PLEASE NOTE:听
- This seminar is听IN PERSON ONLY听in room RSM 2.28, Second Floor, Royal School of Mines at Imperial鈥檚 South Kensington campus. Click here for the South Kensington campus map.
- Refreshments and networking will follow this seminar in RSM 3.24.
GUEST SPEAKER:听
Professor Silvia Marchesan, PI of the Superstructures Lab, University of Trieste
TALK TITLE:听
Chirality shapes matter: the landscape of nanomaterials for minimalistic peptides
ABSTRACT:
Minimalistic peptides composed of 2-3 amino acids are attractive building blocks for (nano)materials, by virtue of their low-cost, ease of preparation also on a large scale, great physico-chemical diversity, possibility to interact with enzymes and cells, and biodegradability. They can self-organize under a variety of conditions, including green solvents, to give rise to various macroscopic materials, spanning from gels to crystals,1 and even biomolecular glass.2,3
Our research group specializes in the design, characterization and application of these simple molecules, whereby amino acid chirality tailors peptide conformation, thus, the ability to self-organize into diverse nanomorphologies, spanning from nanoparticles,4 to nanorods,4 nanofibrils,1 and single- or multi-walled nanotubes of varying diameter.5-6 Applications span widely, from catalysis1,7 (photo-, organo-, and bio-), to extracellular matrix mimicry to guide cell behavior,8 molecular or ion separation,9 or formulation stabilizers for biotherapeutics.10
References
[1]听听 S. Adorinni, et al. ACS Nano 2024, 18, 3011.
[2]听听 G. Finkelstein-Zuta, et al. Nature 2024, 630, 368.
[3]听听 S. Marchesan, Nature 2024, 630, 308.
[4]听听 A. M. Garcia, et al. ACS Nano 2021, 15, 3015.
[5]听听 O. Bellotto, et al. Biomacromolecules 2024, 25, 2476.
[6]听听 A. Blanco-G贸mez, et al. Nanoscale 2026, doi:10.1039/D5NR04076K.
[7]听听 P. Alletto, et al. Faraday Discuss. 2025, 260, 389.
[8]听听 M. C. Cringoli, et al. Chem. Commun. 2020, 56, 3015.
[9]听听 M. Li, et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202406909.
[10] B. Rosetti, et al. Nanoscale 2024, 16, 11081.
BIOGRAPHY:
Professor Silvia Marchesan holds a PhD in Chemistry from The University of Edinburgh (2008, UK), and professional qualifications as Pharmaceutical Chemist (2007, UK) & Pharmacist (2006, Italy). She was an honorary researcher at UCL (London, 2005-2007), Academy of Finland Fellow at the University of Helsinki (2008-2010), and a CRSS Fellow jointly at Monash University and the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO (Melbourne, 2010-2012). In 2013, she returned to the University of Trieste, where her scientific adventure had started with the M.Sc. degree (honours). In 2018, she became an Associate Professor and in 2025, a Full Professor. In 2021-2022 (6 mo.), she was a Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge (UK). Member of the Advisory Board of Chem, J. Mater. Chem. B, Chem. Eur. J., ACS Appl. Bio Mater., Mater. Adv. Associate Editor of ChemComm (2026-).
Recent awards: Silver Seal by the Italian Chemical Society Young Section (2024), Career Award by the Proteomass Scientific Society (Portugal, 2024), RSC Soft Matter Lectureship (UK, 2021), Howard Lecture (UK, 2020), Aulin-Erdtman Lecture (Sweden, 2019), Top-11 Rising Star in the natural sciences worldwide (Nature Index, 2018), Vittorio Erspamer Award (Italian Peptide Society, 2017).