Bio – inspired Molecules and Materials for Medicinal Applications and Sustainability

Unmet Educational Need for the Program

The establishment of an International Summer School on “Bio-inspired Molecules and Materials for Medicinal Applications and Sustainability” is essential for the following reasons:

• The increasing plastic pollution and depletion of petroleum resources necessitate the development of bio-based and recyclable polymers.
• Modern medical challenges demand the use of innovative biomaterials and nanomaterials for disease treatment, improved diagnostics, and targeted drug delivery.
• The utilization of natural resources can lead to sustainable products with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, addressing chronic diseases.

Detailed Justification:

The necessity of this program arises from the growing need to address critical environmental and societal challenges, such as plastic pollution, resource depletion, and the development of innovative disease treatments. The rapid increase in plastic production and its impact on public health and the environment require a transition to sustainable solutions, such as biodegradable and recyclable polymers. At the same time, advancements in biomedicine,  including targeted pharmaceutical treatments and biocompatible applications, make interdisciplinary research in nanomaterials and polymers essential. This program responds to society’s needs for sustainability, innovation, and quality-of-life improvement by connecting science, the environment, and healthcare.

Key Learning Outcomes

Upon completing the program, participants will have developed comprehensive knowledge and skills aligned with contemporary scientific and societal needs.

• They will gain an in-depth understanding of polymer science, including synthesis, recycling, and environmental management of materials.
• They will become familiar with the use of hybrid nanomaterials in medical and environmental applications, enhancing their ability to design solutions for complex challenges.
• The program will also provide knowledge in molecular chemistry and the synthesis of bioactive compounds, fostering an understanding of biomedical applications and the ability to design targeted pharmaceutical products.

Participants will acquire hands-on experience through laboratory exercises and will be able to apply their knowledge in areas such as the circular economy, pharmaceutical development, and environmental restoration technologies.

Target Audience

The program is intended for students (from engineering schools, health sciences faculties, pharmacy, and chemistry departments), graduates, technicians, and researchers who wish to gain a comprehensive introduction to hybrid biomaterials, with a particular focus on their applications in medicine and contemporary environmental issues.

It is also ideal for professionals already active in these fields who seek to deepen their knowledge of recent advancements, industrial applications, and market prospects.

Categories of candidates accepted – Prerequisite knowledge/ Entry requirements

Applications for participation can be submitted by students from engineering schools, health sciences faculties, pharmacy, and chemistry departments. Professionals and researchers in the aforementioned fields are also eligible to apply.

Prerequisites for participation include:

• Access to the internet
• Possession of a personal email account
• Basic knowledge of computer operation

Program implementation

The program will be delivered in a blended learning format, incorporating the following educational methods:

• In-person training (including theoretical lectures and laboratory sessions)
• Asynchronous learning

The teaching approach includes independent study through video materials and online quizzes, as well as collaborative activities, such as case study analyses.

Participants will develop critical thinking and teamwork skills through the use of digital tools, while they will also be encouraged to propose solutions to environmental challenges through experiential laboratory simulations.

Training material

The program includes comprehensive educational material covering the latest advancements in the fields of polymers, nanomaterials, and molecular chemistry, with a focus on biomedical and environmental applications.

In addition to the provided lecture notes, the digital resources include:

• Video lectures
• PowerPoint presentations

Program Syllabus

Unit 1: Sustainable Polymers for the Benefit of Society

Introduction to macromolecular science and its connection to environmental and biomedical benefits. Development of recyclable and biodegradable polymers for a circular economy.

Unit 2: Hybrid Nanomaterials for Biomedical and Environmental Applications

Study of hybrid nanomaterials for medical and environmental applications, including water purification and imaging technologies.

Unit 3: Molecular Chemistry for Biomedical Applications

Focus on drug design, utilization of sustainable natural resources, and development of photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment.

LIABILITIES

For successful completion of the program, participants must:

A) Attend all teaching units. Absences cannot exceed 15% of the scheduled training hours.

B) Successfully complete the assessment The evaluation of participants is conducted through a written examination for each thematic unit.

C) Pay all tuition fees.

Upon successful completion of the program, participants receive a Certificate of Specialized Training,  lasting 68 hours, equivalent to 7 ECTS credits.

Participants who have attended the program without exceeding 15% absences, paid all tuition fees, but have not succeeded in the assessment process specified by the program, will be awarded a Certificate of Attendance.

