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Pedro Maximiano Santos obtained an MsC degree in Chemical Engineering from the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) in September 2015, and a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering in May 2024, also from FCTUC (summa cum laude approval). Since October 2024 he has been a PostDoctoral Fellow at the Dpertment of Physics, Auburn University (AU). Between 2017 and 2024 he was a researcher at the Chemical Engineering and Renewable Resources for Sustainability (CERES) center of the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Coimbra. His main research interests are in the areas of Molecular Modelling and Simulation, Biophysics, Chemical Engineering and Materials Engineering. He has published 18 articles in international journals and 1 book chapter. He has participated as a researcher in 4 projects, 2 of which were part of international cooperations. He has also participated in 12 national and international scientific conferences.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Pedro Santos

Citation names

  • Maximiano, Pedro

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
881C-D8BD-2650
ORCID iD
0000-0001-5656-2721

Knowledge fields

  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biophysics
  • Engineering and Technology - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Engineering
  • Engineering and Technology - Materials Engineering - Composites
  • Exact Sciences - Chemical Sciences - Polymer Science

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
English Intermediate (B1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Intermediate (B1)
German Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1)
Portuguese Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Education
Degree Classification
2019/04/01 - 2024/05/06
Concluded
 Doutoramento em Engenharia Química (Doutoramento)
Chemical Engineering and Renewable Resources for Sustainability, Portugal
"Molecular simulation of nanocomposites based on Silica Aerogels and Polymers or Carbon Nanotubes" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 Approved summa cum laude
2018/09/10 - 2019/05/30
Concluded
 Doutoramento em Engenharia Química (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares))
Chemical Engineering and Renewable Resources for Sustainability, Portugal
2015/09/25
Concluded
 Engenharia Química (Mestrado integrado)
Major in Processo, Ambiente e Energia
Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Portugal
"Green Solvents for Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerization" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 17 valores
2010
Concluded
 Ciências e Tecnologias (Ensino secundário)
Escola Secundária Engenheiro Acácio Calazans Duarte, Portugal
 18 valores
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2024/10/28 - Current Postdoc (Research) Auburn University, United States
Auburn University, United States
2017/04/01 - 2024/05/06 Researcher (Research) Chemical Engineering and Renewable Resources for Sustainability, Portugal
Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Portugal
2016/01/18 - 2017/01/17 Researcher (Research) Centre for Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Processes, Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Coimbra, Portugal
Projects

Contract

Designation Funders
2017/04/01 - 2019/03/31 AerogelDustFree - Aerogel para aplicações espaciais ISO8 sem libertação de partículas
CENTRO-01-0247-FEDER-017815
Researcher
Universidade de Coimbra Departamento de Engenharia Quimica, Portugal
 Agência Nacional de Inovação SA
Concluded
2016/01/18 - 2016/12/31 FLEXIVINIL - Desenvolvimento de novos materiais de base PVC com comportamento flexível, sem utilização de plastificantes externos, com aplicação na indústria automóvel, nomeadamente em estofos
POCI-01-0247-FEDER-003320
Researcher
Universidade de Coimbra Departamento de Engenharia Quimica, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded

Other

Designation Funders
2022 - 2023 Organization, chiral recognition, and chiral selection in drug-liposome systems studied via chiroptical spectroscopy and molecular simulation
2021.09358.CBM
Researcher
Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Investigação em Engenharia dos Processos Químicos e dos Produtos da Floresta, Portugal

Uniwersytet Jagiellonski w Krakowie, Poland
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2020 - 2022 Does the silicon conformation affect the ice sticking? Laboratory data and theoretical modelling on astrophysical icy dust grain analogs
FCT/DAAD/2020
Researcher
Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Investigação em Engenharia dos Processos Químicos e dos Produtos da Floresta, Portugal

Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Germany
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
Outputs

