Activities
My research interests lie in the chemical modification of natural polysaccharides to develop multifunctional, biocompatible materials, with a primary focus on medical applications in diagnostics and therapy. I investigate the relationships between the structure, properties, and performance of these materials for various challenging applications, such as stimuli-responsive self-assembled nanoparticles, hydrogels, and smart hydrogel coatings. A key focus of my work is developing innovative strategies to control and exploit the structure of complex polysaccharides, particularly through regioselective reactions, to introduce novel and useful properties.
I am an associate editor of the journal RSC Applied Polymers, and a member of the editorial boards of the the ACS Journal Biomacromolecules, ELSEVIER Journal Carbohydrate Polymers, and KeAi Journal Supramolecular Materials.
Area of Expertise
- Polysaccharide chemistry
- (Thermo)-associative polysaccharide systems
- Dynamic covalent polysaccharide hydrogel networks
- Polysaccharide-based hydrogels
- Structure-rheological property relationships
- Theranostic biomaterials
