Science

My work

My Work

This space is dedicated to the work I produced over the years and includes my dissertations and academic essays.

December 2019

Master Thesis

Uno dei compiti più ardui della scienza è quello di mediare il rapporto tra la l’uomo e la Natura dove quest’ultima rappresenta primariamente una fonte inesauribile di ispirazione ed insegnamento…

OCTOBER 2024

PHD Thesis

Biopolymerization motors are a class of cytoskeletal proteins that can convert chemical energy into useful mechanical work by using self-assembly to mediate the energy transduction process. 

july 2017

Bachelor Thesis

La volontà dell’uomo di manipolare ciò che lo circonda ha dato da sempre alla chimica dei materiali un ruolo strategico nello sviluppo della civiltà…

Sources

Suggested Sources

Unfortunately, most of the material that I would like to share with you, such as articles and reviews, is protected by copyright. Therefore, I can only cite these inspiring works and show you a foretaste of this incredible science.

Exerting pulling forces in fluids by directional disassembly of microcrystalline fibres

Biomolecular polymerization motors are biochemical systems that use supramolecular (de-)polymerization to convert chemical potential into useful mechanical work. With the intent to explore new chemomechanical transduction strategies, here we show a synthetic molecular system that can generate forces via the controlled disassembly…

Molecular Landscapes by David S. Goodsell

The watercolor paintings of David S. Goodsell integrate information from structural biology, microscopy and biophysics to simulate detailed views of the molecular structure of living cells. Proteins, nucleic acids, and lipid membranes are shown; small molecules, ions, and water are omitted for clarity.

Motility of microscopic swimmers as protocells

Encoding life-like behavior in prebiotically plausible compartments, for example growth and reproduction, has been a major focus of protocell research. We argue that, in addition to these essential features of dynamic protocellular systems, motility could have also contributed to a significant degree in the emergence, survival, and complexification of protocells…

Interplay of Depletion Forces and Biomolecular Recognition in the Hierarchical Assembly of Supramolecular Tubes

Crowding effects have a profound impact on the hierarchical organization of cellular architectures. In the fields of systems chemistry and soft matter, this effect has not received much attention so far. Here, it is explored how poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as a crowding agent invokes depletion forces that act on synthetic supramolecular tubes. 

Molecular Engineering of the Kinetic Barrier in Seeded Supramolecular Polymerization

Seeded supramolecular polymerization (SSP) is a method that enables the controlled synthesis of supramolecular structures. SSP often relies on structures that are capable of self-assembly by interconverting between intramolecular and intermolecular modes of hydrogen bonding, characterized by a given kinetic barrier that is typically low.