The Warsaw Doctoral School in Natural and Biomedical Sciences and the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS cordially invites you to a Advanced Lecture Series – BIOLOGY-INSPIRED CHEMISTRY talk.

The talk is given by dr. Vito Vurro (Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Bologna, Italy; Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Center for Nano Science and Technology, Milano, Italy).

When and where?

November 27th, 2024, 10:00 am at IChF Aula
Duration: 60 min + question time

Talk abstract

Interacting with living cells has always been a challenging problem. The biological environment can be associated with an electrolyte in which the commonly used electrical signals tend to spread. Furthermore, contactless and wireless methods are extremely appealing due to their ability to leave unaltered the cell and tissue condition. Following this idea, light represents a clean and spatiotemporal precise tool to achieve effective bio-stimulation. Material-based light-transducers, such as conjugated molecules and macromolecules, have proven their efficacy at the interface with living cells and tissues. The interaction is possible thanks to the photophysics, biocompatibility and versatility in chemical synthesis of the molecular actuators. Exploiting a biomimicking approach a molecular phototransducer will be presented analysing both its photo/chemical properties and its ability to control cell activity. Finally as a case of study its application as a pacing tool will be presented validating this molecular phototransducer as an innovative tool for muscle cells contraction.

This event is supported by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, grant no. BPI/STE/2021/1/00034/U/00001