Role
Full Professor Emerita of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Florence; co-founder of CERM, the Center for Magnetic Resonance; head of the Italian Center of the European Instruct-ERIC infrastructure and member of its governance bodies.
Bio
After graduating in Chemistry from the University of Florence in 1978, Lucia Banci continued her education with research periods abroad, primarily in the United States. She then pursued her academic career at the same university, first as a researcher, then as an associate professor, and, since 1999, as a professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry.
His scientific activity is focused on structural biology and the development and application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to biological systems. He has contributed to the characterization of functional processes in living cells at atomic resolution, with a particular focus on the transport and utilization of metal ions, including copper and iron . He has developed in-cell NMR approaches to study human proteins in living human cells and to screen drug candidates. He has applied his structural biology skills to the characterization of antigens and the rational design of vaccines.
She is a co-founder of CERM at the University of Florence, a center specializing in the application of NMR to life sciences and the Italian center of the European infrastructure Instruct-ERIC, of which she was formerly director. Full Professor Emerita of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Florence, she is also Head of the Italian Center of Instruct-ERIC and a member of its governance bodies.
She is an EMBO member and has received awards including the IUPAC “Distinguished Woman in Chemistry” award, the Fiorino d'Oro of the City of Florence, the International “Prof. Luigi Tartufari” Award of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 2022, and the RR Ernst Prize for Magnetic Resonance in 2023. In 2024, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Patras, Greece.