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(2015–2017) Postdoctoral Researcher Contact: |
Dr. Silvia Grama was born in Iasi, Romania. With a B.Sc. in Technological Biochemistry, a Masters in Polymeric Biomaterials and a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry, she has been actively involved in research since 2007. In November 2011, she defended her PhD thesis in Chemistry at the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Romania, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, Department of Natural and Synthetic Polymers. The PhD thesis was based on synthesis and characterization of polymers and small organic compounds, sensitive to light stimuli. In 2012, she joined Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Prague, Czech Republic as a postdoctoral fellow on a European project (BIOPOL). She started to work independently on her first postdoctoral research contract, which targeted the preparation of multifunctional polymer microparticles for biomedical applications. After she joined Professor Percec’s group in the Chemistry Department of University of Pennsylvania, she focused her work on copper-catalyzed controlled living radical polymerization technique, that allows the ultrafast synthesis of a wide variety of vinylic polymers under mild conditions. This work has relevance for industrial applications which demand polymers with excellent control of molecular weight and polydispersity, for potential use as adhesives, surface treatment or sealants. The other main project in the group dealt with the synthesis of nanoscale dendritic polymer structures with fundamental applications in the biomedical field.