Team Members
Alessandro Bertucci
Principal Investigator
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability
Email: alessandro.bertucci@unipr.it
Office: (+39) 0521906023
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Google Scholar (click here)
Luca Capelli
Postdoctoral Researcher
Email: luca.capelli@unipr.it
Luca earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Technology from the University of Parma. During his doctoral studies, he was awarded a 2024 Short-Term Fellowship from AIRC (Italian Association for Cancer Research) to join Prof. Chunhai Fan’s group at Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a visiting PhD student.
His PhD research focused on integrating concepts and tools from DNA nanotechnology into the design of biomolecular sensors. Luca’s current interests lie in developing new CRISPR–Cas interfaces for synthetic biomolecular communication and advanced biosensing.
Denise Di Lena
Denise is pursuing a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Technology jointly between the University of Parma and Ulisse BioMed (www.ulissebiomed.com). Her work focuses on the application of DNA nanotechnology to the development of molecular sensors for the detection of clinically relevant biomarkers. She is especially interested in the design of DNA nanoswitch technologies as optical biosensing platforms in the context of therapeutic drug monitoring. Her PhD scholarship is sponsored by Ulisse BioMed and the Italian Ministry of University and Research.
Elena Spezzani
PhD Student
Email: elena.spezzani@unipr.it
Elena is pursuing a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Technology at the University of Parma. Her work focuses on the application of DNA nanotechnology to the creation of functional systems for programmable interactions with specific proteins. These include biomolecular sensors leveraging CRISPR-Cas technologies and supramolecular DNA origami platforms.
Dharshini Raghavan
PhD Student
Email: dharshini.raghavan@unipr.it
Dharshini is pursuing a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Technology jointly between the University of Parma and NanoPhoenix (www.nano-phoenix.com). Her work explores novel formats for sensing devices, from patterned electrochemical arrays to engineered microfluidic chambers, aimed at improving molecular diagnostics and biomolecular assays, including CRISPR-based technologies. Her PhD scholarship is sponsored by NanoPhoenix and the Italian Ministry of University and Research. Dharshini is co-supervised by Prof. Alessandra Zanut at the University of Padua.
Emma Barilli
PhD Student
Email: emma.barilli@unipr.it
Emma is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science and Technology at the University of Parma, co-supervised by Prof. Cristina Sissa. Her research focuses on the design of hybrid nanomaterials, with applications in spectroscopy-enabled analysis and drug delivery.
Chiara Micucci
PhD Student
Email: chiara.micucci@unipr.it
Chiara is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science and Technology at the University of Parma. Her research focuses on CRISPR-Cas–based assays for oncology diagnostics and DNA-based strategies to enable new modes of CRISPR signal amplification.
Giulia Pizzi
Undergraduate Student
Giulia is an undergraduate student at the University of Parma, where she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Genomic, Molecular, and Industrial Biotechnology. She is interested in CRISPR-based diagnostics and protein-controlled DNA nanotechnologies
Edoardo Pierabella
Undergraduate Student
Edoardo is an undergraduate student at the University of Parma, where she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Genomic, Molecular, and Industrial Biotechnology. He is interested in DNA-based mechanisms for conditional CRISPR control and activation.
Alumni
Dr. Federica Curti – Postdoc 2021. Now working at Chiesi Farmaceutici.
Dr. Pavlos Nikolaou – Postdoc 2022 – 2023. Now working at Synt Chemical srl.
Federica Pedrini – Research Fellow 2022-2023. Now Research Fellow at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
Sofia Marzari – Post-graduate researcher 2024-2025. Now working at Chiesi Farmaceutici.