Main Focus: Chemistry and Physics of Interfaces Joint collaboration with the group of Macromolecular and Paper Chemistry @Technische Universität DarmstadtMain tasks:• Leadership, support and guidance of Trainees during internships and Master Thesis• Teaching assistant and supervision of students in Surface Analysis Lab Class• Supervising technicians and coordinating their experiments• Preparation and revision of scientific manuscripts• Preparation of talks and posters for Conferences• Responsible for laboratory instrumentsMy work involved comprehending and tuning material properties, light interactions, and intricate optical details, in order to improve readout performance on lab-on-a-chip devices in paper-based lateral flow technologies. Fiber-attached polymer hydrogels were developed through the CHic (C,H-Insertion crosslinking) process via dip-coating and photochemical crosslinking. They have been shown to prevent unspecific adsorption of undesired proteins on such analytical sensors, addressing one of the main challenges that has limited research progress in this area in recent years.Laboratory techniques: Fluorescence Spectroscopy, UV-Vis Spectroscopy (Absorption/Transmission/Reflection), Contact Angle Measurement, MicroArray Printer, Thin film coating techniques, Lateral flow assays technologies, Polymer synthesis, SEM, CLSM, SPR, DSC, NMR, GPC, FTIR.

Laboratory techniques: SAXS, WAXS, AFM, POM, TEM, Electron Diffraction (ED).My thesis has been implemented in the research group of Macromolecular Chemistry and Polymer Physics under the supervision of Claudio De Rosa and Finizia Auriemma. I investigated the morphology as well as the thermal properties of diblock copolymers composed of two crystalline blocks of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and polyethylene (PE). Due to the incompatibility between the two blocks, phase-separated structures in the melt were obtained, making possibile the alignment of microdomains and consequently the production of nanoscale patterns on thin films, through controlled epitaxial crystallization.

- Coordination of young dance classes (children and teens)- Planning, choreographing and performing of training sessions and themed dance shows

Laboratory techniques: DSC, XPS, WAXS, ZwickRoell and Instron mechanical testing.The focus of my thesis was the investigation of the structural, mechanical and thermal behaviour of semicrystalline multi block-copolymers (ethylene-norbornene, obtained via metallorganic catalysis). Such molecular architectures provides different properties due to the diverse microstructural blocks combined in a single polymer chain, leading to hybrid properties (elasticity typical of PE blocks and rigidity typical of PN blocks). The research has been carried out in the research group of Macromolecular Chemistry and Polymer Physics under the supervision of Claudio De Rosa and Finizia Auriemma.