https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/index.htmlFigure from Ligarda-Samanez et al. (2026), Polymers 18(5), 618 About me I am a Biomedical Engineer from Lima, Peru, which means I grew up eating ceviche, watching the Pacific Ocean, and somehow ended up spending my days extracting polymers from shrimp shells and squid ink sacks. Full circle. Currently, I conduct most of my research in the Polymer and Bionanomaterials Laboratory of my university, where I helped establish protocols for the synthesis of a plethora of biomaterials, specifically those of local origin and specially the ones that come from the sea, which lends itself perfectly with the high biodiversity of my own country. These polymers are then applied to the fabrication of composite films, hydrogels, triboelectric nanogenerators and much more.Hugoenhttps://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlA Dosidicus gigas (Humboldt squid / “pota”) ejecting ink into the Pacific Ocean. The ink's primary pigment, eumelanin, is the raw material characterized in my undergraduate thesis, and the starting point of this biomanufacturing project. HOMEWORK #1 1. What do you want to make, and why? I am looking to find the most efficient way to biomanufacture melanin nanoparticles (MNPs), specifically eumelanin, and use them as a functional UV-absorbing ingredient for a more natural and effective sunscreen that reutilizes a form of biomatter that is not only very common but often overlooked in the Peruvian context.https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/week-02-hw/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/week-02-hw/index.htmlHOMEWORK #2 In Homework #1 I proposed biomanufacturing eumelanin in engineered E. coli as the active ingredient for an affordable sunscreen, and I argued from a published benchmark that reached 3.22 g/L of eumelanin from glucose [7]. That was a proposal at the level of strategy. This assignment takes it down to the level of bases.https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/week-03-hw/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/week-03-hw/index.htmlHOMEWORK #3 A. Compare cell-free reaction compositions 1. Why do potassium glutamate and magnesium glutamate concentrations differ between compositions, and which is more sensitive? They differ because the two ions do different jobs, and only one of them is coupled to the energy system.https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/final-project/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/armando-florez/final-project/index.html