WSEPCM-2025

Prof. Dr. Atanase Leonard-Ionut studied macromolecular chemistry at the "Gh. Asachi" Technical University of Iasi, Romania. During his university studies, he received a three-month Socrates/Erasmus scholarship at the University of Marseille, France. This first contact with French culture encouraged him to return in 2005 to pursue a Master's degree at the National Chemistry School in Mulhouse, France under the guidance of Prof. Gerard Riess. Also under the guidance of Prof. Riess he continued his post-graduate studies and in 2010 received PhD in Materials Chemistry from the University of Haute Alsace, Mulhouse. Until 2014, he continued his research, at the same university in France, as a university researcher, in the field of polymers and emulsions biocompatible with applications in the biomedical field. From 2014 to 2015 he worked in the field of nanoemulsions with cosmetic applications at the University of Pau, France in collaboration with Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), the Dior branch. This collaboration was materialized by a patent related to the preparation of a perfume only on aqueous basis. At the beginning of 2016, he returned in Romania, at the "Apollonia" University of Iasi and the experience accumulated in the almost 10 years spent in France allowed him to obtain the title of full professor in 2017. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Dental Medicine at the «Apollonia» University in Iasi from 2018 until 2023, the coordinator of the Biomaterials Laboratory but also of the Office of International Relations. At the present he is member of the Academy of Romanian Scientists and National expert within the Corps of Experts Registered in the National Register of Experts for the certification of Research&Development activity (REXCD). Even though the administrative tasks are time consuming, Prof. Atanase did not neglect his "first love", namely the research in the field of polymers with biomedical applications. He was the director of 6 national and international research projects and member of 5 other research projects carried out at the "Apollonia" University of Iasi. Regarding the scientific activity, Prof. Atanase is noted through numerous participation in international conferences, a number of 10 books or chapters of books published in international publishers but also 77 articles published in ISI journals with more than 1900 citations. H-index is 25 on Google Scholar and 24 on Scopus. By virtue of his collaboration with colleagues in France, in 2018, he was a visiting professor at the University of Haute Alsace in Mulhouse and in October 2018 he obtained the “accreditation to supervise research” (HDR) at the same university in France. Starting with 2021, he is affiliated as PhD coordinator in the field of “chemical engineering” at the Technical University of Iasi, Romania and has already 4 ongoing PhD theses. At the present, his research axes focused on the investigation of different types of drug delivery systems based on polymeric micelles from amphiphilic graft and block copolymers, particles obtained by emulsion polymerization, nanocapsules from polysaccharides, liposomes, and hybrid hydrogels. Moreover, a new domain of research deals with the preparation of electrospun fibers by electrospinning using both synthetic and natural polymers.