have one underway and another one on the way. The first one, the ECLectic doctoral network, is for something as relevant as sepsis or bacterial diseases. A new generation of 'point of care' sensors is going to be developed. In other words, easy to implement and quick to use sensors, to detect and monitor these diseases not only at the hospitals but also at home. For this, it is necessary to train people, either in synthesis of the particles that are going to be implemented through printed electronics in certain detection subsystems or also in microfluidic systems to be able to make rapid and portable detection systems.

The other project of these Marie Curie doctoral networks is called Track theTwin. This is based on the generation of “digital twins” through computational materials science. These “twins” are theoretical tools that allow us to evaluate how materials would behave under certain conditions of use. In this case, they are simulations related to the so-called quantum dots, very relevant in areas such as optoelectronics, biomedicine or even the transformation and generation of energy. There are materials that may have problems depending on the hours of work, the mechanical conditions, in which environment they work, the hours of radiation in which they have to be... That is what is going to be studied with these simulations.

Obviously, generating this knowledge and the necessary platforms involves training many people in both the experimental and theoretical parts and learning to work in groups to generate these highly relevant tools.

Attracting talent is one of the challenges that any research center faces. What do you think are the strong points of BCMaterials in a facet as competitive as this?

One of them is the environment. The Basque Country has always had a tradition of innovation, an industrial tradition and a clear commitment to it. People who come here not only find a modern center with excellent facilities and a good atmosphere. In addition to the fact that BCMaterials is committed to the generation of materials in innovative areas, it is in an environment full of research, technological and academic centers. Therefore, we are in a very receptive environment for collaboration, for innovation and for technology transfer because companies are also very attentive to technological developments and eager for their implementation.