1996: "Laurea" degree in Chemistry cum laude from University of
Bologna, with a thesis on photophysical properties of
supramolecular systems (catenanes and host-guest systems) under the
supervision of Prof. Vincenzo Balzani.
1999: Research assistant at Tulane University, New Orleans (LA,
USA) in the laboratory headed by Prof. R. H. Schmehl.
2001: (8 March) Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences from the University of
Bologna, with a thesis on fluorescent chemosensors, under the
supervision of Prof. Fabrizio Bolletta.
2002: Assistant professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the
University of Bologna, working at the Dipartimento di Chimica "G.
Ciamician", University of Bologna (Italy).
2014 (15 Settembre) Associate professor at Dipartimento di Chimica "Giacomo Ciamician" dell'Università di Bologna (SC 03/B1, SSD CHIM/03)
2018 (12 Novembre) Professor at Dipartimento di Chimica "Giacomo Ciamician" dell'Università di Bologna (SC 03/B1, SSD CHIM/03)
Since the beginning of his career, he works in the field of
supramolecular chemistry and of the investigation of the
photophysical processes occuring in supramolecular systems. He
started his academic research under the supervision of Prof.
Vincenzo Balzani working on self-assembling systems, molecular
devices and machines. During that period, he acquired large
experience in the characterization of supramolecular systems from
the photophysical and electrochemical point of view.
Subsequently, in collaboration with Prof. Luca Prodi, he started
investigating the behaviour of new supramolecular architecture and
their potential use as fluorescent chemosensors. This work led to
the identification of several interesting systems, among which the
first example of magnesium fluorescent probe for intracellular
investigation. The results of this research were published in high
quality peer reviewed journals and reviewed in frequently cited
papers. In 2001, he started a new research project aimed to study
the photophysical properties of silica nanoaparticles
functionalized with fluorescent dyes, introducing a new method for
grafting functional silane derivative to the surface of silica
nanoaparticles. The characterization of the resulting materials
showed that intermolecular energy and electron transfer takes place
between the fluorophore linked to the silica surface. He observed
and reported similar results for fluorophores doped silica
nanoaparticles. Simultaneously he investigated the interaction of
fluorescent molecules with metal nanoparticles, in this field he
recently reported the first example of efficient sensitized
near-infrared emission by gold nanoparticles.
He is a member of a research team of the University of Bologna,
which received a 1 200 000 Euro grant from the Italian research
ministry (project LATEMAR, 2005-2009) for the development of
microarrays for genomics and proteomics.
In association with two colleagues, he is a founder partner of the
spin-off company Cyanagen s.r.l., which researches and produces
luminescent probes and labels, which was financed by the Ministries
of Industry and Research within the "FAR - sostegno alla ricerca
industriale - DM 593 8 agosto 2000, art. 11", (DD n.224/Ric,
11/2/2003) grants.
He is co-author of mre than 130 publications in international journal and
of the “Handbook of photochemistry”, which collects and summarizes
the photophysical and photochemical data for organic and inorganic
compounds published up to 2005.
He is co-author of 7 national and international patent
applications
He presented many contributions to national and international
scientific conferences
His h-index is 50.
