Speaker: Eneko Larrañeta
Location: Biomedical Sciences Building, University of Galway
Date: Thursday, 21th August 2025
Professor Eneko Larrañeta will give a seminar at CÚRAM on recent advances in implants for sustained drug release. His talk will cover 3D-printed, fusion-processed, and compressed implants, as well as porous membranes and biodegradable coatings that extend drug release for chronic disease treatment.
Eneko is a Professor at Queen’s University Belfast, specialising in drug delivery systems and biomaterials. He holds a BSc in Chemistry and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Navarra, where his research focused on self-assembled hydrogels. After completing his PhD in 2012, Prof. Larrañeta worked as a research fellow in nanotechnology for drug delivery before moving to Belfast in 2013 to develop microneedle technology for transdermal drug delivery at Queen’s University.
Prof Larrañeta’s expertise includes hydrogels, nano/microparticles, and microneedle-based systems. Currently, he focuses on implantable systems for sustained drug release, using techniques such as melt processing and additive manufacturing. He has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, edited multiple books, and authored numerous book chapters. Prof Larrañeta has secured funding from leading organisations and collaborated extensively with pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies.
Since 2023, he has been included in the Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher list, and since 2019, he has been recognised as a top 2% scientist in his field by Stanford University’s analysis using Scopus data. He is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society for Applied Microbiology.
Seminar is hosted by Eoin O’Cearbhaill.
