News

Three components of CellMat Laboratory were awarded at FOAMS 2025, held in Naples on October 2-3.

Jorge Torre, in the center of the image and member of the AHMat group, received the  Best Paper Award, one of the most prestigious recognitions in the foams community. His presentation on image analysis of nanocellular polymers was truly outstanding.

Isabel de Frutos, on the left, won the Best Poster Award for her excellent communication skills and her remarkable work on self-polymerized polystyrene foams.

Félix Lizalde, on the right, was granted the Travel Award, which acknowledges his impressive scientific career as a student and his remarkable CV.

Victoria Bernardo, researcher at the CellMat Laboratory (University of Valladolid), has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the International Vacuum Insulation Symposium (IVIS 2025), held in Knoxville (USA).

Her presented work was: «Development of Compacted Panels Based on Micronized Micro- and Nanocellular Polymers for Vacuum Insulation Panels»

This recognition highlights the quality and international impact of her research, which was selected among all the contributions presented at this prestigious conference. The award reflects the scientific excellence, dedication, and innovative capacity of Victoria, as well as the strength of the work developed within the CellMat group.

We warmly congratulate Victoria for this outstanding achievement and for bringing international visibility to our research activities.

Félix Lizalde, PhD student in our group, has been selected as one of the five finalists in the SGroup PhD Cup, an international science communication contest organized by the SGroup – Universities in Europe network.

The contest challenges PhD students to present their research in English to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes. The final event will take place in October at the University of Szeged (Hungary), and the winner will receive a €1,000 grant to support a research or study stay in any institution worldwide.

Félix’s presentation, provisionally titled «Cooking solutions for the environment», uses a cooking metaphor to explain how he applies high-pressure CO₂ to generate nanoscale bubbles in advanced polymers such as polyetherimide (PEI).

You has all our support for the final!

Isabel Muñoz de Frutos, one of our PhD. Students won the prestigious contest «Three Minutes Thesis» organized at the University of Valladolid with her talk «Poliespán, poliespán… ¡Qué invento el poliespán!» («EPS, EPS, what an invention EPS is!»).

She discussed the role of polystyrene in combating climate change, and she definitely convinced the jury.

Now she will continue to the regional phase. Good luck Isabel!

I am pleased to announce that Antonio Largo Barrientos, one of our talented doctoral students, has been awarded the Best Oral Communication Prize at the «II congreso de doctorandos en Química», organized by the Valladolid Territorial Section of the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ). This conference brought together students, researchers, and professionals in the field of Chemistry, and Antonio stood out for the quality and impact of his presentation.

Congratulations, Antonio Largo Barrientos! We are incredibly proud of your success and excited about what the future holds.

In the photo, Antonio Largo Barrientos receives the award.

PhD student Félix Lizalde Arroyo has won the Best Paper Award at FOAMS 2024, the most prestigious conference on cellular polymers. This award is presented every year by the SPE: Inspiring Plastics Professionals (Thermoplastic Materials & Foams Division) during its annual congress. This conference is open to world-renowned speakers presenting technical papers on innovations in foam processing, new blowing agents, micro- and nano-cellular foams and, in general, the potential industrial applications of these materials.

The winning paper deals with the production of a nanocellular material from a high performance polymer, which combines a reduction in weight with an improvement in properties compared to the performer solid.

In the photo, Félix Lizalde Arroyo receives the award from Stephane Costeux.

Three young researchers from the CellMat group have been awarded at the latest edition of the Poly-char 2024 conference, held in May in the city of Madrid.

The awards were:

• Dr. Beatriz Merillas: Best oral presentation award (by GEP)
• Jaime Lledó Martín: Best poster award (by IUPAC)
• Clara Amezúa: Best poster award (by GEP)

Beatriz Merillas, a postdoctoral researcher in the CellMat group, has been awarded the Best PhD Thesis in Polymers 2023 , granted by the Specialized Group in Polymers (GEP) of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Physics.

The award was given for her thesis titled «Synthesis, Characterization, and Structure-Properties Relationship of Aerogels and Aerogel-Based Composites,» in which the GEP recognized the advancements made in the field of nanoporous materials and aerogels.

The author, together with her thesis advisors Miguel Ángel Rodríguez and Fernando Villafañe, defended her thesis in 2023, which included 11 scientific publications and earned the honors of Cum Laude and International Doctorate.

Judith Martin de Leon, Victoria Bernardo and Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Perez, members of CellMat, have publish a book titled NANOCELLULAR POLYMERS. FROM MICROESCALE TO NANOSCALE.

The book covers production, structure, properties and potential applications of nanocellular polymers fabricated by using foaming methods.

Beatriz Merillas Valero, Ismael Sanchez Calderon and Daniel Cuadra Rodriguez, researchers at CellMat Laboratory, presented their PhD thesis.

The three thesis received Excellent-Cum Laude califications.