From 21 to 25 September, Porto (Portugal) hosted Graphene Week 2026, bringing together the international graphene and two-dimensional (2D) materials community to discuss the latest scientific and technological advances, emerging applications and opportunities for collaboration across academia and industry. Organised by the Graphene Flagship, the event provided a platform for researchers from academia and industry to exchange knowledge and showcase recent developments in the field.

ICN2 contributed to the programme through researchers working across different areas of 2D materials research. Some of them delivered invited talks addressing topics ranging from novel electronic states in 2D systems to graphene-based brain interfaces:

-ICREA Prof. Stephan Roche presented “Flat Band Realization and Novel State Detection in 2D Systems”, “Artificial Intelligence Enabling Disruptive 2D Materials Design & Engineering”, highlighting the potential of artificial intelligence to advance the design and engineering of novel two-dimensional materials.

-ICREA Prof. Kostas Kostarelos delivered the talk “From Bench to Brain: Getting Graphene to Interface with the Human Brain”, addressing the development of graphene-based technologies for interfacing with the human brain and their potential applications in neuromedicine.

-Dr Roshan Krishna Kumar presented “Electrically Tunable Carrier Lifetime in Bilayer Graphene”, exploring the control of electronic dynamics in bilayer graphene.

The Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group, led by ICREA Prof. Arben Merkoçi, was also represented by several members, who presented recent research on biosensing technologies. Their contributions were featured in the dedicated session “Biomedical Applications by MUNASET & 2D-BioPAD”, highlighting advances within these Graphene Flagship projects towards the development of next-generation diagnostic technologies.

Dr Ruslán Alvarez presented the group’s latest advances in graphene-based electrochemical nanobiosensors, with particular emphasis on the use of laser-engraved reduced graphene oxide (rGO) electrodes as versatile transducers for biosensing. His talk covered the development of this technology from material fabrication and electrode engineering to the integration of different biorecognition and sensing strategies, highlighting its potential for scalable, sensitive, and portable platforms. Building on this technological platform, Dr Danilo Echeverri presented the latest developments within the 2D-BioPAD project. His work focuses on the development of rGO-based electrochemical sensors for detecting biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s disease, contributing to the development of new point-of-care approaches for early diagnosis and disease monitoring.

Dr Marianna Rossetti presented her research on a graphene-based electrochemical platform for the detection of human papillomavirus (HPV), supported by the la Caixa Foundation Junior Leader fellowship. Her work combines CRISPR/Cas12a molecular recognition with electrochemical transduction, illustrating how advanced molecular recognition strategies can be integrated with graphene-based technologies to develop sensitive and selective diagnostic platforms.

Together, these contributions reflected the breadth of ICN2 research in graphene and 2D materials, covering areas including nanoelectronics, brain–computer interfaces, biosensing and biomedical diagnostics.  Participation in Graphene Week 2026 also provided an opportunity for ICN2 researchers to engage with the wider international graphene and 2D materials community, exchange scientific perspectives and explore new opportunities for collaboration.