Giovanni Lo Bello

Visiting PhD Student (University of Genoa, Italy)

Advanced organic-inorganic nanomaterials with antibacterial capability

Supervisor in Italy: Professor Roberto Raiteri, Professor Laura Pastorino

Supervisor in Erlangen: Dr. Qaisar Nawaz, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

The (long term) goal of this doctoral thesis project is to develop a multitarget platform capable of degrading bacterial biofilm and killing dispersed cells to reduce diverse types of infection, allowing safer treatment paths. More in detail, the project consists in the synthesis and characterization of polymeric nanoparticles which will subsequently be conjugated to enzymes and plant extracts with antibacterial properties, with the dual objective of eliminating the biofilm and inactivating bacteria. Currently, the part of the project being carried out at the FAU Institute of Biomateroals has as goal the production and characterization of functionalized SiO₂-CaO mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles (MBGNs) [1] with different kinds of antimicrobial agents. The study will verify the increased efficacy in antibacterial activity and stability when compared with the bare antimicrobials.

[1] Z. Neščáková, et al., Multifunctional zinc ion doped sol–gel derived mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles for biomedical applications, Bioactive Mater. 4 (2019) 312-321.