The Nanobiotechnology Hub

24/04/2026

Alderley Park continues to be our home. We are excited to share that The NanoBioTechnology Hub has extended its lease for advanced life sciences R&D laboratory and office space at Alderley Park, near .

This milestone reflects a strong and collaborative effort with Bruntwood SciTech, who continue to foster an environment where innovation can thrive.

For me personally, this location holds special significance. During the -19 pandemic, Alderley Park was where I carried out some of the most impactful work of my career, contributing to the discovery of the Alpha SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern : https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(21)00333-9/fulltext

It feels both meaningful and inspiring to return to the same building to establish and grow The NanoBioTechnology Hub.

Alderley Park was designed to enable deep collaboration and , set within a unique green campus slightly removed from the city centre, an ideal setting for breakthrough biomedical innovation.

We look forward to continuing to build our Hub here and hope it will remain our long-term headquarters as we .

It is also worth highlighting the key role of the Bruntwood SciTech programme in supporting the extension of our licence at Alderley Park, alongside access to the Open Access Lab facilities.

Many thanks to Bruntwood SciTech, and in particular to Sarah Whalley, Gareth Hampton, Mandy Wood, and Kath Mackay, for their continuous support.

We look forward to building the future of The NanoBioTechnology Hub together.

31/03/2026

Check out my interview: https://venturecafemanchester.org/stories/
I had the honor of being featured in the very story by the legendary Venture Café Manchester, supported by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA).

I believe in change at least 10 years ahead and focusing on the right .

At Venture Café, we are pushing these boundaries even further, working to advance science, technology, and applications by 50+ years, in line with ARIA’s bold mission as one of the Café’s main partners.

The network is essential, the Venture Café is also a space to meet regularly and reconnect with new and old friends across the entrepreneurial community.

Thank you so much, Yasmine Pho, for your kind support throughout all the events and for the opportunity to share my story.

Taking that potentially irreversible step of commitment, embracing risk, and daring to try: these are the real keys to innovation. We have taken that step, please follow The NanoBioTechnology Hub. It's the easiest way to support us.

07/03/2026

💡 The power of , for our has been proven.

🧠 For 75 years, the Harvard Medical School has been tracking the lives of 725 people from either Harvard College or Boston's most deprived area. Some people climbed the social ladder, one became President of the United States, while some made their journey in the opposite direction, ending up struggling with alcohol addiction.

Robert Waldinger, the 4th director of the project, concluded:

📊 The clear message from this study is this:

“Good, happy relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” ❤️

3 Lessons:

1) Socially connected people live happier, longer, and healthier lives, and loneliness kills.

2) It's not just the number, but the quality of our close relationships that matters.

3) Good relationships don't only protect our bodies, but they also protect our brains.

I see people often complaining that they don’t have enough time and end up feeling isolated.

Albert made all his groundbreaking discoveries without even a scientific calculator, just his brilliant mind. Today, scientists are proving Einstein's theories using the most advanced technologies. Despite his work, he still had time for three children, and two wives. His brain was trained just like an Olympic athlete trains their body. 🏋️‍♂️

🤖 Today, thanks to , we have the luxury of freeing up time from boring, repetitive tasks. Now you know how to invest that precious time: by nurturing meaningful, deep relationships. 💞

💪 Bonus tip: do your 8000 steps every day, and never let your brain shrink! 🧩

🔑 The keys to a long, high-quality lifespan:

💞 🧠 🏃‍♂️

TED Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkKuTCFvzI

Follow The NanoBioTechnology Hub and let's make the world better together.

What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, ...

03/03/2026

Intervista di Alfredo Maria Gravagnuolo su Nanotecnologie, Biotechnologie e AI per il futuro della medicina. You can activate Automatic Translation > English Subtitles.
https://youtu.be/Fh5_PdsKuN4?si=QLvEWV18ZK16i677

15/02/2026

15/02/2026

The first PRIMED event in Manchester on a Friday evening. Sir Tony Kouzarides and Stephanie Avraamides described the traits of . Tony co-founded, Abcam, sold for $5.7 billion in 2023, and published >20 academic papers in Nature (Nature Portfolio). They are helping others in the transition from to , following three key principles.

. Find the problem that keeps people up at night. Look at your competitors; ask, " ?" and "Wasn't it possible before?" It should be , , , and . Convince to buy what you will build in the future. Agree on how much they would pay, along with a deal or contract. Approach with a strong from them.

. Your innovation should be , , and globally. If you think big and aim for the stars, you may achieve less than planned, but if you think small, you're less likely to exceed expectations.

. Show your and naïve , which will help you break through walls and give you won't quit. Be authentic, people are key, passionate and build a , .

Additional bonus keyword: , but, like , it doesn't come unless you seek it.

Our panel of female founders, Prof. Aline Miller (VP Enterprise at The University of Manchester), Ellie Goulding, Sahara Bhano, Vaitea Cowan and a rising investor, James Reston, discussed this transition.

