Dr. Gail A. Vinnacombe-Willson

[email protected] |

Education

  • Contra Costa Community College – A.A. Liberal Arts, Emphasis in Mathematics & Science, Honors: President’s Scholar Sept. 2008 – May 2012
  • University of San Francisco – B.S. Chemistry – ACS certified, Minor: Mathematics, Cum Laude Aug. 2012 – May 2016
  • University of California, Los Angeles – M.S. Materials Chemistry June 2016 – May 2018
  • University of California, Los Angeles – Ph.D. Materials Chemistry June 2016 – June 2022

Research Experience

  • CIC biomaGUNE (Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain) – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellow

    Advisor: Prof. Luis M. Liz-Marzán

    • Development and optimization of in situ synthetic approaches for fabricating thermoplasmonic gold nanoparticles on the surfaces of microfluidic devices.
      Application of nanomaterials to influence the behavior, proliferation, and differentiation of neural cells.
    Sept. 2024 – current
  • CIC biomaGUNE (Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain) – Postdoctoral Scholar

    Advisor: Prof. Luis M. Liz-Marzán

    • Design and fabrication of hydrogel nanocomposites for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) bioimaging and (pH) sensing.
    Sept. 2022 – Sept. 2024
  • University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA, USA) – Graduate Student

    Advisors: Prof. Paul S. Weiss & Prof. Steven J. Jonas

    Thesis: Surface Functionalization, Patterning, and in Situ Growth of Gold Nanoparticles

    • Microfluidic studies on the effect of plasmonic heating on glioblastoma cells and soft-lithographic patterning of colloidal nanoparticles.
    June 2016 – June 2022
  • University of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA, US) – Undergraduate Student

    Advisors: Prof. Claire Castro & Prof. William Karney

    • The role of curvature in annulene carbon-carbon rearrangements and the effect of methylation on the aromaticity of Möbius 4n annulenes.
    Mar. 2014 – May 2016

International Research Stays

  • University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas, USA) – Visiting Researcher

    Host: Prof. Stephanie Seidlits

    • Mouse neural stem cell culture and photothermal modulation of cell differentiation.
    Oct. 2025 – Feb. 2025
  • University of Houston (Houston, TX, USA) – Visiting Researcher

    Advisor: Prof. Naihao Chiang

    • Soft lithographic patterning of thiol self-assembled monolayers and tip-enhanced Raman scattering on t-cells.
    July 2022 – Aug. 2022
  • Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) (Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain) – Visiting Graduate Student

    Hosts: Dr. Agustín Mihi & Dr. Leonardo Scarabelli

    • Bottom-up wet chemical synthesis, soft lithography, and surface chemical functionalization of polymers for nanopatterned plasmonic arrays presenting high-quality surface lattice resonances.
    May 2021 – Nov. 2021
  • King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Thuwal, Saudi Arabia) – Visiting Graduate Student

    Host: Dr. Vincent Tung

    • Integration of patterned plasmonic substrates with two-dimensional materials.
    Nov. 2019

Peer-Reviewed Publications

2026

  1. Lovasz V. D., Gonçalves J. M., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Liz-Marzán L., Villa K., "Nanoengineered Photoactive Micromotors for Targeted Pollutant Capture, Degradation and SERS-based Detection." Research 2026. doi: 10.34133/research.1110

