Former team members

Jessica Groppi received her Masters degree in Chemistry in 2010 at Università degli Studi di Parma. In 2016, she completed her PhD at Queen Mary University of London (UK), working on the controlled modification of electrode surfaces through solid phase synthesis, for the development of glucose biosensors. Jessica joined Professor Alberto Credi research group as a postdoctoral fellow at Università di Bologna in 2016. Her research currently involves the synthesis and characterization of supramolecular systems.

Lorenzo Casimiro earner his MSc (laurea) in Photochemistry and Molecular Materials from the University of Bologna in 2016. He then joined the LEAPS team as a graduate student in Chemistry. In the project, he is tasked with the study of photochemical reactions and photo-induced phenomena in supramolecular architectures.

Kars received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bordeaux, in France. In the LEAPS project, he is tasked with the synthesis and characterisation of photoactive rotaxanes.

Marcello received his PhD jointly from the Università di Bologna and the Université de Bordeaux, France, within a co-tutelled fellowship. His tasks in the LEAPS project include the development of photoactive molecules and nanostructures, and the thermodynamic/kinetic study of molecular machines using spectroscopic techniques.

Lucia has a combined professional experience of over 10 years working in project management in both private and public sector in Italy and Canada. She holds a BA (Hons) in International Relations and History from the University of Toronto and MA from the University of Bologna in Economic and International Development.

In addition to being the project manager for LEAPS, she is also the project manager for a Marie Curie MSCA-ITN project within the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bologna.

Prior to joining the LEAPS team, Lucia was the project assistant at Istituto Rizzoli for the REBORNE project FP7-HEALTH, Programme Manager at the Future Food Institute and UNIMORE and in Toronto worked for many years at the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Ontario.   

Lucy speaks English, Italian and French.

Max received his MSc degree at the University of Naples “Federico II” in 2013, working on sugar-derived ligands for asymmetric catalysis under the guidance of Prof. Francesco Ruffo. In 2014, he joined Italy's National Research Council (CNR-IPCB) where he investigated self-healing epoxy polymers and later that year he moved to the University of Edinburgh to work with Prof. Jason Love for his doctoral studies. In Edinburgh, Max developed redox-active ligands able to act as mediators for electron transfer reactions, with a focus on carbon dioxide electroreduction. Max was awarded his doctoral degree in October 2018. Upon the award of a ScotCHEM PECRE grant, in late 2018 Max undertook an internship at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Working with Dr Alexander Pöthig at TUM, he studied transition-metal complexes of polycarbene macrocycles for supramolecular host-guest chemistry. Max joined the Credi group at the University of Bologna as a post-doctoral research associate in January 2019. His work focuses on the development of light-driven molecular pumps to provide a directional flow through bilayer membranes. Outside chemistry, Max enjoys reading adventure books, travelling to new places and playing tennis and table tennis.

Martina Canton graduated in March 2017 from the University of Ferrara with 110/110 Lode in Chemical Sciences. During her thesis period, she worked within the research group led by Prof. Stefano Caramori on solar cells, specifically on nanostructured semiconductor photoanodes for the production of electricity and hydrogen from water splitting. In November 2017 she started her Ph.D. in Chemistry, working on the LEAPS project. Her interests are in the field of supramolecular chemistry and photochemical nanosciences. In particular, her research activity is focused on the photochemical and photophysical characterization of molecular pumps.