Curriculum Vitae of Prof. Luca Prodi
Luca Prodi was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1965.
Education
1988 Laurea cum laude at the University of Bologna.
1991 Visiting scientist at Argonne National Laboratory (IL, USA) under the supervision of Prof. Michael Wasielewski.
1992 Ph.D. Degree at the University of Bologna under the supervision of Prof. Vincenzo Balzani discussing a thesis entitled “Supramolecular Photochemistry”
University Career
1992 Appointed as Researcher at the Faculty of Science of the University of Bologna
2004 Appointed as Associated Professor at the Faculty of Science of the University of Bologna.
2006 Appointed as Full Professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Bologna, he is now full Professor at the Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”
His teaching duties are:
- General and Inorganic Chemistry (for undergraduate students in Chemistry and Material Chemistry)
- Nanomedicine (for master students in Photochemistry and Molecular Materials)
Publications and Patents
Luca Prodi is author or co-author of more than 230 articles published on peer reviewed international journals, that have received more than 13750 citations and is co-author of the Handbook of Photochemistry and of several chapters on collective volumes. His h-index is 67 (Scopus, 05/05/2025).
He is also inventor in several patents and co-founder of 4 spin-off companies.
In the last period his research has focused on the synthesis and characterization of photoactive systems - both supramolecular and nanostructured - for applications in the field of nanomedicine and environmental analysis. In particular, his research group has developed silica nanoparticles that have shown – on the one hand –, a very low toxicity both in vitro and in vivo and – on the other hand – a high luminescence signal. These nanoparticles have been tested for various biomedical applications, such as in vitrodiagnostics of viruses and bacteria, imaging of tumors and sentinel lymph nodes, drug delivery, and phototherapy. In the environmental field, he developed systems for the detection of micro and nano-plastics and of the so-called emerging pollutants.
During the years, his scientific production has grown more and more consolidating his position in the scientific community, and his role can be documented by the invitation to present his research work at different international universities and at international conferences, and to write comprehensive reviews on the topic. He was also able to set up a series of collaborations with different groups in the USA, France, Germany, Poland, UK, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and, of course, Italy. In 2012 it was invited Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France.
In the field of education, in 2021, together with V. Balzani, L. Moggi, and M. Venturi, he published the book 'Chemistry: Fundamentals and Perspectives', Bononia University Press publisher, and in 2024 he has been co-author of the 2nd edition of the book “Stechiometria - Chimica generale attraverso gli esercizi, Edizioni A.L.E.”
International Memberships
Member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Fluorescence (Springer) (1999 – 2001).
Member of the Editorial Board of New Journal of Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry- CNRS) (2001 – 2006)
Member of the International Advisory Board of New Journal of Chemistry (2006-2015).
Associated Editor of New Journal of Chemistry (2015-2024).
Member of the Editorial board of Methods and Applications in Fluorescence (IOPscience) (2014-Present)
Member of the Subcommittee on Photochemistry of IUPAC (2007 – 2015)
Member of the Academy of Science of Bologna (2018 – present)
Member of the Italian Chemical Society (2024 – present)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2006 – present)
Awards
1990 “Federchimica: Per un Futuro Intelligente" award, Federchimica (Association of the Italian chemical companies).
2009 Gonzales-Ciamician prize, awarded jointly by Società Chimica Italiana and by Real Sociedad Española de Química (Italian and Spanish Chemical Societies).
2020 “Career Award” by the Proteomass scientific Society (Portugal) “for his outstanding contribution to the field of Nano@Molecular Fluorescent Chemosensors and Supramolecular Chemistry
2024 “Emanuele Paternò” Gold Medal, awarded by the Italian Chemical Society to a Scientist in recognition of their contribution to the development of Italian chemical science and technology.
Managing experiences
2003-2009 Co-founder and Member of the Board of a spin-off company, Cyanagen s.r.l., active in the field of luminescent sensors and labels
2005-present President of the Board of CISA s.c.a.r.l., controlled (51%) by a local government body (Provincia di Bologna). The company is active on the development of renewable energies and on the dissemination of related good practices (mean year budget: 400,000 €).
2010-2013 Member of the “Research Observatory” of the University of Bologna.
2013-2024 Co-founder and Member of the Scientific Committee of Personal Genomics s.r.l., active in genome analysis and interpretation.
2011-2015 Deputy Head of the Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”.
2015-2018 Head of the Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”.
2022-present Coordinator of the Ph.D. course in Chemistry at the University of Bologna
2024-present Co-founder and CEO of a spin-off company, Bionys s.r.l., active in the field of portable devices for clinical analyses
Funding ID
Over the course of his career, he has obtained various grants and contracts. In particular, since 2016, he has served as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the EIC-Pathfinder project "ECLIPSE – ECL-based Infectious Pathogen (bio)Sensor" (https://eclipse-project.eu [https://eclipse-project.eu/], Grant Agreement No. 101046787. Overall grant: 3.100.000 €; contribution to UNIBO: 833.000 €) funded by the EU and started n May 1st, 2022. He was also the PI of two PRIN projects funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (2022WAKTFR “LIAISON - NoveL approaches to mIcro- and nAno-plastIcS detectiOn iN water” and 2017EKCS35 “SUNSET - SUpramolecular and Nanostructured Systems for the analysis of Emerging pollutants through optical Transduction”). Additionally, he served as the head of the University of Bologna's research unit for two other PRIN projects (2020CBEYHC “ASTRALI - Amplification Strategies for the Labeling and Detection of Infectious Agents” and P20229WSPC “CLEANUP – Functionalized CoLor Catcher for watEr quality maNagement: case stUdy aPplications”). Furthermore, he has secured several contracts with private companies.
As head of the Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”, Luca Prodi leaded a project receiving a funding of 8,675,000 as “Department of Excellence” for the years 2018-2022.