. Industry requires and with limited resources. Academia offers more space for . In academia, you perform experiments to disprove your hypothesis, building strong evidence; in industry, you focus on key tests to reach a fast, and you need to be to your ideas in line with the .

. Founders earn an "MBA" in the field through real-life experience at the speed of light using . Accelerators match advisors with founders' energy, fuelled by naïve , to rapidly bring companies to life. Entrepreneurs learn how to build the airplane while flying it.

. In industry, you need extreme diversity in the team skillset and : a researcher and salesperson are driven by different goals. Founders' obstinacy in spotting and ideas is blended with whose sole focus is a . In academia, teams converge around similar traits and a shared love for science and teaching.

Industry-Academia . and : you must provide both and a clear and create a in which everyone believes.

The Manchester committee, currently led by Parsa Pirhady, Vrinda Sharma, Francisco Sobral Correia, Argyro Olympitis, and Alfredo Maria Gravagnuolo, will continue walking this road together.

Join at Vellos.co Vellos and fiftyyears.com Fifty Years, a Accelerator.

The NanoBioTechnology Hub

30/01/2026

The book is forthcoming!

Today, we are embarking on a new challenge with the RSC Books, part of the Royal Society of Chemistry: a book that brings together world class academic experts exploring the biomedical and biotechnological applications of nanophotonic phenomena at extraordinarily small scales.

From cost effective and to for , of molecular and body functions, and even enhancement, is transforming and , with some of the most incredible discoveries on the horizon for humankind.

Prof Eden Morales Narváez, Group Leader of the Biophotonic Nanosensors Laboratory at CFATA UNAM, one of my former mentors and supervisors and among the most brilliant minds I have encountered in my career, is accompanying and co leading this exciting new journey.

What is ? It is the study of energy in the form of radiation and its quantum (wave particle dual) nature, encompassing high energy radiation (e.g., gamma rays), visible light, and low photon energy radiation (e.g., infrared). Different phenomena are observed, and biomaterial-light interactions explored, in distinct regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Generally speaking, photonic and nanotechnological innovations are deeply integrated into our daily lives, and QLED screens are one example

We are experts in NanoBioPhotonics, having spent the past 15 years working on photonics for biomedical applications. In 2013, I co-authored my first article capitalising on chirped pulse amplification. We used ultrashort UV laser pulses to attempt to 'freeze' transient protein interactions, a study later cited in Nature Protocols. Interestingly, the inventors of chirped pulse amplification, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018.

In 2015, we published an article on a NanoBioPhotonic medical diagnostic device based on quantum dots. And guess what? Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Aleksey Yekimov, the inventors of quantum dots were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2023.

In 2020, I had the honour of co-discovering and tracking the Alpha SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern in the UK, providing invaluable data that helped the country plan its lockdowns and ensure national safety. We used a combination of a photonic molecular assay and artificial intelligence to test millions of human samples for the presence of the virus and its rapidly spreading new variant. You all know what AI means, and we highlighted the enormous potential it holds when combined with bio-photonic technologies.

This book will serve as a comprehensive source of knowledge, inspiration, and guidance for both academia and industry, leveraging the collaboration between leading global experts in NanoBioPhotonics, the editors and the Royal Society of Chemistry. The journey has only just begun.

Many thanks to Matthew Caffrey for the fantastic support!

The Nanobiotechnology Hub

09/01/2026

🚀 We started #2026 with a brand-new company (.co.uk), replacing the old academic one (.com)!

🗞️ Please visit www.nanobiotechnologyhub.co.uk to discover more about the hub, our and plans in pre-hospital in-vitro . Please stay tuned as the hub is growing and more news is coming soon... This is a live website, updated regularly.

🫀 Think big at the , the future is nano!

We have been 100% of our personal resources, income from consultancy activities and grants in innovation for our .

Many thanks to the people (many!) and organisations who made this possible in #2025, with their resources, support and precious advice: Bruntwood SciTech, GC Angels, Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Catalyst, The University of Manchester, GM Business Growth Hub, The Growth Company, Innovate UK Business Connect, Innovate UK, EPSRC.

The synergy we have built is laying the groundwork for a solid future.

Special thanks to Juan Carlos Molina García, Seden Cigizoglu Grippon, PhD, and Paolo Donati, PhD for our fruitful conversations. Your love for innovation and your experience are priceless.

Feel free to follow us on linkedin www.linkedin.com/company/the-nano-bio-technology-hub

16/01/2024

I am glad for the opportunity to have served as a Guest Editor for this excellent Review article: "Graphene-based nanomaterials for peripheral nerve regeneration". The call for papers about "biointerfaced graphene and other 2D materials" is still open.

Congratulations to Domenica Convertino and colleagues from the Center for Nanotechnology Innovation, Pisa, Italy, and happy science to everyone!!

Review Article:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2023.1306184/full

Open call "Biointerfacing 2D Nanomaterials and Engineered Heterostructures, Volume II":
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/55229/biointerfacing-2d-nanomaterials-and-engineered-heterostructures-volume-ii