Role
Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, member of the Accademia dei Lincei, Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering, former Vice President of the Scientific Council of the CNR and President of ARTI Puglia.
Bio
A graduate in Physics and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bari, after a postdoc at Bell Laboratories (USA), she became a full professor of Analytical Chemistry in Bari at just 40 years old. The first woman to chair the European Materials Research Society and to win the HE Merck Award, she is a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, an international member of the National Academy of Engineering, a former Vice President of the Scientific Council of the CNR, and President of ARTI Puglia. She has received the Wilhelm Exner Medal, the President of the Republic Award, and is a Fellow of MRS, EuChemS, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
A pioneer in organic bioelectronics, she develops ultra-sensitive devices based on transistor biosensors and bioplasmonics systems. She has patented the SiMoLS (Single-Molecule with a Large Surface) technology, capable of detecting single molecules or pathogens in biological or plant samples, with potential biomedical applications for the early point-of-care diagnosis of tumors and infections.
Author of approximately 300 scientific articles in journals such as Science and Nature Materials (almost 22,000 citations) and co-inventor of 14 patents, she manages research funding worth €45 million. As the Horizon Europe national representative for MSCA actions, she actively promotes women and science as role models and was celebrated in the Mickey Mouse comic strip with the character "Louise Torduck."