Gianluca Ciardelli, Professor, Polytechnic University of Turin

Prof. Gianluca Ciardelli (Male, PhD) has a Master Degree in Chemistry summa cum laude, from the University of Pisa (1994). In 1997 he received the PhD in Natural Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) of Zurich on synthetic degradable polyurethanes for biomedical applications.
Since 2002 on, his activity has been focussed on Biomaterials and Bioengineering more deeply, becoming Tissue Engineering and Controlled Drug Delivery the main areas of interest. This aim was pursued through the realization of new biomaterials, either by blending natural and synthetic polymers or by synthesizing block copolymers, functionalized with peptide sequences that are known to be in charge of the communication between cells and the extracellular matrix. This functionalization approach was attempted with traditional chemistry, but also with alternative strategies inspired by Nature, such as molecular imprinting, a technique to create template-shaped cavities in polymer matrices with memory of the template molecules. By joining Politecnico di Torino in 2004, the interactions with colleagues experienced in design and processing further stimulated to use the competence in the synthesis and preparation of functional biomaterials to realize improved medical devices, being peripheral nerve repair, degradable devices to assist orthopedic and cardiac surgery the main targeted applications. Prof. G. Ciardelli is the author of about 120 peer reviewed international papers, 9 book chapters (5 of them published by Springer, in the emerging and interdisciplinary field of bionanotechnology) and of 12 patents (4 of which international). He is also director of the academic spin off Geltis. He has decennal experience in collaborating projects in the field of tissue engineering at national and European level. H-index is 29.