Lab Manager
Dr Anna Dall’Anese:
Anna completed her PhD studies at the University of Trieste in 2020, and in the same year she got a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Perugia. Her areas of expertise are organometallic chemistry, polymerizations, NMR spectroscopy. In July 2023, she joined the Gobbo group as project and lab manager.
Email: anna.dall’anese@units.it
Academics in tenure-track
Dr Federica Battistin:
Federica is a synthetic chemist with international experience in both inorganic and organic chemistry. She obtained her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Trieste (Italy) in 2018. She subsequently held postdoctoral positions at IMDEA Nanociencia (Spain), the University of Zurich (Switzerland), and the Université de Bretagne Occidentale (France), where she was awarded an individual Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship. In March 2025, she joined the research group of Prof. Gobbo as an Assistant Professor.
Email: FEDERICA.BATTISTIN@units.it
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr Stefano Valente:
Stefano Valente is a synthetic and materials chemist. He received his Ph.D. in nanotechnology in 2021 at the University of Trieste (Italy), working on hybrid nanoparticle systems for theranostics. After one year of post-doc at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy), he joined the Gobbo Group in 2022 where he is currently working on the ERC-funded “PROTOMAT” project, focusing on the design and development of synthetic protocellular materials and their integration with living cells.
Email: stefano.valente@units.it
Dr Nicoletta Braidotti:
Nicoletta Braidotti is a Materials Engineer with a Master’s Degree in Process and Material Engineering, achieved in December 2019. She completed her PhD in Nanotechnology, co-funded by the University of Trieste, Department of Physics, and CNR-IOM, Trieste (thesis to be defended in March 2023). Her research focused on cell mechanotransduction and cell mechanics characterization, by using both 2D and 3D cell cultures jointly with independent fabrication of polymeric biocompatible substrates. She used several imaging and mechanical probing techniques characterized by novel multimodal combinations. Significant attention was conferred to the field of cardiac diseases and heart mechanobiology. In November 2023 she joined the Gobbo Group as postdoctoral researcher mainly working on mechanical characterization of synthetized protocellular materials.
Email: nicoletta.braidotti@phd.units.it
Dr Edoardo Maghin:
Edoardo is a biotechnologist who completed his PhD studies at the University of Padova in 2021.
His field of expertise concerns tissue engineering approaches for skeletal muscle regeneration, working on innovative dynamic cell culture systems (bioreactor), 3D bioprinting, and crosstalk communication between cells and scaffolds.
He joined the Gobbo groups in 2023 where he is currently working on the ERC-funded “PROTOMAT” project, focusing on the establishment of hybrid living/non- living material composed of synthetic protocellular material and living cells.
Email: edoardo.maghin@units.it
PhD Students
Mr Francesco Vicentini: Francesco completed his BSc (2019) and MSc (2022) in chemistry at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. In his thesis project he focused on asymmetric organocatalysis to synthesize spiro-oxindole derivatives. He joined Gobbo group in 2022 as a PhD student, working on photosynthetic protocells capable of water-splitting induced by solar light. The project is part of the PLANKT-ON program, in collaboration with Prof. Marcella Bonchio (UniPD), Prof. Maurizio Prato and ENPHOS s.rl. As part of his PhD studies he joined the research group of Prof. Wuge Briscoe at the School of Chemistry of the University of Bristol (UK) from Jan – Jun 2025.
Email: francesco.vicentini@phd.units.it
Ms Laura Morbiato:
Laura completed her BSc (2018) and MSc (2020) at the University of Padua (Italy). She worked for two years in the university of Padova in a bio-organic research group gaining experience in the chemical synthesis of peptide nanosystems. In November 2022, she joined the Gobbo Group for her PhD at the University of Trieste (Italy) with a PhD project in collaboration with Prof. Maurizio Prato. The aim of the project is to use carbon nanodots with (photo)catalytic abilities as starting materials to produce protocells and tissue-like materials.
