Nadia Licciardello
Tell us about yourself: what is your educational and academic background?
After obtaining the Bachelor degree in Chemistry (2009) and the Master degree in Chemistry of Materials (2011) at the University of Catania, Italy, Nadia Licciardello started her PhD studies at the University of Münster, Germany.
Subsequently she moved, following her PhD supervisor Prof. L. De Cola, to the Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS), University of Strasbourg, France (with double affiliation at the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, KIT, Germany) where she obtained her PhD in Chemistry (2015) with a thesis on the "Design, synthesis and functionalization of ultrasmall nanoparticles (size < 5 nm) for bioimaging".
In 2015-2016, she held a Post-doctoral Researcher position in Dr. H. Stephan’s team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Germany, where she worked on surface modification of ultrasmall nanoparticles with biomolecules and radiotracers for bioimaging applications.
From 2017 till mid-2019 she has been a Post-doctoral Researcher (Team Leader of an international group of 6 people) and Lecturer at the Chair of Materials Science and Nanotechnology (headed by Prof. G. Cuniberti), Institute for Materials Science, Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), Germany. Here, her work focused on nanomaterials for environmental and human health applications besides management and teaching activities.
From June 2019 till December 2021 she held a Research Fellow position in Dr. Y. Kolen’ko’s group at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Braga, Portugal, where she worked on coatings and nanomaterials for aerospace, biomedical and energy-related applications.
Since January 2022, Nadia is a Researcher and Assistant Professor in Inorganic Chemistry at the Department of Drug and Health Sciences, University of Catania, Italy.
Can you briefly introduce your research?
In the past years, Nadia’s research has focused on ultrasmall nanoparticles (size < 5 nm) for bioimaging of cancer, nanomaterials for biomolecules sensors, bacterial growth studies in microfluidics, photocatalysis and adsorption with nanomaterials for wastewater treatment, nanocomposites-based coatings for both aerospace and dental applications, magnetic nanoparticles for both biological and permanent magnet-related applications.
Currently, Nadia is working in the team headed by Prof. S. Sortino and she is developing phototheranostic systems based on ultrasmall nanoparticles. These systems combine non- invasive diagnostic and therapeutic properties which can be activated and controlled very precisely by light stimuli. The ultrasmall size of the nanoparticles enables a quick excretion from the body avoiding accumulation in vital organs.
What are the most challenging features of your work?
The challenging synthesis of ultrasmall nanoparticles requires an excellent control of the parameters to restrain the size of the obtained nano-objects, which, in turns, need very specific techniques to be characterized. Moreover, the surface modification for phototheranostic applications calls for synthetic abilities to prepare the functional molecules, a strict control of the coupling between the nanoparticles and the molecules, deep photophysical and photochemical studies to understand and predict the systems’ behavior under light stimuli.
What are the most 'intriguous' and fulfilling aspects of your research?
Working at the nanometer scale is very fascinating due to the appearance of new unexpected materials’ properties driven by quantum effects. The application of ultrasmall systems to medicine opens new avenues to the early non-invasive diagnosis and therapy of critical diseases, including cancer and neurological illnesses.
THAT'S ME in few words! What are your outside hobbies?
Foreign languages, cooking, traveling, reading are some of Nadia’s favorite hobbies.