2025

  1. Pawlak, M., Abramowicz, J., Fiuza Maneiro, N., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Jo, S., Benchimol, E., Roszkowski, P., Chen, Z., Wang, D., Clever, G. H., Liz-Marzán, L. M., Mihi, A., Povalarapu, L., Lewandowski, W. “The Combination of Chiral Assembly and Chiral Template Effects Boosts Circularly Polarized Luminescence of Perovskite Nanocrystals.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2026, 65, e07812. doi: 10.1002/anie.202507812
  2. Troncoso-Afonso, L., Vásquez-Aristizabal, P., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Henríquez, Y., González-Callejo, P., Valera, P. S., Henriksen-Lacey, M., García-Astrain, C., Liz-Marzán, L. M. “dECM-Supported Printing of Plasmonic Pillars for SERS Monitoring of Chemotherapy in 3D Tumor Models.” ACS Sens. 2025, 10, 7114. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.5c02344
  3. Lonza, M., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Bevilacqua, F., Scarabelli, L., Liz-Marzán, L. M. “High-Yield in Situ Growth of Supported Gold Nanorods in Microfluidic Channels.” ACS Nano 2025, 19, 29691. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c09672Corresponding Author
  4. Craig, T. M., Girod, R., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Liz-Marzán, L. M., Bals, S. “Towards Continuous Time-Dependent Tomography: Implementation and Evaluation of Continuous Acquisition Schemes in Electron Tomography.” Ultramicroscopy 2025, 277, 114207. doi: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2025.114207
  5. Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Núñez-Martínez, M., Herrero-Ruiz, A., Bevilacqua, F., Pazos, R., Troncoso Afonso, L., Gallego-González, M., Scarabelli, L., Liz-Marzán, L. M. “Plasmonic-Hydrogel Hybrid Biomaterials Via In Situ Seeded Growth.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, 64, e202501854. doi.org/10.1002/anie.202501854Corresponding Author.
  6. Troncoso-Afonso, L., Henríquez-Banegas, Y. M., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Gutiérrez-Cáceres, J., Gallastegui, G., Clara García-Astrain, C., Liz-Marzán, L. M. “Using thiol–ene click chemistry to engineer 3D printed plasmonic hydrogel scaffolds for SERS biosensing.” Biomater. Sci. 2025, 13, 2936. doi: 10.1039/d4bm01529k

2024

  1. Bevilacqua, F. C., Girod, R., Martín, V. F., Obelleiro-Liz, M., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Van Gordon, K., Hofkens, J., Manuel Taboada, J., Bals, S., Liz-Marzán, L. “Additive-Free Synthesis of (Chiral) Gold Bipyramids from Pentatwinned Nanorods.” ACS Mater. Lett. 2024, 6, 5163. doi: 10.1021/acsmaterialslett.4c01605
  2. Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., García-Astrain, C., Troncoso-Afonso, L., Wagner, M., Langer, J., González-Callejo, P., Di Silvio, D., Liz-Márzan, L. M. “Growing Gold Nanostars on 3D Hydrogel Surfaces.” Chem. Mater. 2024, 36, 5192. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c00564Corresponding Author.
  3. Troncoso-Afonso, L., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., García-Astrain, C., Liz-Marzán, L. M. “SERS in 3D cell models: a powerful tool in cancer research.” Chem. Soc. Rev. 2024, 53, 5118. doi:10.1039/d3cs01049j
  4. Naimi, W., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Saldana, S., Ronduen, L., Domjan, H., Chiang, N. “Teaching Acid-Base Fundamentals and Introducing pH Using Butterfly Pea Flower Tea.” J. Chem. Ed. 2024, 101, 1373. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c01058Corresponding Author.

2023

  1. Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Stefancu, A., Conti, Y., Cortés, E., Weiss, P. S., Scarabelli, L. “Direct Bottom-Up in Situ Growth: A Paradigm Shift for Studies in Wet-Chemical Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles.” Chem. Rev. 2023, 123, 8488. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.2c00914Corresponding Author.
  2. Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Lee, J. K., Frost, I. M., Chiang, N., Scarabelli, L., Weiss, P. S., Jonas, S. J. “Microfluidic Reactors for Exploring the Bottom-up Synthesis of Gold Nanostars from Substrate-Anchored Seeds in Flow.” ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2023, 6, 6454. doi: 10.1021/acsanm.3c00440Corresponding Author.

