Background: Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Nanomedicine, Biopolymers
Profile: Maria Elena Piersimoni obtained her master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at the University of Camerino (Italy). In her final thesis entitled “Synthesis and preparation of novel nanoparticles of PLGA and PLGA-PEG functionalized with hyaluronic acid: potential application in osteoarthritis”, she developed several types of Biopolymers and Nanoparticles (NPs) for Osteoarthritic Applications. After her masters, she did an internship at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) of Leiden (The Netherlands) where she was involved in a research project in which she was working on Polymeric and Gold NPs for osteoarthritic application, investigating their cellular – uptake process and the nanotoxicity. At the moment Maria Elena is a PhD candidate of the Bio Nano Consulting Team within the Horizon 2020 MSCA-ITN, SPM 2.0 Project, at the Imperial College London, where she is developing nano-size materials and monitoring their cellular uptake process and toxicity within living cells, taking advantage of the advanced Scanning Probe Microscope techniques
ETN Topic: Monitoring of nanoparticles uptake by living cells