PhD in Product and Industrial Process Engineering at the University of Naples Federico II, with thesis entitled “Shape Memory Polymers Charged with Modified Carbon-Based Nanoparticles”, in collaboration with the Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB-CNR) in 2017. Master’s Degree in Materials Engineering with dissertation on the effect of carbon nanotubes when dispersed in epoxy-based elastomers in 2013. Bachelor’s Degree in Materials Science and Engineering, with a thesis on the study of the effect of halloysite nanotubes on the fluidity, morphology and mechanical behavior of polyethylene in 2010. Author/co-author of 15 scientific publications in international journals, 16 conference proceedings and 2 book chapters.
Since 2018 Dr. G.C. Lama is temporary researcher for IPCB-CNR, located in Portici. At the moment he is working on polyurethane-based composite foams, based on sustainable and renewable raw materials

Dr Domenico Larobina is employed as permanent researcher at the Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials of the National Research Council of Italy. He graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University of Naples, where he also obtained the PhD degree in Material and Engineering Science. He was recently visiting scientist at the Laboratoir Charles Coulomb at the CNRS of Montpellier. He was also a visiting scientist at the J. Fourier University of Grenoble and at the synchrotron radiation facilities (ESRF). He was Post-doc at the Kenan CO2 Center of North Carolina State University. He was also visiting research at the Tufts University in Boston, and at the Iowa State University in Ames.

Dr. Larobina main scientific interests are related to:

– the mass transport phenomena of small molecules in polymer-based matrices. In particular, the research activity was focused on the study of the diffusional mechanisms of small molecules inside polymeric systems and on the modeling of the connected mechanisms.

– use of supercritical carbon-dioxide for the formation of microparticles for drug delivery applications

– study of mechanical and rheological behavior of water solutions and hydrogels based on natural polymer. In such field, dr. Larobina have set up some recent light scattering technique to characterize the polymeric structure of the gels at both meso and micro scale level.

– application of soft matter physics to biological systems, with reference to the dynamics of thixotropic gels such as mucus and Wharton’s jelly. In this field, in collaboration with the CNRS of Montpellier we have set up a couple rheology and light photon correlation methods to investigate the microscopic dynamics under an applied shear stress.

The research activity has been combined with educational activities, he was: Adjunct Professor of “Simulation of Fluid-dynamic and Structural Behavior” and “Laboratory of Packaging Technologies” for the Master’s Degree in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Naples ‘Federico II’; Teaching assistant for several National Projects; supervisor of 2 PhD and several Master Degree Students.

Dr. Larobina has active collaboration with Lab. Charles Coulomb University of Montpellier, Institute Charles Sadron of CNRS Strasbourg, Dept. of Medical and Surgical Sciences of the University of Foggia, Dept. of Obstetric Pathologies Polyclinic “Umberto I” Roma, Dept. Chemical Eng. University of Naples, Dept. Chemical Eng. University of Trieste, Materias s.r.l, Cooperative Shannara. He served as Guest Editor of 2 special issues for the journal “Polymers”. He was local project coordinator for two national PRIN He is co-author of 50 papers in international journals and congress communications. Citazioni 1080. Indice H 16. i10-index   21.

Dr. Paola Laurienzo got her degree in Chemistry in 1983 at Federico II University of Naples. She is Resarcher at CNR since 1986. She is an expert on the design, synthesis and characterization of polymers and copolymers and on the chemical modification of natural and synthetic macromolecules. Her research activity was devoted to several applications, as chemical recycle of post-consumer plastics, food packaging, heat-resistant and electro-optical active polymers. For more than 20 years now, she has focused her research activities on the design, synthesis, and characterization of biodegradable polymers and copolymers for the realization of nanoparticles, scaffolds, and hydrogels of interest in biomaterials science. She was the coordinator of several POP projects funded by Regione Campania and CNR unit coordinator of the PON

Bioscience (03PE_00060_3). She was involved in many projects funded by the European Community and MIUR, and in a recent AIRC project IG2014 #15764. At the moment, she is involved in PON TITAN (Nanotechnologies for cancer immunotherapy) e PRIN NanoTechVax (Tackling biological barriers to antigen delivery by nanotechnological vaccines) projects. She was contract professor in Biochemistry at the University Parthenope of Naples. She is co-author of around 80 papers on high impact factor international journals and of two patents.

He is elected member of the Scientific Board for the Department of Chemical Science and Materials Technology of the CNR.

He has given several invited and keynote lectures in international congress and events. He has been on behalf of IPCB-CNR institute, the principal investigator of international bilateral-projects (CNR-CAS (China) and CNR-AVCR (Czech Rep)) as well as the responsible of several European (Nanorestart, Apache, and Innovaconcrete and GreenArt) and national projects and industrial contracts focused on advanced composites. He is executive secretary of the Multifuctional Polymer and Biomaterials Research Center established between DSCTM-CNR and the Sichuan University and responsible of the Joint Lab on Graphene between IPCB and SKPLME. He is responsable of several cooperation agreements between IPCB-CNR and international partners.