Publications

Book chapter
  1. Pedro Maximiano; Pedro Nuno Simões. "In silico approaches for aerogel". 399-477. Elsevier, 2023.
    10.1016/b978-0-323-90995-2.00008-4
Conference abstract
  1. Joanna Mazurkiewicz; Stanek, E; Aleksandra Kolodziejczyk; Marta Karpiel; Czamara, Krzysztof; Ferreira, Tiago H; Maximiano, Pedro; et al. "Albumin as a Nanocarrier Facilitating the Delivery of Astaxanthin to Adipocytes". Hiroshima, 2023.
    Published
Conference poster
  1. Santos, Pedro; Oliveira, Marcelo; Durães, Luisa; Simões, Pedro Nuno. "Molecular simulation-based study of composites of silica aerogels and polymers". Paper presented in 20th International Sol-Gel Conference, 2019.
Journal article
  1. Ferreira, Tiago H.; Maximiano, Pedro; Simões, Pedro N.. "Effect of fructooligosaccharides in full-hydrated lactic acid bacteria membrane models during thermal stress: A molecular simulation study". Food Research International 200 (2025): 115475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2024.115475.
    10.1016/j.foodres.2024.115475
  2. Joanna Mazurkiewicz; Ewa Stanek; Pedro Maximiano; Tiago H. Ferreira; Marta Karpiel; Szymon Buda; Justyna Kalinowska-Tluscik; et al. "Enantiorecognition in a multi-component environment". Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (2025): https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CP00022J.
    10.1039/D5CP00022J
  3. Pedro Maximiano; Pedro Simões. "Silica aerogel-carbon nanotube composites: Mechanistic insights into condensation reactions". Chemical Engineering Journal (2024): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.153580.
    10.1016/j.cej.2024.153580
  4. Pedro Maximiano; Pedro N. Simões. "Understanding silica aerogel-carbon nanotube composite structures by molecular simulation". Microporous and Mesoporous Materials (2024): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2023.112886.
    10.1016/j.micromeso.2023.112886
  5. Joanna Mazurkiewicz; Ewa Stanek; Aleksandra Kolodziejczyk; Marta Karpiel; Krzysztof Czamara; Tiago H. Ferreira; Pedro Maximiano; et al. "Efficient delivery of carotenoids to adipocytes with albumin". Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (2024): https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CP06075F.
    10.1039/D3CP06075F
  6. Tiago H Ferreira; Pedro Maximiano; Micaela Ureta; Andrea Gomez-Zavaglia; Pedro N Simões. "Molecular Simulation: a remarkable tool to study mechanisms of cell membrane preservation in probiotic bacteria". Current Opinion in Food Science (2023): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2022.100985.
    10.1016/j.cofs.2022.100985
  7. Pedro Maximiano; Luísa Durães; Pedro Simões. "Intermolecular interactions in composites of organically-modified silica aerogels and polymers: A molecular simulation study". Microporous and Mesoporous Materials (2021): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2020.110838.
    10.1016/j.micromeso.2020.110838
  8. Maximiano, Pedro; Durães, Luísa; Simões, Pedro. "Overview of Multiscale Molecular Modeling and Simulation of Silica Aerogels". Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 58 41 (2019): 18905-18929. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b03781.
    10.1021/acs.iecr.9b03781
  9. Maximiano, Pedro; Durães, Luísa; Simões, Pedro Nuno. "Organically-modified silica aerogels: A density functional theory study". The Journal of Supercritical Fluids 147 (2019): 138-148. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2019.02.018.
    10.1016/j.supflu.2019.02.018
  10. Santos, Pedro. "Effect of different types of surfactants on the microstructure of methyltrimethoxysilane-derived silica aerogels: A combined experimental and computational approach". Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 512 (2018): 64-76. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002197971731192X.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.035
  11. Santos, Pedro. "Ambient temperature SARAATRP for meth(acrylates), styrene, and vinyl chloride using sulfolane/1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate-based mixtures". Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry 55 8 (2017): 1322-1328. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pola.28499.
    10.1002/pola.28499
  12. Santos, Pedro. "Eutectic mixtures as a green alternative for efficient catalyst recycling in atom transfer radical polymerizations". Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry 55 3 (2017): 371-381. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pola.28415.
    10.1002/pola.28415
  13. Maximiano, Pedro; Mendonça, Patrícia V.; Costa, João R. C.; Haworth, Naomi L.; Serra, Arménio C.; Guliashvili, Tamaz; Coote, Michelle L.; Coelho, Jorge F. J.. "Ambient Temperature Transition-Metal-Free Dissociative Electron Transfer Reversible Addition–Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization (DET-RAFT) of Methacrylates, Acrylates, and Styrene". Macromolecules 49 5 (2016): 1597-1604. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.5b02647.
    10.1021/acs.macromol.5b02647
  14. Mendes, Joana P.; Mendonça, Patrícia V.; Maximiano, Pedro; Abreu, Carlos M. R.; Guliashvili, Tamaz; Serra, Arménio C.; Coelho, Jorge F. J.. "Getting faster: low temperature copper-mediated SARA ATRP of methacrylates, acrylates, styrene and vinyl chloride in polar media using sulfolane/water mixtures". RSC Advances 6 12 (2016): 9598-9603. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c5ra20872f.
    10.1039/c5ra20872f
  15. Abreu, Carlos M. R.; Maximiano, Pedro; Guliashvili, Tamaz; Nicolas, Julien; Serra, Arménio C.; Coelho, Jorge F. J.. "Cyclopentyl methyl ether as a green solvent for reversible-addition fragmentation chain transfer and nitroxide-mediated polymerizations". RSC Advances 6 9 (2016): 7495-7503. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c5ra21975b.
    10.1039/c5ra21975b
  16. Costa, João R. C.; Mendonça, Patrícia V.; Maximiano, Pedro; Serra, Arménio C.; Guliashvili, Tamaz; Coelho, Jorge F. J.. "Ambient Temperature “Flash” SARA ATRP of Methyl Acrylate in Water/Ionic Liquid/Glycol Mixtures". Macromolecules 48 19 (2015): 6810-6815. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.5b01795.
    10.1021/acs.macromol.5b01795
  17. Maximiano, Pedro; Mendes, Joana P.; Mendonça, Patrícia V.; Abreu, Carlos M. R.; Guliashvili, Tamaz; Serra, Arménio C.; Coelho, Jorge F. J.. "Cyclopentyl methyl ether: A new green co-solvent for supplemental activator and reducing agent atom transfer radical polymerization". Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry 53 23 (2015): 2722-2729. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pola.27736.
    10.1002/pola.27736
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. "Molecular simulation of nanocomposites based on Silica Aerogels and Polymers or Carbon Nanotubes". PhD, Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia, 2024. https://hdl.handle.net/10316/115259.
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2024/09/19 Unraveling organic-inorganic condensation reactions in silica aerogel-carbon nanotube composites 7th International Seminar on Aerogels
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg (Hamburg, Germany)
2022/09/29 Understanding Carbon Nanotube - Silica Aerogel composites from molecular simulation 6th International Seminar on Aerogels
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg (Hamburg, Germany)
2022/03/01 Molecular modelling of aerogels Spanish-Portuguese Industry-Academia Aerogel Meeting
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra (Coimbra, Portugal)
2019/12/12 Molecular simulation as a tool for studying silica aerogel-based composites CIEPQPF Annual Meeting 2019
Centro de Investigação em Engenharia dos Processos Químicos e dos Produtos da Floresta (CIEPQPF) (Coimbra, Portugal)
2018/10/03 Insights into polymer-silica aerogel composites from a molecular modelling and simulation approach 13th International Chemical and Biological Engineering Conference (CHEMPOR 2018)
University of Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal)
2018/09/26 Molecular modelling study of organically-modified silica aerogels 4th International Seminar on AEROGELS
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg (Hamburg, Germany)

