Marinella Difonzo

Mrs. Marinella Difonzo

University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
orcid

Biography

Well-trained chemist with a Master's in Nanomedicine for Drug Delivery, autonomous and proactive, with excellent communication skills, and work experience in multicultural groups. Currently working on the development of an electrochemiluminescent-based biosensor incorporating dye-doped silica nanoparticles for the detection of target antigens in biomedical samples. Previously, I have worked on the development of functionalized liposomes as drug carriers for the targeted delivery of active molecules to the human placenta, avoiding transfer to the fetal side for safer treatment of placental disorders. My first research work consisted in the preparation of bovine serum albumin nanoparticles functionalized with luminophores as potential biomedical imaging tools, fullerene C60 or gold nanoclusters as potential photothermal or photodynamic theragnostic tools.

Affiliations

University of Bologna

Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Honors and Awards

honor

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship

NANOMED Consortium / European Union

Won prestigious and highly selective Erasmus Mundus Scholarship and admission to the European Joint Master's Degree NANOMED (Nanomedicine for Drug Delivery), among 450 applicants worldwide. For the academic cycle 2019-2021, the NANOMED consortium selected 13 students as scholarship recipients. The NANOMED program is held by a consortium of 4 universities: University of Pavia, University of Patras, University of Angers, and University of Paris, the latter being the coordinating institution.

honor

Best bachelor's thesis award

University of Bologna, Department of Chemistry

Prize for best bachelor’s thesis about the use of proteins for biomedical applications.

Experience

Graduate Student or Post Graduate

University of Bologna (Italy), Faculty of Chemistry

01 Feb 2022 - present

Graduate Student or Post Graduate

University of Paris (France), Faculty of Pharmacy

01 Oct 2019 - 01 Jul 2021

Undergraduate Student

University of Bologna (Italy), Faculty of Chemistry

01 Sep 2015 - 01 Jul 2019