Group
Sortino Group in September 2024. Left to right: Aurore Fraix, Tassia Joy Martins,Thomas Lecuyer, Samanta Sollima, Benjamin Clepoint, Francesca Laneri, Marika Cuddè, Chiara Di Rosa, Cristina Parisi, Salvatore Sortino
Group Members
Salvatore Sortino (Italy)
Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry
Group Leader
Tel. +39 095 7385079
Email: ssortino@unict.it
After receiving the Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences in 1994 from the University of Catania (Italy) he carried out postdoctoral research at the CNR of Bologna (Italy) until 1996. In the same year he joined, the University of Catania where he is now Full Professor. He was visiting scientist at the University of Ottawa (Canada) in 1998-1999 (Prof. J.C. Scaiano) and at the University of Miami (USA) in 2004 and 2011 (Prof. F.M. Raymo). He has authored more than 250 publications and 3 patents in the field of photochemistry. His current scientific interests mainly focus on the development of light-activatable nanoconstructs for biomedical applications.
Aurore Fraix (France)
Associate Professor of Inorganic Chemistry
Tel. +39 095 7385059
Email: fraix@unict.it
Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2010 from the University of Brest (France). In 2011 she joined the research group of Prof. Sortino as a Marie Curie postdoctoral research fellow. From 2024 is Associate Professor. Her current research interests are focused on molecular assemblies for photocontrolled biomedical release. She co-authored about 70 publications and 1 patent in this field.
Cristina Parisi (Italy)
Assistant Professor
Tel. +39 095 7385059
Email: cristina.parisi@unict.it
Graduated in Chemistry 2017 she joined the group as graduated fellow in 2018 and from 2019 to 2022 she was PhD student with a project focused on the development fluorescent nanoconstructs for therapeutic delivery. She is now Assistant Professor and her current scientific interests focuses on photoactivatable molecular hybrids and nanomaterials for phototherapeutic and optical imaging applications.
Francesca Laneri (Italy)
Post Doc
Tel. +39 095 7385059
Email: francesca.laneri@unict.it
Graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Tecnologies 2020 at the University of Catania, she joined the group in 2021 as PhD student with a project focused on the development of light-activatable polymeric nanoparticles for multimodal anticancer therapy. From 2024 she is a Post Doc and her current scientific interest are mainly focused on the developing of photoactivatable carbon dots
Samantah Sollima (Italy)
PhD Student
Tel. +39 095 7385059
Email: samantah.sollima@phd.unict.it
Graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Tecnologies in 2025 the University of Catania, she is now PhD student with a project focused on the development of light-activatable polymeric constructs for cancer and wound healing applications.
Past Members
Benjamin Clepoint (France) – PhD Student
Juliana Guerra Pinto (Brazil) – Visiting Scientist
Tassia Joy Martins (Brazil) – Post Doc
Thomas Lecouvrer (France) – Post Doc
Nadia Licciardello (Italy) – Assistant Professort
Adriana Graziano (Italy) – Post Doct
Yota Suzuki (Japan) – Visiting PhD Student
Mimimorena Seggio – PhD Student
Giuseppe Longobardi (Italy) – Visiting PhD Student
Federica Sodano (Italy) – Post Doc
Montassar Khalil (France) – Visiting PhD Student
Sara Payamifar (Iran) – Visiting PhD Student
Marta Perez Lloret (Spain) – PhD Marie Curie Student
Ivana Di Bari (Italy) – PhD Student
Mariacristina Failla (Italy) – Post-Graduated Fellow
Andre L. Tessaro (Brasil) – Visiting Scientist
Damien Afonso (France) – Post Doc Marie Curie Fellow
Nino Marino (Italy) – Post Doc
Federica Sodano (Italy) – Visiting PhD Student
Noufal Kandoth (India) – PhD Marie Curie Student
Sara Maiolino (Italy) – Visiting PhD Student
Monica Camerin (Italy) – Post Doc
Huber Hetteger (Austria) – Visiting PhD Student
Patricia Taladriz-Blanco (Spain) – Visiting PhD Student
Milo Malanga (Hungary) – Visiting PhD Marie Curie Student
Linda Piras (Greece) – Visiting Post Doc Marie Curie Fellow
Elisa Vittorino (Italy) – Post Doc
Maria Rita Barone (Italy) – Post-Graduated Fellow
Fiorella Callari (Italy) – PhD Student
Fiorella Callari (Italy) – Post Doc
Elisa Caruso (Italy) – PhD Student
Salvatore Petralia (Italy) – PhD Student
Salvatore Petralia (Italy) – Post Doc