Mattia Mori is associate Professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Siena, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Italy. He has more than 120 papers, 2 book chapters, and 6 patents and patent applications. Prof. Mori's research activity focuses on medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, with a particular dedication to the use of computer simulations to discover and develop bioactive small molecules or to study the conformational behavior of target proteins.

E-mail: mattia.mori@unisi.it

Andrea Calcaterra was born in Rome, Italy, in 1984. He received his master’s degree in chemistry in 2009 from Sapienza University of Rome and obtained his PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2012. From 2013 to 2020, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Sapienza University. Since 2020 to 2023 he was appointed Assistant Professor (Researcher type B) of organic chemistry at Sapienza. Since 2023 he is Associate Professor of organic chemistry. He is co-author of 51 publications, 1 book chapter and 2 patents. His research activity is focused on the isolation, total synthesis and biological evaluation of natural products from plants, and on the synthesis and supramolecular chemistry of resorc[4]arenes macrocycles.

E-mail: andrea.calcaterra@uniroma1.it

From 2014 to February 2020, she was a Post-Doc at the Italian Institute of Technology (CLNS@Sapienza). She was the task leader of the Joint Lab CLNS (IIT)-CrestOptics Project 2b 2018 – 2021 for the Rational Design of Tau Tangle-Selective Near-Infrared Fluorescent probes. In 2021, she was awarded and managed a fellowship “BE-FOR-ERC”, an initiative fielded by Sapienza University, for the development of a research project of excellence as principal investigator. Her current research is focused on the synthesis of artificial receptors endowed with suitable chemical and physical properties which make them applicable in molecular recognition and development of diagnostic devices, and on both the structural elucidation and synthesis of biologically active compounds derived from living plants. She is a Management Committee Member (IT) of the COST Action CA21145 - EURESTOP “European Network for diagnosis and treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. In 2021, she got the Italian National Qualification as Associate Professor. She is co-author of 72 publications and 6 national and international patents.

E-mail: francesca.ghirga@iit.it

Deborah Quaglio was born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1988. She completed her PhD in pharmaceutical sciences in 2016. During this time, she spent 9 months at the CERM, University of Florence, where she studied cell metabolomics. From 2019 to 2022, she was Research Fellow (Type A) and in 2022 she got the Italian national qualification as Associate Professor. Since 2022 she is Assistant Professor (Researcher Type B) at the Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, Sapienza University of Rome. She is the author of 48 publications, 1 book chapter and 4 national and international patents. She is currently co-PI of research line “Development of RNA-based conjugate systems for RNA therapeutics in cancer” within the Spoke 2 of the PNRR project “National Center for Gene Therapy and Drugs based on RNA Technology” (CN3, 2022-2025). Her current interests are focused on: i) the discovery and development of small organic molecules and natural compounds with antitumor activity; ii) the development of bioconjugates based on linear or cyclic polycationic molecules to enhance the affinity of RNA for the internal cavity of protein-based delivery systems; iii) development of targeted Near-infrared (NIR)-responsive RNA conjugates based on photoremovable protective groups to achieve spatio-temporal delivery.

E-mail: deborah.quaglio@uniroma1.it

She received her master’s degree cum laude in Pharmacy in 2019 from Sapienza University of Rome and obtained her PhD degree in “Molecular Design and Characterization for the promotion of Health and Well-being” in 2022 under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Botta. During her PhD studies, she spent one year at The University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) working on the synthesis of novel lipids for nucleic acids-based therapies, under the supervision of Prof. Marco Ciufolini. In March 2023, she has been appointed as Research Fellow (type A) at Sapienza University of Rome with a research funded by PNRR and focused on the development of new bio-active antimicrobials with a keen interest in monitoring the emergence of drug resistance (Rome Technopole, FP7, L4).

E-mail: silvia.cammarone@uniroma1.it

In 2019, he obtained an Erasmus scholarship that has been spent at the University of King’s College London under the supervision of Dr. Daniele Castagnolo. He received his master’s degree cum laude in Medicinal Chemistry at Sapienza University of Rome with a thesis named “Design, synthesis and evaluation of novel indole derivatives endowed with antitubercular activity” conducted in London at King’s College. During2020, he also received a research grant centered on the topic of “Green advanced extractive methodological studies from waste matrix and more” that he spent in Sapienza University of Rome. Currently he is a PhD Student in “Molecular design and characterization for the promotion of health and well-being: from drug to food” under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Botta. His research is mainly focused on the design and synthesis of bioconjugate linkers for the development of new delivery systems.

WG4: design and synthesis of bioconjugate linkers for development of delivery systems

E-mail: luca.pisano@uniroma1.it

She received her master’s degree cum laude in Medicinal Chemistry in 2021 at Sapienza University of Rome, with a thesis entitled "Alzheimer: synthesis of a NIR fluorescent BODIPY-based probe selective for the NFTs of tau protein". Currently, she is a PhD Student in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Botta. Her research is mainly focused on the design and synthesis of bioconjugate linkers for the development of new delivery systems.

WG2a: inhibition of Hedgehog pathway

E-mail: lara.lamelza@uniroma1.it

He received his master's degree in Chemistry in 2020, 110/110 cum laude, with a thesis entitled "A study of temporary chiral induction on biaryls". He is currently a PhD student in Pharmaceutical Sciences since 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Botta at Sapienza University of Rome. His research is focused on the synthesis of new resorc[4]arene-based artificial linkers for the development of immunosensors and on the extraction and HPLC analysis of phytocannabinoids from Industrial Hemp. During his PhD studies, he spent 8 months in Germany at Leibniz Universität Hannover where he focused on the total synthesis of pentacaronic acid under the supervision of Prof. Markus Kalesse.

WG1b: Synthesis of a new artificial linker resorc[4]arene-based system for biosensors development.

WG5: Industrial Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) Cultivation and product characterization

E-mail: gabriele.cianfoni@uniroma1.it

She received her master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry in 2022. Currently, she is a PhD Student in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, under the supervision of Dr. Francesca Ghirga. Her research project is part of the FP7_Line 5_Project 4 Sapienza “Therapeutic and diagnostic innovation: new bio-active antimicrobials, targeted drug delivery and genomic-based approach to monitor the emergence of drug resistance” and is focused on pharmacological inhibition of colistin resistance in Gram-negative cystic fibrosis pathogens. During her first year of PhD, she spent two months at the University of Patras for a short-term mission, within the framework of the COST Action CA21145- EURESTOP “European Network for diagnosis and treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections”, working under the supervision of Prof. Constantinos Athanassopoulos.

WG2c

E-mail: maria.ryzhuk@uniroma1.it

Arianna Speroni received her master's degree in Chemistry in 2023, with a thesis entitled “Studies on the total synthesis of vismion E”. Currently, she is a PhD Student in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, under the supervision of Dr. Francesca Ghirga. Her research is funded by PNRR and is focused on the identification of small molecules of natural origin and their derivatives, capable of restoring bacterial susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs and/or impairing the growth of MDR bacteria: PNRR Rome Technopole, Flagship7 (FP7), Linea Tematica Sapienza 4 (LTS4).

WG2c

E-mail: arianna.speroni@uniroma1.it