Event organisation

Event name
Type of event (Role) 		Institution / Organization
2022/03/01 - 2022/03/02 Part of the technical aid staff of the organizing committee of the Spanish-Portuguese Industry-Academia Aerogel Meeting, organized and supported by the project COST AERoGELS - Advanced Engineering and Research of aeroGels for Environmental and Life Sciences AERoGELS (COST Action CA18125) (2022/03/01 - 2022/03/02)
Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Investigação em Engenharia dos Processos Químicos e dos Produtos da Floresta, Portugal
2022/02/28 - 2022/03/01 Part of the technical aid staff of the organizing committee of the Second Iberian Meeting on Supercritical Fluids (EIFS2022) (2022/02/28 - 2022/03/02)
Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Investigação em Engenharia dos Processos Químicos e dos Produtos da Floresta, Portugal
2021/12/13 - 2021/12/14 Part of the technical aid staff of the organizing committee of the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Chemical Process Engineering and Forest Products Research Centre (CIEPQPF) (2021/12/13 - 2021/12/14)
Meeting (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Investigação em Engenharia dos Processos Químicos e dos Produtos da Floresta, Portugal

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2024/12/16 - 2024/12/20 Participation in the 62nd Hands-On Workshop on Computational Biophysics
Workshop
 62nd Hands-On Workshop on Computational Biophysics
Auburn University, United States
2024/09/18 - 2024/09/20 Participation in the 7th International Seminar on Aerogels
Conference
 7th International Seminar on Aerogels
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Germany
2022/09/28 - 2022/09/30 Participation in the 6th International Seminar on Aerogels
Conference
 6th International Seminar on Aerogels
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Germany
2022/03/01 - 2022/03/02 Participation in the Spanish-Portuguese Industry-Academia Aerogel Meeting 2022
Conference
 Spanish-Portuguese Industry-Academia Aerogel Meeting
Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Portugal
2021/10/05 - 2021/10/05 Participation in the online conference "Vibrational spectroscopy and biomimetic membranes for understanding protective mechanisms of oligosaccharides", organized and supported by the project PREMIUM - Preservation of microorganisms by understanding the protective mechanisms of oligosaccharides
Conference
 Vibrational spectroscopy and biomimetic membranes for understanding protective mechanisms of oligosaccharides
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal

Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, Spain

Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, France

AgroParisTech, France

Universidade da Madeira, Portugal

Centro Cientifico Tecnologico CONICET Cordoba, Argentina

Biosearch Life, Spain

Cytiva US, United States
2021/09/06 - 2021/09/10 Online participation in the CHARMM-GUI CECAM School, organized by the Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire (CECAM) and hosted by CECAM-FR-GSO at the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse
Workshop
 CHARMM-GUI CECAM School
Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire, Switzerland
2019/10/21 - 2019/10/23 Participation in AERoGELS Training School, organized and supported by the project COST AERoGELS - Advanced Engineering and Research of aeroGels for Environmental and Life Sciences (COST Action CA18125)
Seminar
 AERoGELS Training School - Aerogels processing, modelling and environmental-driven applications
Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Investigação em Engenharia dos Processos Químicos e dos Produtos da Floresta, Portugal
2019/04/08 - 2019/04/12 Participation in the CECAM Workshop entitled "Hybrid Quantum Mechanics / Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) Approaches to Biochemistry and Beyond", including lectures and computational training sessions regarding the implementation of QM/MM models
Workshop
 Hybrid Quantum Mechanics / Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) Approaches to Biochemistry and Beyond
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
2018/10/02 - 2018/10/04 Participation in the 13th International Chemical and Biological Engineering Conference (CHEMPOR 2018)
Conference
 13th International Chemical and Biological Engineering Conference (CHEMPOR 2018)
Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2018/09/24 - 2018/09/26 Participation in the 4th International Seminar on Aerogels
Conference
 4th International Seminar on Aerogels
Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Germany
2018/07/02 - 2018/08/31 Participation in PRACE Summer of HPC, on the project entitled “Investigating the effect of the oncogenic mutation E545K of the PI3Ka protein with enhanced sampling MD simulations”, hosted by the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA) and the Greek Network for Research and Technology (GRNET)
Workshop
 PRACE Summer of HPC 2018
Idryma Iatrobiologikon Ereunon tes Akademias Athenon, Greece

Greek Network for Research and Technology, Greece
Distinctions

Award

2014 UC 3% best students award
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2013 UC 3% best students award
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2012 UC 3% best students award
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2011 UC 3% best students award
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal