Every group page was opened and read on 1 August 2026, so the emails here name real
research — no placeholder paper slots to fill in. Four are speculative approaches to
named group leaders, each with a complete package: a short email to send, a formal cover
letter, a research statement written for that group's actual programme, and the right CV.
Two are ICN2 advertisements that have already closed.
6Targets
4Worth writing to
2Already closed
4Full packages
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None of these four has an advertised vacancy, and that is the normal way in. In drug
delivery most postdoctoral posts are filled by direct contact before they are ever posted. The
emails are short by design — under 250 words — because group leaders read them on a phone.
Send the email first; the cover letter and research statement are for when they reply, or for
a formal application if one opens.
Filter6 shown
CiMUS Research Institute · Universidade de Santiago de CompostelaStrong fitSpain
Prof. María José Alonso — nano-oncology and macrophage-targeted delivery
Contact mariaj.alonso@usc.es · +34 881 815 454Send cold email · CV · research statement — no advertised vacancy
Two specific, checkable hooks, and neither is a stretch. Their oncology line —
projects ONCO-siRNA, Recytsea and Oncoliberix — builds
multifunctional nanocarriers targeted to tumour cells, tumour-associated
macrophages and lymphatic vessels. She is a co-author on the group's
macrophage-targeted nanomedicine work at SIMM, including lactoferrin-modified carriers
directed at LRP-1 on activated macrophages. Second, Prof. Alonso is Editor-in-Chief
of Drug Delivery and Translational Research — the journal in which Dipika
holds a first-author review on nanocarrier modulation of the tumour immune
microenvironment. That review is, in effect, about her group's problem.
The lab's centre of gravity is biologics — RNA, monoclonal antibodies,
proteins, peptides and nanovaccines — and Dipika's delivery experience is with small
molecules. She has not formulated nucleic acids or proteins. The email says so, and
argues that the immune-microenvironment and macrophage-targeting side is where she
already contributes.
Next: Send the email. Then note the fellowship timing below — it changes what to ask for.
Checklist
School of Pharmacy · University of AucklandStrong fitNew Zealand
Prof. Jingyuan Wen — drug delivery, natural products and formulation
Contact Contact details are on her Auckland profile pageSend cold email · CV · research statement — no advertised vacancy
The closest personal fit in the entire search, on three independent axes.
Prof. Wen's stated areas are novel pharmaceutical formulation, drug delivery system
design, nutraceuticals, cosmetic product development and new drug discovery from
natural products — and Dipika's filed patent is a transdermal delivery system for a
Curcuma longa flavonoid fraction treating acne, which sits precisely at the
botanical–cosmetic–delivery intersection. Her doctoral compound, shikonin, is likewise a
natural product. Second, Prof. Wen took her Bachelor of Medicine and Master's in
Pharmacy at Fudan University in Shanghai, so they trained in the same city and
tradition. Third, she has been Auckland's research theme leader in drug delivery
since 2013 and edits three journals in the field.
No advertised vacancy, and New Zealand postdoc funding is tighter than Europe's — a
yes here may mean a co-written grant application rather than an immediate post. Her
group also spans nutraceuticals and cosmetics, which is adjacent to rather than
identical with cancer nanomedicine.
Next: Send this one first of the four. The overlap is unusual enough to earn a reply.
Checklist
Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) · BarcelonaGood fitSpain
Prof. Silvia Muro — Targeted Therapeutics and Nanodevices
Contact Find the current group address on the IBEC site before sendingSend cold email · CV · research statement — no advertised vacancy
The speculative Barcelona approach from the wider search, now aimed at a named
group rather than an institute — which is the difference between a letter that is
read and one that is not. Prof. Muro's group works on targeted nanoparticle design for
crossing biological barriers, using multivalent polymeric nanoparticles among other
platforms. Polymeric, targeted, and barrier-focused is an accurate description of
Dipika's doctoral carrier.
Confirm the group and the address before sending. IBEC restructures its
research lines periodically, and this group was identified from public listings rather
than from the group's own current page. Check that Prof. Muro still leads it and that
the focus is as described — a letter sent to a group that has moved on reads worse than
no letter. Her barrier work has also been the tumour rather than the blood–brain
barrier or the intestinal epithelium.
Next: Verify the group page first, then send. Barcelona also opens the Juan de la Cierva route.
Checklist
School of Pharmacy · University of Otago · DunedinGood fitNew Zealand
Assoc Prof Greg Walker — formulation and delivery of bioactives
Contact greg.walker@otago.ac.nz · +64 3 479 7133Send cold email · CV · research statement — no advertised vacancy
His stated interest is the physico-chemical principles by which a delivery system
changes the absorption, disposition and fate of a bioactive — which is a precise
description of what Dipika spent eight years measuring. He has extensive experience in
polymeric drug delivery systems; her polydopamine carrier is polymeric. He holds
three MBIE grants totalling over NZ$19 million covering vaccines, a new class of
antimicrobials, and bioactives — and her transdermal patch was evaluated for
antimicrobial activity against acne. He also came to academia from industry, having
invented a topical haemostat that reached phase II, so a filed patent is a credential
he will read properly rather than politely.
His current programme leans towards veterinary and animal health through the Bayer
Centre, and towards biopharmaceuticals — neither is her background. His profile also
advertises PhD projects rather than postdoctoral positions, so the email has to
ask the right question: whether he has, or would support, a postdoctoral or research
fellow appointment.
Next: Send with the Industry-RnD CV, not the academic one — his framing is product-led.
Checklist
Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) · Bellaterra, BarcelonaClosedSpain
Senior Postdoctoral Researcher — Nanomedicine Research Group
Deadline was2026-07-02Send —
Had it been open, the overlap would have been real: physicochemical and materials
characterisation, biological investigation of nanomaterials, and preclinical rodent
work including dosing and imaging are all hers. The group works on liposome and vesicle
systems for oncology and neurology.
The application deadline was 2 July 2026. It has passed.
Two requirements would also have been hard even while open. They ask for experience
synthesising and modifying carbon nanomaterials — hers are polydopamine and
mesoporous, not carbon — and for a personal licence for preclinical research,
which is a European regulatory qualification she does not hold; her animal work ran
under Chinese institutional ethics approvals. It is also a senior postdoctoral
post, and she is one year past her doctorate.
Next: Closed. Approach the group speculatively instead — see the note in the folder.
Checklist
ICN2 · Merkoçi group · Bellaterra, BarcelonaClosedSpain
Postdoctoral Researcher — Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors
Deadline was2026-07-22Send —
None to speak of.
The application deadline was 22 July 2026. It has passed.
It would not have been a fit in any case. The project is "ultrafast room temperature
chemical sintering of noble metals", and the required experience is printed
electronics — screen printing or inkjet printing — chemical treatment of thin films,
unconventional sintering, and micro/nanofabrication. This is materials engineering
for sensor devices. She has none of it, and the word "nano" in the title is the only
thing the two have in common.
Next: Closed, and not a fit. No documents written.
Checklist
What changed, and what it means
The la Caixa question is now settled — and the answer is no, not this year
This was an open item for weeks. The Alonso lab's own posting states the rule plainly:
the fellowship is for researchers who obtained their PhD between two and seven years before
the deadline, which is 23 September 2026. Her doctorate was awarded in 2025 — about one
year. She is not eligible for this round.
She becomes eligible for the following call. That is an argument for making the Spanish
contacts now rather than later: a la Caixa application is far stronger when the host
already knows the applicant, and both Spanish groups here are natural hosts for one.
What she is eligible for today
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship — 2026 call closes 9 September. Any of the four
groups could host. This is the single most valuable thing available to her, and every
email raises it.
Juan de la Cierva – Formación (Spain) — the postdoctoral tier, correct for someone
one year past the PhD. Needs a Spanish host, which both Barcelona and Santiago provide.
New Zealand has no equivalent incoming scheme, so a yes there is more likely to mean a
co-written grant application than an immediate post. Both NZ emails say so.
Order to send them
1. Prof. Wen, Auckland. The closest personal fit in the whole search — natural-product
delivery, a cosmetic-adjacent transdermal patent, and a shared Shanghai training. Overlaps this
specific are rare enough to earn a reply.
2. Prof. Alonso, Santiago. The macrophage-targeting overlap is real and checkable, and
she edits the journal Dipika has a first-author paper in. A large, well-funded group that hosts
fellowships routinely.
3. Assoc Prof Walker, Otago. Polymeric delivery, antimicrobial formulation and a
patent-to-product route he will recognise from his own career.
4. Prof. Muro, IBEC. Send last, and verify the group page first — this target
was identified from public listings rather than from the group's own current page.
One caution on New Zealand that has not gone away
Both New Zealand entries here are research posts, which need no pharmacist
registration. That matters, because the clinical route remains blocked on an unanswered
question: the Pharmacy Council's overseas pathway states a four-year B.Pharm, and hers
ran 2010–2013 — three years, entered laterally after a D.Pharm.
Nobody has yet asked the Council whether the D.Pharm years count. Until someone does, in
writing, no money should be spent on the OPRA route. It does not affect anything on this page.