ESTEEM3 interviews: Dr. Hugo Pérez from DENSsolutions

ESTEEM3 interviews: Dr. Hugo Pérez from DENSsolutions

Dr. Hugo Pérez (DENSsolutions)

In this interview, Dr. Hugo Pérez will explain his background and his role and views about ESTEEM3.

QUESTION: Tell us a bit about yourself and your background…

My name is Hugo Pérez and I´m the Chief Technology Officer at DENSsolutions. My main expertise is in Nanotechnology and particularly in the development of MEMS and Lab-on-a-Chip devices, but overall, I have a wide background and experience in different fields. After graduating in Mechatronics Engineering during my bachelors, I obtained 3 MSc degrees and a PhD. The first MSc degree was in Molecular Biology in Germany, the second MSc degree was in Nanotechnology in Sweden and the third was an MBA (Business Administration) in the UK. My PhD was in Micro and Nano Engineering fully focused on MEMS development.

Although my main responsibility at DENSsolutions is of course to lead and steer the company from the technical perspective, I also find myself involved in the commercial side of our company. I enjoy and have an attitude toward sales and business development.

QUESTION: Why did you decide to take part in the ESTEEM3 project?

Taking part in the ESTEEM3 project was unavoidably attractive for DENSsolutions, considering the networking possibilities that it brought with all the leading European institutes and companies within the electron microscopy community. Furthermore, the possibility to collaborate with them to develop new technologies and methodologies across a wide variety of fields was a big incentive.

QUESTION: What is your role in ESTEEM3?

Our role is to establish a strategic leadership in electron microscopy to guide future developments, while also aiming to promote in-situ electron microscopy to the widest research community thanks to our industrial experience. We aim at contributing to the project by jointly hosting workshops and webinars and direct research programs in in-situ methodology development with the ESTEEM3 partners.

QUESTION: You have a special place in the ESTEEM3 consortium because you are part of the industrial partners of the project. What do you think does the project brings to the European industry? How does it support European science?

This project brings a lot to the European industry because it promotes in-situ TEM as a key technology in solving meaningful scientific problems that can go from basic methodology development to characterizing samples and materials related to energy, green technologies, and life science, among others. On the scientific side, the ESTEEM3 project contributes significantly to the development of knowledge and know-how to create new things. 

QUESTION: According to you, what are the best successes and achievements of the project so far?

I believe that the best successes have been in terms of advanced TEM developments achieved within this program and certainly in the number of users, who have performed advanced TEM experiments within the consortium. By bridging the gap between researchers and industries, ESTEEM3 has boosted a lot the collaborations between the two communities. So, they have gained the means to accelerate the development of their projects, as well as the opportunity to strengthen their connections to push forward into new and untapped research possibilities.

QUESTION: What do you expect for the future of the project?

We strongly believe that in-situ TEM is the future to understand the structure-property relationship that there is across the different materials, chemical synthesis, and biological processes. Therefore, we expect that the ESTEEM3 will keep promoting in-situ microscopy by providing the necessary means to boost collaborations that can solve tomorrow´s societal challenges.