Giuseppe, or as most people call him, Beppe, holds a Laurea in Chemical Engineering from the University of Palermo and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Sheffield. Beppe joined the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) and the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalunya (IBEC) in 2019 and he's also currently affiliated with the University College London in UK where he holds EPSRC Established Career fellowship unitl 2022 and, the Chair in Molecular Bionics in the Department of Chemistry. Priot to UCL Beppe held positions as Lecturer -2006, Senior Lecturer -2009 and Professor -2011 in the Departments of Materials Sci. Eng. (2006-2009) and Biomedical Science (2009-2013) at the University of Sheffield.

Research interests

I have put together a truly interdisciplinary collection of research activities where we address biological challenges (often associated with a specific clinical need) using a constructionist approach. I have christened this approach Molecular Bionics and I mimic biological complexity in the form of design principles to produce functional units from simple building blocks and their interactions. We employ Chemistry and Physics together to engineer synthesis and characterization of novel hierarchical materials whose properties are the result of the holistic combination of its components (Molecular Engineering). We apply these for tackling clinical challenges associated with drug delivery and diagnostics where we engage with clinicians to design new therapies (Nanomedicine). We study in detail transport phenomena in our body to shed light on how material is transported and processed as well as biological barriers can be overcame (Physical Biology).