Email: laura.morbiato@phd.units.it
Ms Beatrice Rosetti:
Beatrice Rosetti graduated in Chemistry from the University of Trieste (Italy) in 2020. She continued her studies at the University of Trieste under the supervision of Prof. Silvia Marchesan. In 2022, she obtained her Masters’s in Chemistry, studying insulin fibrillation inhibition using various peptides. After that, she worked as Research Fellow for six months and she is currently a PhD student in the Gobbo group, working on developing new photo-sensitive protocellular materials.
Email: beatrice.rosetti@phd.units.it
Mr Navneet Jhariya:
Navneet completed his MSc (2018) in Chemistry at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India. After his MSc, he gained research experience through short-term projects at various institutions. In 2021, he moved to the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, to pursue an MSc by Research (2024), focusing on the synthesis of novel cyclopolypeptides using ring-closing metathesis. He joined the Gobbo group in 2025 as a PhD student, working on the first photosynthetic protocells capable of utilizing sunlight, water, and CO2 to autonomously and continuously synthesize O2 and fuels at low costs. The project is part of the PLANKT-ON program, in collaboration with globally leading research institutions.
Email: navneet.jhariya@phd.units.it
Ms Anna Lombardi:
Anna obtained her BSc in Chemistry at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (2022) and her MSc in Chemistry at the University of Trieste (2025). During her Master’s program, she spent five months at the Instituto Técnico de Lisboa working on pH-responsive polymer materials for supercapacitors, before returning to Trieste to complete her Master’s thesis in the Gobbo Group on perovskite-based synzymes for biomimetic materials. After a short research fellowship in the same group, she began her PhD in 2025. Her project is in collaboration with ENPHOS s.r.l. focused on designing photosynthetic protocells for the sustainable synthesis of urea.
Email: ANNA.LOMBARDI@phd.units.it
Ms Nicole Gallegos Carvajal:
Nicole first joined the Gobbo Group as an undergraduate student, working on the RAFT synthesis of polycations for protocell fabrication, and graduated in December 2023. She rejoined the Gobbo Group in February 2025 to complete her Master’s thesis in Chemistry (Organic Biomolecular curriculum) on the synthesis of biocompatible hydrogels with tunable thermoresponsivity and tissue-like mechanical properties. In November 2025 she started her PhD thesis work in collaboration with Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM) working on the development of advanced substrates for biological sample preparation for high resolution Cryo-CLEM microscopy.
Email: NICOLE.GALLEGOSCARVAJAL@phd.units.it
Undergraduate and Master Students
Positions are open!
Visiting PhD students and researchers
Mr Alfredo Escribano Huesca (May-July 2023): Alfredo is a physics PhD student at the University of Granada (Spain). He joined the Gobbo Group in May 2023 for his international three-month trainership. He is working on the design and construction of synthetic cell-inspired micro-reactors and on the remote activation of these micro-reactors by external force fields.
Ms Nahid Najdi (Nov 2024 – Nov 2025): Nahid was born in Shiraz, Iran and graduated in Applied Chemistry at Islamic Azad University of Iran in BSc. She continued her studies in Medicinal Chemistry in Islamic Azad University, Kazeroon branch under the supervision of Dr. Maryam Rajabzadeh with the focus on heterogeneous metal hollow sphere catalysts in oxidation of benzyl alcohols and magnetic catalysts in Ullmann reactions. She Joined the Gobbo group as a visiting researcher in November 2023 and is working on a project under the title of “Engineering effective adhesions between protocellular materials and living cells for tissue engineering applications”.
Email: nahid.najdi@phd.units.it
Former Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr Maria Sbacchi (Nov 2021 – Nov 2025): Maria completed her BSc (2018) and MSc (2020) at the University of Palermo (Italy). In November 2021, she joined the Gobbo Group for her PhD at the University of Trieste (Italy). Her PhD project was in collaboration with Prof. Maurizio Prato and aimed to exploit amine-rich carbon nanodots as starting materials to protocells and tissue-like materials. She completed her PhD training in October 2024, and started to work as a postdoctoral researcher on the EU project PLANKT-ON from November 2025.
