Young Scientist Communication Team

Thomas received his PhD in Bioengineering from Clemson University (Clemson, SC, USA) in 2013. His research was focused on developing theranostic nanomedicines for the treatment of cancer. Following his doctorate, he joined the BioNanomaterials group at the Adolphe Merkle Institute (Fribourg, Switzerland) as a postdoctoral researcher. There he studied the fundamental structure-function interactions of nanoparticles with biological system.

Currently, he is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie COFUND MINDED Researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology where he works on engineering cells to transport particles across the blood-brain barrier, in particular to treat neurodevelopmental disorders. He is interested in how particle drug delivery vehicles can be used to transport therapeutics across biological barriers, and he is studying this in both microfluidic in vitro models and in vivo.

Enrica obtained her PhD in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2017 from the University of Pavia developing versatile nanoplatforms to deliver drugs for pediatric patients. During her PhD, she joined as Erasmus Traineeships student, the research group of Prof. Yvonne Perrie (Aston University, Birmingham (UK)) working on the microfluidic technology for lipid- and polymer-based nanoparticles preparation. In 2016 she worked as external consultant for Schaefer South-east Europe s.r.l, Italian dealer of Precision Nanosystem.

Her current research focuses on the development of a microfluidic-based process enabling programmable assembly of polysaccharide nanoparticles and liposomes as smart drug delivery systems. Erica is interested in polymer chemical functionalization to improve the particles selectivity against cancer stem cells.

Elena obtained her MSc in Biomedical Engineering and her PhD in Chemistry and Materials Science from the University of Pisa. She carried out her post-doctoral training in the laboratories of Prof. Steven Little at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA, USA), where she developed microparticles and thermoresponsive hydrogels for the controlled release of ocular therapeutics.

Currently, she is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie COFUND MINDED Researcher in the group of Prof. Paolo Decuzzi at the Italian Institute of Technology, where she develops polymeric microparticles and thermoresponsive hydrogels for the prolonged release of therapeutics for central nervous system disorders. The main goal of her research is to obtain a delivery system capable of releasing the drug over a period of several months with one single administration.

Ilaria is a PhD student co-tutored by University of Turin and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1. She received her MSc in Pharmaceutical chemistry and Technology from the University of Turin in 2016. During her MSc, she spent six months in the laboratory of Prof. Fattal at the Institut Galien Paris-Sud.

Her current research focuses on the design and development of innovative delivery systems, from formulations to preclinical in vivo evaluation, for the treatment of neuromuscular diseases. Her research goal is the formulation of lipidic and polymeric nanoparticles for muscle active targeting and delivery.

Silvia obtained her M.S. Degree in Pharmacy and her PhD in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Pavia. She was a Research Assistant at Nanomedicine/EUNCL Laboratory Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI) / Department of Clinical Medicine (Supervisor: Prof. Adriele Prina-Mello), and a Visiting PhD student at Harvard - John A. Paulson –School of Engineering and Applied Science, Cambridge, USA (Supervisor: Prof. Kevin Kit Parker).

Silvia is currently a Post-doc at the IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia. Her research focuses on design, development and characterization of drug delivery systems and engineered scaffolds using Electrospinning, 3D-Bioprinting and High Efficiency Vibrational Technology for regenerative medicine purposes. Currently she is involved in a project aimed at developing a tubular cellularized scaffold for esophageal regeneration: from manufacturing to preclinical in vivo evaluation.

Giorgia graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at the University of Genoa in 2017 with 110 out of 110 cum laude, presenting an experimental thesis in pharmaceutical chemistry concerning the synthesis of pyrazole compounds for Alzheimer’s disease treatment. She started her PhD at the University of Genoa in 2017, and she is currently working on the development of three-step pretargeting system, based on biotin/avidin affinity, that may be exploited for both diagnosis and therapy of inflammatory-based diseases.

Silvia received her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry in 2015 from the University of Milan. During her PhD program, she spent 9 months as visiting Scholar at the UMR CNRS 8612, Institut Galien Paris Sud (France). In 2016, she gained a fixed-term contract as assistant professor and research fellow at the University of Milan, where she still works as post-doc research scientist. She is also partner and member of the scientific committee of Pharmafilm srl, a spin-off of the University of Milan.

Her current research deals with the design of modified release dosage for both cutaneous and parenteral administration of small molecules and biologicals. The main research topic is the design of “soft” liposomes able to deliver poor permeable drugs through the skin, focusing also on the stabilization of nanocarriers against drug leakage and aggregation. Finally, the activity involves the study of the regulatory frameworks and doctrinal analysis of national EU laws in medical and health products.

He obtained his MSc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology in 2008 (University of Palermo), and after a brief industrial experience at Byer Healthcare S.p.a, he obtained a PhD in Biomaterials in 2013 (University of Pisa), developing polymers with controlled architectures for biomedical use. He was a visiting scientist at the School of Chemistry (Cardiff University) and the Alfred Hospital (Melbourne) to develop nanovectors as vaccine adjuvants. He was a postdoc at the University of Milan, where he developed biomimetic polymers with inherent antiviral properties, while he started developing smart theranostic agents at the University of Palermo.

Nicolò is a keen nanotechnologist active in the field of targeted drug delivery, tissue engineering and bio-sensing- His research is particularly focused on functional carbon-based theranostic nanoplatforms for multimodal image-guided photothermal treatment of breast cancer.

Gabriella obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Science in 2016 from the University of Naples Federico II, designing and developing inhalable drug delivery systems. During her PhD, she was a visiting scholar at the Adolphe Merkle Institute (Fribourg, Switzerland) learning how to build 3D cell co-culture systems and studying particle interactions with this lung tissue model. Her first postdoc was at the Ludwig-Maximillian-University (Munich, Germany) studying the efficacy and safety of a novel anti-infective particle formulation in a wax worm in vivo model (Galleria Mellonella). Her current research focuses on the development of lipid polymer nanoparticles for the delivery of siRNA to the central nervous system to treat glioblastoma. Gabriella is interested in optimizing particle formulations and their physico-chemical properties in order to use nasal delivery as a way to bypass the blood-brain barrier.