Maria Francesca Casula

Biography

Maria Francesca Casula is Associate Professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Cagliari; from 2004-2014 she has held the position of Assistant Professor at the same University. She is a member of the italian Consortium of Materials Science and Technology. Her research is within the Functional Materials Group and is devoted to the synthesis and morpho-structural characterization of materials for application in biomedicine, catalysis, environment, and photonics and is carried out in collaboration with national and international research groups. The results are reported in over 100 publications on peer-reviewed international journals. Teaching activities include "General and Inorganic Chemistry" course for students in Pharmacy and in Toxicology and "Bioinorganic Chemistry" Masters students in Biology. Her background includes the Degree in Chemistry (summa cum laude) at the University of Cagliari, the PhD in Chemistry on the "Synthesis and Characterization of Nanostructured Solids" under the supervision of Prof. Anna Corrias at the University of Cagliari. She was awarded a scholarship offered by INSTM-ENEA; of a post-doc on "Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocomposites"; of a CNR mobility grant at the Center for Nanoscience at LMU, Munich; and she has been visiting researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, U.S.A. under the supervision of Prof. A.P. Alivisatos. 

Research Interest

Preparation and characterization of colloidal nanoparticles and their functionalization for biomedical applications. Preparation and characterization of silica gel for the immobilization of enzymes and molecules of biochemical interest. Synthesis development by the sol-gel method of inorganic materials (silica, alumina, zirconia) controlled porosity, mainly in the form of AEROGEL. Preparation of nanocomposites in which a nanocrystalline phase of metal, alloy or metal oxide is dispersed on an inorganic porous matrix (CoFe 2 O 4- SiO 2 , Fe 3 O 4 -SiO 2 , FeCo-SiO 2 FeCo-Al 2 O 3 ...) for magnetic and catalytic applications.