Dr Aharon Steffé (Dec 2023 – Sept 2025): Aharon is a biotechnologist and received his Ph.D. in Nanotechnology in 2023 co-funded by the University of Trieste (Italy) and the National Cancer Institute IRCCS CRO Aviano (Italy). His research mainly focused on the development of polymeric nanoparticles via the RAFT-PISA method. He took a postdoctoral position at the Department of Life Science always at UniTS.
Dr Manuel Antuch Cubillas, EU MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow (Nov 2023 – Nov 2024): Manuel obtained both B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry at Universidad de La Habana, and afterward a Ph.D. at Université Paris Saclay (2018). His previous research has been associated with physical chemistry and materials science, with an emphasis on semiconductor photoelectrochemistry, theoretical chemistry, and chemical kinetics. He joined the Gobbo group at Università degli Studi di Trieste in October 2023, where he works on the interfacing of photoactive, nanosized semiconductors within stimuli-responsive proto-cells and proto-tissues. He took a Tenure-Track Professor position at École Centrale de Lille (France).
Dr Aina Rebasa Vallverdu (Jan 2023 – Dec 2024): Aina is an inorganic and materials chemist. She received her PhD at the Centre for Protolife Research and Centre for Organized Matter Chemistry of the University of Bristol (UK) in 2023 under the co-supervision of Prof. Stephen Mann and Prof. Pierangelo Gobbo, working on photocatalytic protocells and protocellular materials. In the Gobbo Group, she is working as a postdoc in collaboration with the Prato (BiomaGUNE, Spain), Bonchio (UniPD, Italy) and Finazzi (CEA, France) groups, and ENPHOS s.r.l. to develop protocells capable of converting visible light to chemical energy for the production of green hydrogen as part of the interdisciplinary “PLANKT-ON” project, a European Innovation Council Pathfinder project. She took a permanent position at ENPHOS s.r.l.
Dr Agostino Galanti, EU MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow (July 2020 – Nov 2024): Agostino is a chemist with international experience. He is specialised in materials chemistry and photochemistry. He is working on the development of free-standing protocellular materials. His work is aimed at designing protocellular materials-based actuators, capable of transducing external stimuli to a mechanical response. He took a permanent R&D position at Reckitt.
Dr Henry Simons (September 2021 – June 2023): Henry completed his PhD studies at the University of Bristol on the controllable formation of supramolecular polymers. In September 2021, he joined the Gobbo group as a postdoctoral researcher. His current work focused on the development of methodologies to investigate the mechanical properties of soft and stimuli-responsive systems materials. He took a position as a Data Scientist at Babcock International Group.
Mx Robert Arbon (January-July 2020): Rob is a data scientist who worked to develop novel machine learning methodologies to assist the design of polymers with precise physical chemical properties.
Former Students
Ms Sabrina Accattini (Apr 2025 – Oct 2025): Sabrina joined our group for her Master thesis in Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche coming from the University of Milan-Bicocca (Italy). Her work focused on the development of novel thermoresponsive polymers and their applications in the formation of protocellular membranes.
Dr Jun Hyeong (Justin) Park (PhD 2024): Justin was born in Seoul, South Korea and was raised in Toronto, Canada. He completed his BSc (2018) and MSc (2020) at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. During his undergraduate degree, his thesis project focused on phosphine Michael additions to maleimides for gold nanoparticle modification. His MSc work was in the development of multi-functional nanomaterials and was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Mark S. Workentin. In January 2020, he joined the Gobbo Group for a dual doctorate program joint with the Workentin Group at the University of Western Ontario. The aim of his PhD project is to create gold nanoparticle-based protocells and tissue-like materials.
Dr Patrick Grimes (PhD 2024): Patrick completed his undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences at Lancaster University with a thesis on synthetic approaches to 1,2-Diazetidines. During his undergraduate studies he spent a year abroad at the University of Colorado Boulder, and in the summer 2019 he was awarded a bursary to work on the synthesis of ion pair-binding rotaxanes.
In September 2020 he joined the Gobbo Group for his PhD. His PhD project is highly multidisciplinary and aims to create protocellular materials capable of information processing tasks using DNA technology. This work is in collaboration with the research group of Dr Thomas Gorochowski (School of Biological Sciences, www.biocomputelab.org), who is an expert in the design of gene and DNA-based computational circuitry.
