Alessandro SILVESTRI

Dr. Alessandro Silvestri dedicated the early stage of his career to the study of nanotechnologies and the design of smart and functional nanomaterials. He interlaced nanotechnologies with different research areas, applying nanomaterials as a powerful tool to answer unsolved questions and deepen the knowledge in the fields of nanomedicine, cellular biology, microbiology, biosensing, and electrocatalysis. He worked in European top-rated institutions (e.g., Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, CIC biomaGUNE) and performed research stays in equally prestigious centers. He authored 34 contributions in high-impact factor journals such as Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Drug Delivery Review, Carbon, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, and Nanoscale, being the corresponding Furthermore, he attended 20 national and international congresses with 12 oral and 5 invited communications.

Dr. Alessandro Silvestri received his bachelor´s (2011) and master’s degrees (2013) in Chemical Sciences from the University of Milan (Italy). In March 2017, Dr. Silvestri obtained a European Ph.D. title in Chemistry from the same University with a thesis entitled "Development of gold-based hybrid nano-systems for biomedical applications". During his Ph.D. he spent 6 months at Soft Matter Nanotechnology Lab at CIC biomaGUNE (Spain), where he applied a cutting-edge spectroscopic technique, Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS), to study the formation of protein corona around AuNPs and their intracellular fate as a function of the surface composition. In 2017, seeking multidisciplinarity and internationality in his career, he joined, as a postdoctoral researcher, the Biomaterial Department of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam (Germany). Here he worked on a collaborative project with the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, in which he applied his knowledge in nanotechnologies to an unconventional field: the study of biomineralization within marine organisms such as coccolithophores or sea urchins. In particular, he developed an innovative methodology to study the biomineralization process, applying, for the first time, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) to the analysis of organic matter associated with biominerals. In April 2018, Dr. Silvestri joined the Carbon Bionanotechnology Lab at CIC biomaGUNE (Spain), as a senior postdoctoral researcher, where he led the 2D biosensing research line, focused on the design of stimuli-responsive materials and biosensors based on 2D materials. In 2020 he was awarded the Juan de la Cierva-Formaciòn fellow in the same laboratory. Since June 2023 he is an assistant professor (RTDb researcher) of analytical chemistry at the Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems (DMSN, Ca' Foscari, Venice).

His research interests comprise:

• Synthesis and functionalization of nanomaterials.
• 2D materials.
• Printing of flexible and sustainable electrochemical sensors.
• Electroanalysis of biological and environmental relevant molecules.

Education:

• 03/2017: PhD in Chemistry at University of Milan
• 10/2013: M.Sc. in Chemical Sciences University of Milan
• 10/2011: B.Sc. in Chemistry University of Milan 

Previous professional experience:

• 04/2018-05/2023: Postdoctoral fellow at CIC biomaGUNE (San Sebastian, Spain)
• 02/2017-03/2018: Postdoctoral fellow at Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam, Germany)
• 01/2014-03/2017: Pre-doctoral fellow at CNT-ISTM (Milan, Italy)