Colloidal Foundations of Nanoscience

Debora Berti obtained her Laurea Degree in Chemistry, Summa cum Laude, from the University of Florence in 1993 and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the same University in 1997. She has been Visiting Student at the ETH (Zurich) during 1994-1995 and post-doctoral fellow for CSGI (Italian center for Colloid Science) until 2000. In 2000 she joined the University of Florence, where she teaches Physical Chemistry of Nanosystems and Colloid Chemistry in undergraduate courses. She is also member of the Board of PhD School in Chemical Sciences.Her background in physical chemistry of surfactant self-assembly has gradually shifted throughout the years to self-assembly of bio-inspired and biorelevant functional amphiphiles, with particular focus on nucleolipids. The structural and dynamic characterization of nucleolipidi self-assemblies have been her core research themes in the early stages of her scientific activityCurrently, her research topics include :Nanostructured fluids for the Conservation of Cultural HeritageHybrid Nanoparticle/lipid assemblies for stimuli responsive drug deliveryInteraction of nanostructured assemblies with model membranesShe is author of more than 70 published or in press research papers. She has been member of ECIS (European Colloid and Interface Society) since 2000, ACS, Italian Chemical Society, European Neutron Scattering Association, Italian Society for Neutron Scattering, IACIS.She is the President Elect of the European Colloid and Interface Society. Gerardo Palazzo graduated in Chemistry at University of Bari and obtained his PhD in “Applied Biochemistry and Chemistry” at University of Molise. In 1989-1990 he was invited scientist at Institut für Polymere - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) of Zürich (CH). In 1991 he joined the University of Bari where he is associate professor of Physical-Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry. Since 1991 his teaching subjects have been –colloid and interfaces-, thermodynamics, and kinetics for degree courses in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Material Sciences. Currently he is the President of the degree courses (BS+MS) in Chemistry of the University of Bari. Since 2000 he has been coordinator of several research projects of the Bari University and of the Consorzio per lo Sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase (CSGI-Florence He has published more than 100 papers in international peer reviewed journals and books. His core research activities deal with the characterization of complex fluids by means of physicochemical techniques (NMR, DLS, SAXS, SANS, etc.) and presently his research includes colloidal aspects of biophysics and biosensing.