Mihaela Bunea

Mihaela was born in Bucharest, Romania. She studied Polymer Science and Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Material Science, University Politehnica of Bucharest, graduating in 2011. In the same year she started the Master studies at the same Faculty in the field of Biopolymers with medical applications. After the Master, she stared the studies for a PhD degree at the same Faculty in the field of “Biocomposites based on natural polymers with medical applications”. During the PhD she developed biocomposites based on silk fibroin, bacterial cellulose or polyrhydroxyalkanoates and characterized them from the point of view biocompatibility and structural properties and studied interaction of DNA biosensors with azathioprine.

Now, her work is specially oriented on: (a) actuators based on dielectric polymers (PDMS) with applications in the soft robots fields and (b) biosensors based on DNA or natural polymers and its interaction with immunosupressive drugs.

She is curretly involved in two project

  1. Elastomeric tuneable metasurfaces for efficient spectroscopic sensors for plastic detection;
  2. New (bio) sensory platforms based on nanostructured materials functionalized with applications in the field of health.

Some recent publications:

[1] M.-C. Bunea, V.-C. Diculescu, M. Enculescu, H. Iovu, T.-A. Enache, „Redox Mechanism of azathioprine and its interactions with DNA”, International Journal of Molecular Science, 2021, 22(13), 6805, DOI:10.3390/ijms22136805.

[2] A.-M. Baracu, M.-A. Avram, C. Breazu, M.-C. Bunea, M. Socol, A. Stanculescu, E. Matei, P.-C. Vaagen Thrane, C.-A. Dirdal, A. Dinescu, O. Rasoga, „Silicon Metalens Fabrication from Electron Beam to UV-Nanoimprint Lithography”, Nanomaterials, 2021, 11(9), DOI:10.3390/nano11092329.

[3] B. Galateanu, A. Hudita, C. Zaharia, M.-C. Bunea, E. Vasile, M.-R. Buga, M. Costache, „Silk-Based Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications”, Polymers and Polymeric Composites: A Reference Series, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 1791-1817, 2019.

[4] B. Galateanu, M.-C. Bunea, P.-O. Stanescu, E. Vasile, A. Casarica, H. Iovu, A. Hermenean, C. Zaharia, M. Costache, “In vitro studies of bacterial cellulose and magnetic nanoparticles smart nanocomposites for efficient chronic wounds healing”, Stem cells International, 2015, DOI:10.1155/2015/195096.