51cg

Biography

I got my PhD at the University of Milan in 2008 and, after a brief experience as a consultant, in 2009 I moved to Aberdeen to contribute in the set-up of an organic/medicinal chemistry lab at the Institute of Medical Sciences. Here I worked on several projects spacing from medicinal chemistry to radiochemistry and more recently peptide chemistry.

In 2012 I was awarded a Postdoctoral and Early Career Researcher Exchange Fund by SINAPSE for 9 months visit to Prof. Tobias Ritter’s Laboratory, at Harvard University.  In 2019 I became an independent Research Fellow at the Institute of Medical Sciences, Aberdeen. In May 2025 I moved to a Lecturer position.

Over the years I gained experience in the synthesis of organic small molecules, peptidomimetics and peptides as well in the preparation of clinical grade PET tracers (mainly Fluorine 18 based such as ([18F]FDG, [18F]NaF, [18F]FMISO, [18F]FAZA, [18F]FLT,) and in the development of novel radiotracers.

Research Overview

Research interest in:

• PET Chemistry
• Peptide synthesis
• Synthetic Organic Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry

My research current research is focused on:

1. the preparation of new radiotracers for PET imaging and the repurpose of already developed tracers as imaging tools for new diseases,
2. the investigation of new fluorine-18 radiochemical methodologies/strategies to prepare PET tracers,
3. the design and synthesis of peptides and peptidomimetics useful as drugs for the treatment of different diseases (Diabetes, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases, cancer, etc)

I am always happy to embark on new field explorations and I am open to multidisciplinary collaborations.

Current Research

• Development of prostate cancer PET tracers
• [¹⁸F]FAZA and [¹⁸F]FMISO hypoxia PET imaging
• Fluorinase mediate Fluorine-18 tracers synthesis
• Peptide synthesis