Melania-Ana Popescu (Banu), 16.06.1991, e-mail: [email protected]

Professional experience:
Employer: National Institute for Research and Development in Microtechnologies Positions: Research Assistant (Aug 2013 – Jan2017)
Research Scientist (Feb 2017 – Oct 2020)

Research Scientist grade III (Nov 2020 – Present)
Main areas of expertise: biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, surface chemistry, nanobiotechnology, biosensors, data processing and analysis.

Education:
2015 - October 2018- received PhD in Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest; Thesis title: "Development of biochips for high-throughput detection and analysis of biomolecules", Summa cum Laude
2013 - 2015 – received Master Degree in Applied Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest; Dissertation title: "Design and
testing microarray chips for SNP detection", 10/10
2010 - 2013 – received Bachelor's degree in Biology – Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest; Bachelor's thesis title: "Study of yeast species able to produce biosurfactants which degrade xenobiotic compounds", 8.5/10

Internships and specialisations:
The education was completed by extensive documentation and by attending international summer schools and workshops. The relevant attendances for the present project proposal are:
- Laboratory of Genetic Analyses, GeneticLab, the Department of Molecular Genetics, Nov 2013 – Feb 2014;
- the European School of Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies – ESONN (Grenoble, France) - 23Aug-12 Sept, 2015;
- the International Workshop on Semi-conducting Nanomaterials for Health, Environment and Security Applications (Grenoble, France) – 6-7 Nov, 2018.
Moreover, during 2016-2018, she was a visiting researcher at IMEP-LaHC (Grenoble, France) in the context of a bilateral project between Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology-IMT (Bucharest, Romania) and IMEP-LaHC-CMNE group (Grenoble, France), headed by Prof. Sorin Cristoloveanu (PHC Brancusi).
Experience in research projects/grants: Key person in 8 research projects, according to Brainmap. Visibility of research activity: 16 publications according to Publons, of which 10 ISI ranked (6 as main author) and 6 ISI indexed (3 as main author); 16 presentations at international conferences.
Awards: Best Paper Award - "Latest concept to generate temperature compensated voltage reference", Annual Conference of Semiconductors, CAS, 9-11 Oct 2019 – 42nd Edition, Sinaia – Romania.

Best Paper Award - "Optimization of detection parameters on microarray Au-support for genotyping HPV strains", Annual Conference of Semiconductors, CAS, 11-14 Oct 2017 – 40th Edition, Sinaia – Romania.
Patent: Banu Viorel, Popescu Melania-Ana, "Generator de tensiune de referinţă diferenţială compensată la variaţia temperaturii", A 2017 00338/06.06.2017.

Academic activities: Scientific training of MSc enrolled in the Electronics and Medical Information Master's programme from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest.