Our research group has developed a set of equipment for advanced Microscopy (Optical Microscopy, Scannig and Transmission Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy and Infrared Microscopy), for high resolution & quality imaging and for monitoring contaminants (plastics, metals, fibres) in biological matrices and in the environment, aiming at the evaluation of workers and citizen exposures and risks. Atomic Force Microscopy is used also on biological samples (cells and tissues) in liquid to study their morphological and mechanical properties in a mimicked biological enviroment. In parallel, we have an active collaboration with the Department of Physics and Astronomy on smart and advanced wearable sensors: we realized fully-textile wearable pressure sensors, based on a conducting polymer able to transduce pressure variations in i low-power condumption electronic signals, that we employ for evaluating operators activity load during working hours.
From the collaboration with the Department of Physics and Astronomy, my research activity span through the study of opto-electronic transport properties of semiconducting advanced materials8 (i.e. polymers), that are used for micro- and nano-devices working as biosensors: we developed gas sensors (especially for potentially dangerous gasses), electrochemical sensors for biological analytes/molecules in liquid matrices, impedance sensors for monitoring cell layers down to the single cell, and electrodes as implants for neural or nerve recording.
