Bárbara González Navarrete

Barbara Gonzalez holds an Engineering Degree in Chemistry and Biotechnology from the University of Chile in Santiago and joined the junior research group TWOB led by Marcus Einert as a technical assistant in 2024. As the technician of the TWOB group, one of her main functions is to support and guide young students in their research work, sharing experimental knowledge throughout all stages of the project. Furthermore, she is also responsible for the maintenance and safety of the lab’s devices and for providing support in setting up and optimizing experiments.

Barbara Gonzalez studied Chemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Chile (2010-2017) and gathered several years of experience as a research assistant in chemical laboratories. After her studies she joined ENERCOM S.A. (Santiago, Chile)  from 2017 to 2018 as a project engineer and got familiar with an industrial environment. After this short mission in industry she returned at the University of Chile where she worked on both national and European projects (2019-2021). During this time, she worked on developing photocatalytic metal organic framework (MOF) materials for degradation and adsorption of heavy metals, operated and optimized pilot plants and supervised visiting researchers. Likewise, she had the opportunity to undertake two guest stays with different project partners: first at the Basque Country University (Spain, 2019) and then at the BCMaterials Research Center (Spain, 2020). In this environment, she has specialized in wet synthesis, materials optimization, characterization (FTIR, XRD, UV-Vis spectroscopy, SEM, among others) and testing adsorption and/or photocatalytic properties of various materials (including semiconductor nanoparticles, metal organic framework (MOF), and activated carbon) for environment applications in water remediation.