Dr. Antoniya Toncheva received a master’s degree in Structural biochemistry (University of Bordeaux 2, France) in 2008 followed by a PhD degree in Macromolecular chemistry within the Laboratory of Bioactive Polymers (Bulgarian academy of sciences) in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Iliya Rashkov. In 2013 she held an assistant professor position and from January 2015 she moved to the Laboratory of Polymeric and Composite Materials (University of Mons, Belgium) for post-doctoral research under the supervision of Prof. Philippe Dubois (Marie-Curie BEWARE Fellowships Academia program). Currently she is working as a project lead scientific researcher at Materia Nova – Materials R&D center (Mons, Belgium). She is familiar with various polymer formulation technologies: extrusion, 3D printing (FDM, SLA and bioprinting), electrospinning (micro- and nanofibers) and electrospraying (nanoparticles). She gained a solid expertise in shape-memory polymers and nanocomposites with multi-responsiveness, as well as the production of biomaterials from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers with conferred biological properties. The materials domain of application is centered on actuators and sensors for soft robotics, wound healings, self-tightening knots, implants and drug delivery systems.
Title: “Multi-responsive polymer actuators by thermo-reversible chemistry”