prof. dr. I.S. (Inge) Zuhorn

Inge S. Zuhorn obtained her Masters degree Medical Biology in 1997. In 1997- 2002 she performed her PhD studies (thesis title: “On the mechanism of cationic amphiphile-mediated gene delivery”) at the Department of Physiological Chemistry at the University of Groningen, which was awarded with the Greiner Award for the best thesis on gene therapy in the Netherlands.

From 2002-2007 she worked at the Biomade Technology Foundation, focusing on bringing innovations from university research to the market. In 2007 she joined a Top Institute Pharma consortium (“Nanoscience as a tool for improving bioavailability and blood-brain barrier penetration of CNS drugs” (T5-105)), moving back to academia at the Department of Cell Biology at the University Medical Center Groningen.

In 2013 she obtained a VIDI grant (“Carriers break barriers in drug delivery”) from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO). In 2016 she moved to the Department of Biomedical Engineering, offering her a multidisciplinary working environment which she enjoys for discussing scientific challenges with varied perspectives. In 2021 she was awarded a VICI grant ("Shape-shifting nanoparticles for drug delivery to the brain: an integrative approach to targeted drug delivery") by NWO-TTW.  

Dr. Zuhorn supervises a multidisciplinary group (students, PhD students, post docs, technician) that focuses on the development of nanomedicine and the understanding of their mechanisms of action, working toward clinical applications.