Prof. Gianmario Martra

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Position: Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry

Institution attended: University of Torino, Department of Chemistry & Interdipartimental Centre of Excellence “Nanostructured Interfaces and surfaces – NIS”

Scientific interests: Preparation and characterization of bulk, surface and interface properties of hybrid nanomaterials. Investigation, at an atomic/molecular level, of the relationships between nature&structure of surface sites of nanomaterials intended for catalytic or biomedical applications and their surface functional behaviour.

Lecture title: Hybrid dye/silica fluorescent nanoparticles: toward a rational design of an emerging tool in nanobiotechnology.

Lecture abstract: Why use photoluminescent nanoparticles (NPs) in biological/biomedical applications? How to rule their “brightness”? How to investigate their surface functional groups? Which the fate of proteins adsorbed on them? The lecture proposes possible answers to these questions, focusing on NPs resulting from the entrapping of photoluminescent dye in a silica matrix.