He has been tutor of several Post-doc and Research fellows at IPCB CNR, and tutor of master thesis and PhD thesis at University of Naples “Federico II”, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” and Polytechnic of Milan. He has been also tutor of several foreign students as well as visiting researchers from China and Brazil.

Moreover, he is member of European and National panels for the evaluation of R&D projects and He has been involved in the scientific evaluation boards of international institutions.

He has been delegate of CNR President for the relationship with China (2014-2018).

He was component of the team awarded of the international prize Polymer Challenge (300k€) in 2007. He was co-founder of Spin-off company Hypucem srl which is focused on the development and innovation in the field of innovative composite materials for buildings. Finally, He was editor of several special issues for MDPI, and He is Associate Editor of “Polymer Chemistry” (Frontiers in Chemistry and in Materials) and member of ’Editorial Advisory Board of “ACS Applied Polymer Materials”.

In 2019 her research activity was focused on the extraction and spectroscopic characterization (NMR and MS) of organic substances from natural sources, focusing on the recovery of waste from the agro-food industry, with a specific study concerning the antioxidant activity and enzymatic inhibition.
In 2021 she carried out a research period abroad, lasting six months, at the University of Freiburg (Germany) through the Erasmus+ program.Here she conducted research activities focusing on the synthesis of biodegradable polymers based on lignin and tannins and the optimization of the parameters for 3D printable biomaterials.
In particular, she evaluated the antioxidant and antibacterial activity, the biodegradability and the mechanical and morphological properties of the synthesized biomaterials.
During this experience, she has therefore acquired relevant knowledges on polymer characterization techniques (TGA, DSC, DMA, FTIR, Tensile Test) as well as on the interpretation and statistical analysis of experimental data.
She has also developed the ability to work in an international team by implementing problem solving and work planning skills.
Since October 2021, she is carrying out research activities at the Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials of the CNR of Catania as part of the NUSTEO project.
Specifically, the study she is conducting concerns: (i) the development of new iodophors used in the ophthalmic field, (ii) the development of analytical methods for the determination of free iodine in solution and in the gaseous phase, (iii) the production of an innovative packaging showing a barrier effect towards iodine, (iv) and the development of sensors allowing the monitoring of free iodine variations inside the container.
Moreover, she has been involved in scientific dissemination activities regarding environmental protection, bioplastics, the circular economy and recycling waste for students of all school levels.

Main skills:

Operating systems: Windows,  Unix/Linux,

Office Automation: Microsoft Office, Star Office ecc.

Data base: Oracle, Microsoft Sql, Mysql ecc.

Network and net services management: Internet, Intranet, Voip, Mail, Web, Dns, Cloud ecc.

Programming Languages: Occam, Clipper, Pascal, C, Visual Basic, Python, ecc

Graduated in Materials Engineering, research fellow at the Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials of Pozzuoli.

Main research activities:

• Preparation of sustainable materials using polymeric fractions recovered from the marine environment, through recycling, functionalization and / or compatibilization strategies of the heterogeneous phases.
• Preparation of materials with cryogenic grinding;
• Characterization by Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR/FT-IR);
• Extrusion process;
• Emulsion process;
• Compression molding;
• Mechanical tests: tensile, flexure, impact test;
• Analysis of fracture surfaces, images acquisition using a Phenom Desktop Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

After a bachelor degree in Chemistry in 2012 and a master degree in Chemical Sciences at University of Bari in 2015 with a thesis on use of biomaterials for waste water purification, Alessandra landed in Naples in 2018 as Research Fellow at Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials of National Research Council, studying the thermal properties of Poly(L-lactic acid) under the supervision of Dr. Maria Laura Di Lorenzo. Soon after, the same year, she started her PhD in Product and Process Engineering at University of Naples Federico II, working with Dr. Di Lorenzo and Prof. Ernesto Di Maio, focusing her research activity on the interplay between crystals and bubbles in physical foaming. Defended her PhD in April of 2022, she is now Research Fellow at IPCB working both at CNR and at FoamLab at Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione Industriale of University of Naples.
Exploiting her knowledge of crystallization mechanisms of PLLA, Alessandra studied the influence of crystals and chain aggregates on foaming and she reached the goal of tuning foam morphology and material thermal properties by simply vary processing conditions. She is currently studying the influence of CO2 on the conformation and thermal properties of PLLA.

Angela Longo, PhD in ‘Materials and Structures Engineering’ degree in chemical engineering, is currently a researcher at the Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials – National Research Council (IPCB – CNR) of Naples. Her current scientific interests are related to the development of new methods to prepare nanostructured materials, both inorganic metal nanostructures and organic bidimensional carbon based materials (graphite nanoplatelets, graphite oxide) . In particular, her work concerns the study of new chemical synthesis and the morphological-structural characterization of nanomaterials by electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) and also the X-ray powder diffraction and optical spectroscopy techniques (UV-visible absorption and emission spectroscopy) to analyze the relation among chemical-physical properties and the nature, size, and shape of these nanomaterials. Furthermore, her interests include the design and development of advanced devices for electronic, optoelectronic, and biomedical application fields based on nanostructured materials. She has several dozen scientific papers on international journals and several participations at international conferences.