Faculty

Dr. Eleni Apostolidou possesses a Diplôme d’Etude Approfondies de Chimie Appliquée – Chimie Industrielle (DEA) from University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, and a PhD in Production of photovoltaic grade silicon from metallurgical grade silicon by a plasma purification process in Laboratoire de génie des procédés plasmas et traitement de surface from University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. She has been a faculty member of the Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), holding the position of the Vice President. She is also Director of the Alternative Energy Resources and Green Chemistry Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry of DUTH- Kavala Campus. Her research work concerns the fields of production of photovoltaic grade silicon from metallurgical grade silicon by a plasma purification process, physical and chemical characterization of photovoltaic material.

Dr. Souhir Boujday completed a PhD in heterogeneous catalysis (2002), followed by 2 post-doctorates on oxide and metallic nanoparticles, applied to catalysis and photocatalysis field. She was recruited as Ass. Prof. at the University Pierre & Marie Curie in 2004 to develop research at the bioInterfaces especially the field of biosensors and drug delivery. She defended her habilitation to research supervision in 2012, then was awarded a visiting professorship at NTU in Singapore (2 years, 2014-16). She was promoted full professor in 2018, and since 2022 She is the Chair of the Chemistry Department at Sorbonne University. Her research effort focuses on mastering, via a molecular-level approach, the reactivity of materials and nanomaterials surfaces, as well as the design of novel plasmonic nanohybrids for biological applications, notably biosensors and nanomedicine.

Dr. George Z. Kyzas is a Full Professor at the Department of Chemistry at the Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH). He was born in Drama (Greece) and studied Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). He obtained his BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees from the same Department expertised in Chemical Technology. He is now working at the Department of Chemistry (Democritus University of Thrace, Kavala, Greece), being the Head of the Department (since 2019). He is also Director/Chair of the MSc in Cosmetic Chemistry (since 2021). His research interests include the synthesis and characterization of various (majorly polymers) materials (biomaterials, inorganic, aluminates, polymers, graphene, activated carbons, agro-food residues, nanomaterials, CNTs, etc.) for environmental applications and engineering (wastewater treatment). His scientific work has been published in more than 270 Papers in international journals with high impact factor (Q1, IF,ave 6.5), while he published 10 Books, 40 Chapters in scientific Books and holds 3 Patents. He was also 11 times Guest Editor at Special issues of journals and has more than 150 Invited talks in International Conferences. His work is widely recognized with 14,000 Citations (h-index 67). He is the Editor of the journal “Environmental Science and Pollution Research” (Springer, IF 5.9). His name is included in the list of Highly Cited Researchers for 2022 (Thomson Reuters – Clarivate Web of Science) [0.1% most impactful Scientists in the World]. His name is included in the list of World Top 2% Scientists for 2019, 2020 and 2021 which is compiled by the Stanford University (USA) based on standardized citation indicators. He has also participated in about 25 research projects. He is a Reviewer in more than 200 scientific journals (ACS, Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, etc) and participates as Chair of Expert Panelists and Assessor/Evaluator/Reviewer in National, European and International research proposals/calls/projects.

Dr. Nicolas Illy received a M. Sc. Degree in Chemistry from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie in Montpellier (France) and from Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena (Germany). After completing his PhD in Polymer Science from Paris-Est University under the supervision of Prof. J. Penelle, he obtained a postdoctoral position in Prof. M. Winnik’s group at the University of Toronto (Canada). Subsequently, he joined Prof. David’s group at the Charles Gerhardt Institut (Montpellier, France). In 2013, he joined the Polymer Chemistry Team at Sorbonne University in Paris where he is actually associate professor. His research focuses on macromolecular engineering, anionic ring-opening polymerization, design and development of functional materials for biomedical applications and development of new bio-based materials.

Dr. Fanny Coumes is an associate professor at Sorbonne University in the Polymer Chemistry team (ECP) belonging to the Parisian Institute of Molecular Chemistry (IPCM). She obtained her BSc from Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse) and her MSc from Sheffield University (UK) and Montpellier University. After completing her PhD on the synthesis of amphiphilic architectures for drug delivery applications, she obtained a postdoctoral position in Prof. P. Woisel group (UMET-ISP) on the engineering of complex stimuli-responsive macromolecular architectures. She then joined Allonas’s group where she worked as a post-doctorate for Ophtalmic company for the design of biocompatible medical (implantable) devices. Since she joined the ECP team in 2018, her research focuses on macromolecular engineering, radical polymerization in homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions and development of new bio-based materials.

Dr. Candice BOTUHA did her PhD work concerning the synthesis of aminophenols and C2-symmetric amines as chiral auxiliaries at the University of Geneva under the supervision of Pr. E. P. Kündig. Then she did 18 months of postdoctoral work as a Marie Curie Fellow with Pr. T. Gallagher at the University of Bristol working on total synthesis. In 2004, she worked on farnesyltransferase inhibitors in the team of Dr J. Dubois at the Natural Product Chemistry Institute at Gif-surYvette. She was appointed in 2004 as associate professor at Parisian Institute for Molecular Chemistry at the Sorbonne University. She is teaching organic chemistry and heteroaromatic ring chemistry. As part of the Chembio team her research focuses on the design of bioactive molecules and fluorescent molecules for imaging. As an organic chemist specializing in heterocyclic chemistry, she is particularly interested in the synthesis of molecules with novel heteroaromatic skeletons, both for synthetic challenges and to study their properties.

Dr. Michèle Salmain was recruited as a first class associate researcher by the CNRS in 1992. Between 1992 and 2013, she pursued her academic career as a researcher at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris (ENSCP). In 2008, she was promoted to the position of director of research. In 2014, she moved to the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC now Sorbonne Université) in Paris where she is currently a member of the Institut Parisien de Chimie Moléculaire (IPCM) headed by Pr Anna Proust. Since September 2021, she is the head of the ChemBio team (7 faculty members). Her first field of interest is bioorganometallic chemistry. In this area, she develops researches focused on the design of artificial metalloenzymes for asymmetric catalysis in aqueous medium. This area benefits from her long-term expertise in protein chemical engineering and her extended knowledge in biomolecule conjugation. She also exerts side activities in organometallic medicinal chemistry. Her second field of interest is biosensors design. She contributes to this area by bringing her expertise in protein conjugation and immunochemistry.

Dr. Benoît Bertrand completed a double PhD degree in 2015 in bioorganometallic chemistry shared between the University of Burgundy (France) with of Prof. Le Gendre, and the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) with Prof. Casini, on the synthesis and anti-tumour activity of gold compounds. He then moved to the University of East Anglia (UK) as a senior postdoctoral research associate in the group of Prof. Bochmann, where he worked on cyclometalated Au(III) complexes as anti-cancer agents. In 2017 he joined the group of Prof. Thorimbert at Sorbonne Université (France) as a post-doctoral researcher and in 2018 he got appointed at Sorbonne Université as a CNRS junior researcher. His research interests deal with the synthesis, reactivity studies and biological investigations of organogold(III) complexes.

Dr. Nébéwia Griffete is an associate professor at Sorbonne Université in PHENIX laboratory. She firstly obtained her master in Sorbonne Université in Polymer Chemistry and then her PhD thesis in Paris Cité University where she worked for the first time on the development of molecularly imprinted polymer for environmental applications.  Her research concerns now the development of hybrid molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles for cancer therapy.

Dr. Sebastien Abramson is an associate professor at Sorbonne Université in PHENIX laboratory. He firstly obtained his master of chemistry at the University of Montpellier, and then worked during his PhD thesis in the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM) on the development of chiral hybrid mesoporous materials for enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis. His research now focuses on the preparation and characterization of magnetic nanoparticles and nanocomposites, mainly applied in water treatment processes.

Dr. Philippe Guégan received a PhD in polymer synthesis from the university Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6) in 1992 under the supervision of Dr. S. Boileau. After his study on polymer electrolytes for lithium batteries, he then joined the group of C.W. Macosko to work on polymer blends. He received an assistant professor position in 1994 in the University of Evry to develop cyclodextrin-based polyrotaxanes and polyelectrolytes polymers. He was appointed professor at the university of Evry in 2002 where as a leader of a polymer chemistry team at the laboratory “LAMBE” (cnrs, UMR8587). He joined the Sorbonne Université in 2012, to work on macromolecular engineering using cationic and anionic ring opening polymerization for biomimetic nanochannels synthesis, polymeric vectors for gene delivery developments using renewable resources, as much as possible.

Dr. Kalliopi Ladomenou is an Assistant Professor, at the Chemistry Department of the Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH). She was born in Heraklion Crete and she holds a BSc and a MSc in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Crete (UOC). She obtained her PhD in synthesis and study of porphyrin-based complexes for carbohydrate recognition, from the University of Liverpool, UK. She worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Edinburgh synthesizing molecules for catalytic applications. Then she joined the University of Crete as a Researcher. She has teaching and supervising experience for over 15 years in various Universities. During her research activity she has been involved in numerous national and European projects and obtained several grands. Her research interests include the synthesis of chromophores and catalysts for applications in solar cells, ‘-E production, C02 reduction, artificial photosynthesis and biomimetic catalysis. Her scientific work has been published in international journals with a high impact factor, while she has published one chapter in an International Book and she holds one patent. She is a Reviewer in scientific journals and an Evaluator in National research proposals.

Dr. Christina Nannou is an Assistant Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Democritus University of Thrace (Kavala). She obtained her BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees from the University of Ioannina. She was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2019-2022), granted for her research from the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY). She currently teaches undergraduate/postgraduate courses related to Analytical Chemistry, Quality Management, and Environmental Chemistry. Her research focuses on advanced mass spectrometry techniques (>10 years of experience in highresolution mass spectrometry). Christina’s research interests also include the combination of cutting-edge HRMS technology with novel, green sorbent materials for the target and non-target analysis of emerging contaminants in environmental and biological samples, as well as in food. She is an expert on the implementation of analytical tools for the assessment of the environmental and human impact of emerging contaminants (wastewater-based epidemiology, biomonitoring, omics), as well as for the elucidation of TPs. She is also skilled in chemometrics, quality management systems as well as Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) for water and wastewater purification. Her current publication record includes 33 publications in high-impacted international scientific journals (IFave=8.94), 2 chapters in international scientific books, as well as >80 poster/oral presentations at scientific conferences. She has an h-index=15, i-10 index=17, and counts >820 citations (Google Scholar) and has participated in >10 national and European research projects.

 Dr. Alexandros Tsoupras is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the Dept. of Chemistry, of the Democritus University of Thrace, in Greece. He studied Chemistry (Bachelor) and Biochemistry (Master and PhD) at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in Greece, where he also worked as Postgraduate and Postdoctoral Research-Teaching Associate. After a Postdoctoral Sabbatical training at the Albany Medical College, NY, US, Alexandros received further Postdoctoral training at the University of Limerick, in Ireland, where he has also worked as a Lecturer. His research lies on unraveling the molecular pathways and cell responses of inflammation and thrombosis, as well as on utilizing sustainable bioactives for the production of novel anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic medicinal products for the prevention and therapy of inflammation related chronic disorders.

George Vythoulkas studied Mechanical Engineering in Kavala. He worked for 12 years in a marmor company as supervisor of production department and since 2002 has joined the School of Science of the Democritus University of Thrace – Kavala Campus (formerly School of Technological Engineering of the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology) as laboratory assistant in courses as for example heat transfer and renewable energy recourses, doing experiments, such as heat flow, solar radiation, wind turbine generators, using weather data observations from the laboratory’s “Vaisala” weather station. Lately, we have expanded our capabilities by adding new devices in our laboratory, such as a thermographic camera “Fluir E300” and a “Hydrogenius” Fuel Cell unit from Hyliocentris.

 Participation Cost

The participation fee is €600 (€500 per person for students of the University of Sorbonne [SU] and €450 per person for students of DUTH). This fee is paid in two installments (of €200 and €400 — specifically, €300 for SU students and €250 for DUTH students, respectively): the first installment is paid upon registration, and the second installment must be paid by 09/06/2025.

Payment of the first installment is a prerequisite for participation in the program.

Offline, via bank transfer

Bank name: Alpha Bank

SWIFT Code: CRBAGRAA

IBAN: GR81 0140 9000 9000 0200 1000 166

Beneficiary: Special Account of Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH)

Applicants should mention “KE 21357 (KEDIVIM)”

The deposit receipt should be scanned and sent to the Programme’s Secretariat via e-mail.

Admission and Selection Criteria

The maximum number of participants accepted into the program is set at 40, while the minimum is 15.
For the evaluation of applications and the selection of candidates, the following criteria are applied:

1. Order of priority based on the application submission date
2. Resume

Submission of applications and supporting documents

Application start date: 03/02/2025
Application deadline: 09/06/2025 or until all spots are filled.

The digital  application serves as a Declaration of Responsibility according to paragraph 4 of article 8 of Law 1599/1986. By submitting the application, the candidate unreservedly accepts all the terms of the program, as outlined in the public invitation and the operational regulations of KEDIVIM-DUTH (https://kedivim.duth.gr/operfr/).
The required documents that the candidate must submit for participation in the program, at a minimum, are:

• A copy of an ID card/passport
• Resume

Objections will be accepted no later than 5 days after the list of accepted participants is posted.
In case the minimum required number of participants is not met, the Program Coordinator reserves the right to change the program start date or cancel the program, notifying the participants in a timely manner.

Contact details

For more information, interested parties can contact the Program Coordinator,

Professor Eleni Apostolidou:

Email: elapost@chem.duth.gr

Phone: +30 2510 462 225

For more informations: https://bio3ms.kedivim.duth.gr/

Modules attached