Dr. Ana Beloqui received her BSc in Chemistry from the University of Navarra (2004) and undertook her PhD at the Institute of Catalysis (ICP-CSIC/ Autonomous University of Madrid) in 2009. Her Thesis Work was focused on the discovery, design, and application of industrially relevant enzymes. As postdoc, in 2010, she moved to CICbiomaGUNE, where she explored the interactions between (in)organic molecules and biomacromolecules. Thereafter, she moved to Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT, Germany) in order to earn new experience in the interaction of proteins with organic macromolecules, i.e., polymers, in the lab of Prof. Guillaume Delaittre. At this stage, she developed and optimized methods for the encapsulation of single proteins in polymeric networks. In 2016, she moved back to San Sebastián, in the frame of a "Talent Atraction and Retention" program of the Diputación de Gipuzkoa. With this project, she could join CICnanoGUNE and develop her own projects in the lab of Prof. Mato Knez. In 2020, she joined POLYMAT-UPV/EHU with an Ikerbasque Fellow and a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship. She is currently Research Associate Professor at POLYMAT Fundazioa, leading the PolyZymes Laboratory.
The main research line of Dr. Ana Beloqui is focused on the development of polymer-protein hybrids for catalysis and sensing. In the last years she has developed the knowledge and experience for the synthesis of single enzyme nanogels, which are currently combined with other (in)organic materials for the fabrication of smart (responsive) enzyme nanogels. She is interested in the development of chemo-enzymatic nanoreactors through the design of metabolic channels using polymer-protein hybrids. She is also interested in the therapeutical use of the nanogels for gene delivery.