Academic Biography

Silvia Giordani is full Professor Chair of Nanomaterials at the School of Chemical Sciences at Dublin City University where she acted as Head of School from 2020 to 2023. She is also Principal Investigator in the Life Science Institute (LSI).

Previously she received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Miami, USA and carried out postdoctoral research at the School of Physics in Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland and at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Trieste, Italy. In 2007 she received the prestigious President of Ireland Young Researcher Award and was a Research Assistant Professor at the School of Chemistry in TCD from 2007 to 2013 and Principal Investigator in the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI). In September 2013 she founded and directed the !Nano Carbon Materials” research lab at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and in December 2016 she was appointed Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry at the University of Turin, Italy.

Her main research interests are in the design, synthesis, and characterization of a wide range of nanomaterials for applications in smart and responsive bio-related nanotechnologies. She has authored over 160 peer-reviewed publications in International journals from 2001 to date, including Chemistry Society Reviews, Nature Nanotechnology, PNAS, Advanced Materials, ACS Nano and J. Am. Chem. Soc. that collectively have received over 10,000 citations and her results have been highlighted in journals such as Science, Nature, and New Scientist. Prof. Giordani has also presented her work at numerous conferences around the world e.g. in the United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, India, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and across most of Europe. She has served as the thesis/dissertation advisor or mentor to over 50 undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral fellows.

In 2012 she was awarded the L"Oréal UK & Ireland Fellowship For Women in Science and in 2014 she was invited to give a !Women in Science” Masterclass at the Royal Irish Academy. In 2018 she was awarded the William Evans Fellowship from the University of Otago (New Zealand) and was a Visiting Scientist to the Bio-Nano Institute at Toyo University (Japan). In 2024 she was awarded the MAK’IT Fellowship from the University of Montpellier (France).

List of PhD Thesis Supervised

1. Manuel Natali Synthesis, Characterisation and Activity Evaluation of Novel Spiropyran-Based Ion Sensors Trinity College Dublin (2011)
2. Elisa Del Canto Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Photo Switchable Spiropyrans: Novel Multifunctional Platforms for Sensing and Biological Applications Trinity College Dublin (2012)
3. Dania Movia Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as Novel NIR Fluorescent Probes for Biomedical Optical Imaging Trinity College Dublin (2012)
4. Lyn Markey Synthesis of glycopeptides and modification of carbon nano-onions Trinity College Dublin (2013)
5. Viviana Maffeis Carbon Nano-Onions for biomedical applications University of Genoa (2018)
6. Adalberto Camisasca Carbon Nano-Onions as Promising Materials for Biomedical and Electrochemical applications University of Genoa (2019)
7. Francesca Cardano Novel nano-biotechnology platforms based on photochromic molecules University of Genoa (2020)
8. Michał Bartowski Engineering of Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapy DCU (2024)

List of MSc Thesis Supervised

1. Alice Boarino Supramolecular functionalization of multi-layer fullerenes for biomedical applications University of Turin (2018)
2. Jada Abdel Monem Gamal Synthesis and functionalisation of BN-CNOs for drug delivery applications University of Rome (2022)
3. Mustafa Nabil Amin Mustafa Fluorescent carbon dots as vehicles of delivery for anti-cancer treatments DCU (2022)

List of BSc Thesis Supervised

1. David Larkin The Purification, Functionalisation and Characterisation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Trinity College Dublin (2010)
2. Eoghan Delany Covalent Functionalization and Characterisation of Multi-Layer Fullerenes (Carbon Nano-Onions) Trinity College Dublin (2011)
3. Fergus Poynton Synthesis of a Novel Spiropyran for the Non-Covalent Functionalisation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Trinity College Dublin (2011)
4. Gary Hudson Functionalization of Carbon Nano-Onions with spiropyran derivatives Trinity College Dublin (2013)
5. Michał Bartkowski Covalent functionalization of carbon nano-onions for biomedical applications DCU (2018-19)
6. Dylan Kenny Functionalization of Carbon Nano-Onions using Hyaluronic Acid derivatives for Biomedical Purposes DCU (2018-2019)
7. Adam Atouani Chemical Functionalisation of Carbon Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications DCU (2018-19)
8. Emma Stowe The non-covalent functionalization of CNOs DCU (2018-2019)
9. Geldon Sherifi Non-covalent functionalisation of carbon nano-onions with porphyrin molecules DCU (2019-20)
10. Melanie Richardson In situ polymerization on carbon surface DCU (2019-2020)
11. Marissa Horan Removal of oxidation debris from carbon nano-onions DCU (2019-2020)
12. Dylan Lee Martin Eco-friendly Oxidative Synthesis of Carbon Dots using low-cost, renewable & green materials DCU (2019-2020)
13. Hugh Mohan 0D carbon nanomaterials in anti-cancer formulations DCU (2020-2021)
14. Andrew Fagan Carbon Nanomaterials for the Delivery of Anti-cancer Therapeutics: A Computational Study DCU (2020-2021)
15. Oisin Kearns Hyaluronic acid functionalised BN co-doped carbon nano-onions as drug delivery systems DCU (2021-2022)
16. Owen Fitzmaurice Spiropyrans as Molecular Switches in Drug Delivery Systems DCU (2021-2022)
17. Kellyjean Courtney Preparation of carbon nano-onion hybrids for biomedical applications DCU (2022-2023)
18. Glenn Twum Preparation of a molecular switch for bio-applications DCU (2022-2023)
19. Yingru Zhou In-vitro studies of Fluorescent carbon dots DCU (2022-2023)