2022

  1. Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Conti, Y., Jonas S. J., Weiss, P. S., Mihi, A., Scarabelli, L. “Surface Lattice Plasmon Resonances by Direct Surface Growth of Gold Nanoparticles in Ordered Arrays.” Adv. Mater. 2022, 34, 2205330. doi: 10.1002/adma.202205330

2021

  1. Scarabelli, L., Chiang, N., Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Pérez, L. A., Dore, C., Mihi, A., Weiss, P. S., Jonas, S. J. “Patterning of Plasmonic Nanoparticles Through Chemical Lift-Off Lithography.” ACS Mater. Lett. 2021, 3, 282. doi: 10.1021/acsmaterialslett.0c00535

2020

  1. Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Chiang, N., Weiss, P. S., Tolbert, S. H., Scarabelli, L. “Seeded-Growth Experiment Demonstrating Size- and Shape-Dependence on Gold Nanoparticle–Light Interactions.” J. Chem. Ed. 2020, 98, 546. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c01150
  2. Vinnacombe-Willson, G. A., Chiang, N., Scarabelli, L., Hu, Y., Heidenreich, L., Xi, L., Gong, Y., Inouye, D. T., Fisher, T., Weiss, P. S., Jonas, S. J. “In Situ Growth of Gold Nanostars in Flow for Controlled Hyperthermia-Mediated Cell Release.” ACS Cent. Sci. 2020, 6, 2105. doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.0c01097

2015

  1. Irace, E. E., Brayfindley, E., Vinnacombe, G. A., Castro, C., Karney, W. L. “Stone-Wales Rearrangements in Hydrocarbons: From Planar to Bowl-Shaped Substrates.” J. Org. Chem. 2015, 80, 11718. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.5b01274

Patents

Scarabelli, L.; Vinnacombe, G.; Heidenreich, L.; Chiang, N.; Gong, Y.; Weiss, P. S.; Jonas, S. J. Systems and methods of using anisotropic nanostructures in microfluidic devices for binding and optional release of molecules and cells. Plasmonic-Hydrogel Hybrid Biomaterials Via In Situ Seeded Growth. US patent No. 12005448 – June 11, 2024.

Invited Talks and Seminars

  1. “Grow with the flow: Bottom-up synthesis of anisotropic plasmonic nanoparticles within microfluidic channels.” META 2025 15th International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics, Torremolinos, Spain, July 2025. (Talk)
  2. “In situ Growth Extended to Polymeric Biomaterials.” University of Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain, July 2025. (Lecture)
  3. “In situ Growth of Plasmonic Nanostructures.” University of Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain, July 2025. (Lecture)
  4. “In situ Synthesis of Gold Nanostars on Gelatin-based Hydrogels.” GOLD 2025, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain, May 2025. (Talk)
  5. “Hydrogel nanocomposites and plasmonic microfluidic platforms via bottom-up synthesis.” CIC biomaGUNE Postdoctoral Seminar, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain, Feb. 2025. (Seminar)
  6. “In situ growth: Wet-chemical preparation of anisotropic plasmonic gold nanostructures on substrates.” META 2023 13th International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and Plasmonics, Paris, France, July 2023. (Talk)
  7. “Plasmonic Nanomaterials Fabrication with in situ Bottom-up Chemical Synthesis.” University of Houston Special Physical Chemistry Seminar, Houston, TX, USA, July 2022. (Seminar)
  8. Vinnacombe-Willson. “Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications.” Bruins Fighting Pediatric Cancer Education Fair, Los Angeles, CA, USA, May 2022. (Talk)