Ms Eleonora Puntel: Eleonora is a final year student of the Laurea Triennale in Chimica. She joined the Gobbo Group in March 2024 to work on RAFT synthesis of poly-ions to characterize new coacervate vesicles. She graduated in September 2024.
Mr Erik Murador: Erik is a final year student of the Laurea Magistrale in Chimica. He joined the Gobbo Group in May 2022 to work on the development of novel hydrogels with tuneable lower critical solution temperature volume phase transitions. He graduated in March 2024.
Mr Alessandro Migliarino: Alessandro was a final year student of the Laurea Magistrale in Chimica. He joined the Gobbo Group in June 2022 to work on advancing the communication properties of protocellular materials. He graduated in July 2023.
Mr Davide Formaggio: Davide was a final year student of the Laurea Magistrale in Chimica. He joined the Gobbo Group in September 2022 to work on the development of novel protocellular materials materials capable of a photo-induced contractile behaviour. He graduated in July 2023.
Mr Tommaso Clementini: Tommaso was a final year student of the Laurea Magistrale in Chimica. He joined the Gobbo Group in April 2022 and to work on catalytic nanomaterials synthesised through polymerisation-induced self-assembly (PISA), a project in collaboration with Prof. Paolo Tecilla. He graduated in October 2023.
Dr Mary Jenkinson-Finch: Mary was a PhD student working on light-triggered communication pathways between protocells. Her project was in collaboration with Prof. Stephen Mann.
Mr Jack Bowman: in the summer 2022 Jack visited our group from the Department of Chemistry of Western University (Canada) where he works with Prof. M. S. Workentin. He worked on the synthesis of novel functional acylate monomers for radical polymerisation.
Ms India Ayling: India is a 4th year undergraduate Chemistry student of the University of Bristol, who joined the Gobbo Group for her MSc research project. She is working on polymerisation-induced self-assembly (PISA) for the generation of new protocell models.
Ms Leeya Patel: Leeya is a 3rd year undergraduate Chemistry student of the University of Bristol, who joined the Gobbo Group for her BSc research project. Her work aims to propose a way to categorise all protocell models.
Ms Estela Bocarando Salcido (May-Sept 2020): Estela joined our group as a Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials (BCFN) MRes student. She worked with Dr Sara Correia Carreira (main supervisor, School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine). Her work aimed to design ways to conjugate protocellular materials to living tissues and study the mechanical properties of the resulting hybrid biomaterial.
Ms Victoria Jiang (Jul-Sept 2020): Victoria joined our group as a 2nd year Chemistry student of the University of Bristol. She worked on the communication properties of protocellular materials using DNA nanotechnology. The project was in collaboration with Dr Thomas Gorochowski (School of Biological Sciences, www.biocomputelab.org) who is an expert in the design of gene and DNA-based computational circuitry.
Ms Isobel Scott-Douglas (Oct 2019-Mar 2020 and Oct-Nov 2020): Izzy joined our group as an undergraduate Chemistry student of the University of Bristol, who joined our group for her MSc research project. She then re-joined our group for a short PhD project in the Fall 2020. In our lab she worked on polymerisation-induced self-assembly (PISA) and was responsible for the group’s GPCs.
Mr Raihan Azad (Oct 2019-Mar 2020): Raihan joined our group as an undergraduate Chemistry student of the University of Bristol, who joined our group for his MSc research project. He developed ways to generate protocellular materials with complex 3D architectures and investigated for the first time their communication properties. He is currently working at Cytiva as a custom operations associate.
Mr Justin Park (Oct 2019-Dec 2019): Justin joined our group as a MSc student visiting from Western University (Canada) where he works with Prof. M. S. Workentin on bio-orthogonally reactive nanomaterials.
Mr Tongfei Zhang (Oct 2019-Dec2019): Worked for 3 months with us at the University of Bristol on Machine Learning-assisted polymer design.
The Gobbo Group 