DUVI – 23/10/2025
Ana María Vilas Iglesias, industrial engineer, PhD student at the School of Industrial Engineering and researcher with the LaserON group at the Cintecx research center of the University of Vigo, was awarded third prize by the Laser Institute of America for the best presentation at the 44th International Conference on the Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics, the world’s largest event in the field of laser materials processing, recently held in Orlando, Florida, USA.
Ana Vilas’s work focused on the production of bimetallic nanoparticles using the laser ablation and re-irradiation technique developed by the LaserON group. “I’m very excited about this award because it recognizes all the work we’ve been doing for several years. When I was an undergraduate student at the School of Industrial Engineering in Vigo and dreamed of becoming a researcher, I couldn’t even imagine I’d be able to do such exciting work, present it at a conference in the United States, and receive an award like this,” Vilas explained.
Metallic nanoparticles: a tool to fight resistant infections
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be one of the most pressing global health challenges of the 21st century, recalls the researcher, who highlights the group’s contribution: “We’re doing our small part by working with bimetallic nanoparticles.” Noble metal nanoparticles have attracted growing attention as a promising tool to combat resistant infections. However, some—like copper—have proven to be toxic. “In this research, we explored bimetallic nanoparticles, as the combination of palladium and copper reduces copper’s toxicity while preserving its bactericidal properties,” adds Ana Vilas, who completed a research stay at the Nanotechnology Center in Essen, Germany, where she was able to confirm the excellent properties of bimetallic nanoparticles.
The award-winning work is part of Ana Vilas’s doctoral thesis, supervised by professors and researchers Mohamed Boutinguiza and Juan Pou.