Oral Presentations

  1. Vinnacombe-Willson. “Wet-Chemical Synthesis of Tailored Gold Nanoparticles in Microfluidic Devices for Biological Applications.” MCAA Annual Conference and General Assembly, Krakow, Poland, March 2025.
  2. Vinnacombe-Willson, Liz-Marzán. “3D Hydrogels with Plasmonic Gold Nanostars for SERS Biosensing and Bioimaging.” 28th International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy (ICORS), Rome, Italy, July 2024.
  3. Vinnacombe-Willson, Liz-Marzán. “Evaluation of intra- and extracellular pH detection capabilities of plasmonic nanoprobes.” International Conference on Nanotechnologies and Bionanoscience (NanoBio), Heraklion, Crete, Greece, September 2023.
  4. Vinnacombe-Willson, Conti, Jonas, Weiss, Mihi & Scarabelli. “Plasmonic substrates through surface chemical patterning and direct bottom-up synthesis of gold nanoparticles.” ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA, March 2022.
  5. Vinnacombe, Chiang, Heidenreich, Hu, Frost, Gong, Inouye, Fisher, Scarabelli, Weiss & Jonas. “Soft release of captured cells via plasmonic gold nanostars.” ACS National Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA, Aug. 2019.*Selected for Sci-Mix*
  6. Vinnacombe, Castro, & Karney. “Computational Study of SWR in Hydrocarbons with Pyracyclene Cores.” Northern California Undergraduate Research Symposium (NCURS), Moraga, CA, Apr. 2016.
  7. Vinnacombe, Castro, & Karney. “Computational Study of SWR in Hydrocarbons with Pyracyclene Cores.” Creative Activity and Research Day, San Francisco, CA, Oct. 2015.*Undergraduate Award Recipient*
  8. Vinnacombe, Luo, Castro & Karney. “Computational analysis of monomethylated and demethylated Hückel and Möbius [12]-, [14]-, and [16]annulenes.” USF ACS Student Chapter Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA, Mar. 2015.

Fellowships and Funding

  • Marie Curie Alumni Association Micro General Assembly Grant Mar. 2025
  • Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellow (PLASMOSTEMFATE) Sept. 2024 – Sept. 2026
  • University of California Office of the President Graduate Dissertation Year Fellowship Oct. 2021 – June 2022
  • I-LINK+ 2020 International Collaboration Grant May – Nov. 2021
  • American Chemical Society Travel Showcase Award Apr. 2019

Honors and Recognition

  • APS Far West Graduate Student Poster Award, American Physical Society Dec. 2018
  • Hanson-Dow Excellence in Teaching Award, UCLA Jan. 2018
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention May 2018
  • The American Institute of Chemists Student Award May 2016
  • The American Chemical Society Inorganic Chemistry Award May 2016
  • Oral Presentation Award at Creative Activity and Research Day, USF May 2016
  • Ron Najafi Award for Innovations and Entrepreneurship in Chemistry, USF May 2015
  • Award for Overall Achievement in Physical Chemistry, USF May 2015

Outreach

  • Pint of Science Public Event | Organizer (Design)/Volunteer
    • Organized design and preparation of materials for outreach event in Donostia, Spain, where researchers give short talks targeting general audiences in public bars.
    Mar. 2023
  • University of Houston STEM Zone Outreach Program | Volunteer
    • Designed a U.S. middle-high school-level chemistry experiment on acids, bases, and pH.
    Aug. 2022
  • California NanoSystems Institute High School Outreach Program | Graduate Instructor
    • Led workshops demonstrating nanoscience experiments to educators and students.
    Aug. 2018 – May 2021
  • Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, Alex's Million Mile Fundraising | Volunteer
    • Organized group hikes and assisted as a volunteer for fundraising events for investors and donors.
    Sept. 2017 – Sept. 2021
  • UCLA Teaching Assistant Workshops | Volunteer
    • Led teaching workshops for chemistry and biochemistry graduate students.
    Sept. 2018, 2019

Teaching

  • University of California, Los Angeles | Chemistry & Biochemistry Teaching Assistant
    • 15 courses (15 quarters): General Chemistry I for Life Science, Chemical Principles, General Chemistry Lab I & II for Life Science, Honors General Chemistry I for Physical Science, General Chemistry II for Physical Science.
    Sept. 2016 – June 2020
  • Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences | Graduate Student Workshop Facilitator
    • Led General Chemistry I & II and Organic Chemistry I workshops implementing peer-to-peer collaboration at UCLA.
    Sept. 2018 – Mar. 2019