Having traveled extensively during her education, Contera speaks Spanish, English, Chinese, Czech, Russian, Danish, Japanese, German and French.[4]
Research and career
Contera's research uses physics and nanotechnology to understand biological problems.[8][9] She has a special interest in the role of mechanics in biology and designs nanomaterials that mimic biological functions for biomedical applications such as drug delivery[1] and tissue engineering.[10] In 2003, she began working at Oxford.[4] Contera was Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Nanotechnology for Medicine from 2008 to 2013.[11][12] In 2014–2016, she was a Member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Nanotechnology.[13][14] In 2017, Contera was appointed Chair of the Scanning Probe Microscopy Section of the Royal Microscopical Society.[15]
Contera's book Nano Comes to Life: How Nanotechnology is transforming medicine and the future of Biology (Princeton University Press) was published December 2019.[16][17] The book was reviewed by Nature,[18] Nature Physics,[19] the New Scientist,[20] BBC Science Focus[21] and was featured in BBC Radio 4 "Start of the Week".[22] It was published in paperback in 2022, in Chinese by CITIC press and in Japanese by Newton Press.
Contera is also a public speaker on the medical, philosophical and social consequences of the science emerging at the interface of nanotechnology, physics and biology; she has spoken in forums such as the Royal Institution of Great Britain[23] She also writes on communication and the mission of science.[24]
^CONTERA, SONIA. (2019). NANO COMES TO LIFE : how nanotechnology is transforming medicine and the future of biology. [S.l.]: PRINCETON UNIV PRESS. ISBN978-0691168807. OCLC1099683369.