After completing the 2023 Exponential Inception program at Singularity University, Martín was honored to join and successfully graduate from the prestigious Ventures Academy at the University of San Andrés. Designed to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and essential innovation skills, this transformative experience combined agile methodologies, insights into exponential technologies, and advanced business strategies. Through personalized mentorship, collaborative roundtables, and lessons from accomplished entrepreneurs, Martín gained invaluable tools and inspiration to transform bold ideas into impactful ventures, laying the foundation for future success.

Neurons are highly polarized cells, with axons transmitting and dendrites receiving information—both functions critical for the proper operation of the nervous system. This polarity is maintained by the cytoskeleton, a structure composed of microtubules and actin filaments that organizes the cell.

RhoA, a protein regulating cytoskeletal dynamics, is known to restrain axon outgrowth. However, studying its spatiotemporal activation has been challenging due to the limitations of conventional microscopy.

Using super-resolution STED nanoscopy, Martin and his colleagues revealed that RhoA-activated neurons exhibit microtubules penetrating deeper into actin-rich regions and discovered that RhoA also has a stimulatory effect on axon development, depending on when and where it acts.

This breakthrough not only deepens our understanding of neuronal dynamics but also opens promising avenues for treating neurodegenerative diseases.

Journal of cell science. 137.14

Martín an his colleagues presented the work, radiometric calibration and validation of Newsat Mark IV, a high resolution multispectral micro satellite constellation at the very high-resolution radar and optical data assessment (VH RODA) organized by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Abstract

Martín obtained his certificate of specialization in leadership and management from Harvard Business School. It is a 6-month, 100-hour online program focusing on the topics of leadership principles, management essentials and negotiation mastery.

Satellogic was awarded a gold medal for multispectral imagery in the 2021 Olympic-themed evaluation of international earth observation capabilities from the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

Martín joined the free space laser communications XXXIII conference organized by the SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Certificate

The cytoskeleton of neurons is mainly formed of microtubules and filaments. Because of their size it is impossible to distinguish them by conventional microscopy. 

By using fluorescence optical nanoscopy, Martín and his colleagues demonstrated that inhibition of processes that change the structure and function of neurons during brain development result in a denser filament network and as a consequence microtubules fail to protrude into the peripheral, but instead curl back toward the neuron body. 

Thanks to their study it was shown that inhibition of these kinds of processes leads to cytoskeletal defects and growth impairments, which are crucial in cancer and metabolism diseases.

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 27.2: 210-220.

Using fluorescence optical nanoscopy new periodic nanostructures with the shape of rings were discovered in the cytoskeleton of neurons. The cytoskeleton provides structural support to the cell, organizes its interior and therefore plays a central role in neuronal development.

Martín and his colleagues developed an automated method for quantification of these periodic nanostructures and revealed that while the neuron grows, their abundance and regularity increases over time and reaches maximum plateau values after 14 days.

They also discovered that the abundance and organization of these periodic nanostructures drops after depriving the neurons of specific types of molecules that support the survival of cells. They suggested that the destruction of these periodic nanostructures is required for axon degeneration and fragmentation to proceed, which is characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases because the axon is where electrical impulses from a neuron travels away to be received by other neurons.

These periodic nanostructures were impossible to see with conventional microscopic technics. These studies are key for better understanding neurodegenerative diseases because they shed light in the underlying structure and behavior of the cytoskeleton, which is essential for proposing accurate neuronal development mechanisms and for designing new methods of diagnosis and cure.

Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1-10

Scientific Reports, 8(1), 1-16

Fluorescence readout is uniquely powerful for biological assays because it combines the detection of specific biotargets with high spatial and temporal resolution. Martín and his colleagues designed an all-optical homogeneous biosensing scheme, where the combination of plasmonic heating of gold nanorods and temperature sensitive molecular fluorescence enables the robust quantification of surface reactions.

ACS Sensors, 1(11), 1351-1357

Together with 2014 Nobel Prize winner, Stefan W. Hell, Martín and his colleagues developed a new method of fluorescence optical nanoscopy that expanded considerably its field of application by reducing 10 times the power of the light used. This simplified the complexity and cost of the technique and reduced the phototoxicity on live cell imaging.

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 49(1), 365102

Martín's and his colleague's work alongside 2014 Nobel prize winner was showcased in the cover article of the Argentinean newspaper La Nación. The German Stefan Hell, and the Americans Eric Betzig and William Moerner developed technologies that allow to resolve infinitesimal structures.

Martín and his colleagues designed a methodology to grow silver prismatic nanoparticles, induced by plasmon excitation on a colloidal solution under the irradiation of light emitting diodes where the size of the nanoparticles is determined by the wavelength of irradiation.

Materials Chemistry and Physics, 139(1), 100-106