PhD in Nanoscience and Advanced Technologies

Dottorato in Nanoscienze e Tecnologie Avanzate

Overview

Doctoral Program in Nanoscience and Advanced Technologies

Main features of the program

The PhD program in Nanoscience and Advanced Technologies aims to build a large teaching and research area, focused both on nanoscience and the most recent and innovative physico-chemical technologies, in particular in their applications to biomedicine and forensic sciences.
The PhD course combines scientific and research areas in the chemical, physical and biological fields, already consolidated in our University, with the most advanced expressions of biomedical morphology/morphometry and forensic sciences. In this context, attention is paid to Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies, whose highly innovative application areas are of great interest at the international level. Moreover, these areas have been the main research field for many teachers at the University of Verona since several years. The development of particularly innovative multidisciplinary training courses allows a strong integration between basic and clinical-applicative disciplines, with guaranteed employment feedback not only in the academic field, but also in agreement with the needs of the national and international labor market in the area of advanced technology.
The PhD program in Nanoscience and Advanced Technologies includes three specific courses, strongly integrated one each other, both in terms of didactic training and theoretical and experimental research, such as:
1. Morphological and Clinical Nanomedicine
2. Forensic Sciences and Technologies
3. Nanomaterials and Chemical, Physical and Analytical Technologies

Program objectives

The training offered by the PhD course in Nanoscience and Advanced Technologies is highly integrated with scientific research, obtained through common teaching activities on topics of general importance, associated with tutorial training activities on specific topics for the three courses. The research activity will also have characteristics promoting specialization in a given area, while maintaining a high level of interaction and integration between the various cultural areas, in order to guarantee a solid core of multidisciplinary knowledge.
The most important objective of the PhD student's training activity is therefore the acquisition of both theoretical and experimental skills, allowing the development of critical skills and mental attitude, to autonomously advance the scientific knowledge on frontier topics concerning their discipline. Students will develop an interdisciplinary/translational research approach across the chemical, physical, biological, anatomical-morphological and forensic sciences. They will also be able to effectively communicate the achieved results to the scientific community as well to corporate entities.
Students will attend to lectures and training courses, including specific basic and/or applied research projects, also with translational inspiration. Training in these areas will help the students gaining direct experience in designing experiments, collecting experimental data, processing them and drafting a scientific report and/or publication. In close connection between the addresses, the training will also include the communication of results (oral presentation in national and international conferences and scientific article writing) and the acquisition of procedures and methods to apply for research funding from public and private founders.

Career perspectives

The PhD course in Nanoscience and Advanced Technologies gives an answer to the growing demand for multidisciplinary and advanced scientific and technological skills, not apart from an in-depth knowledge of the application and regulatory fields, including ethical and bioethical issues, all concepts the future researcher will face with in the next future.
Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies represent very important strategic areas for modern technological applications. Due to their typical multidisciplinary and international nature, they can favor collaborations with prestigious international research centers. International scientific collaborations at the highest level are already active among the members of the PhD Teaching Committee.
The job opportunities for a PhD are mainly in the research sector, not only in the University context, in private structures, in large European, national and international research infrastructures, but also in a dense network of companies involved in applied research programs and technological innovation both in Italy and abroad. Nonetheless, the training offered by the PhD course in Nanoscience and Advanced Technologies also opens up new and interesting employment prospects as technology consultants for businesses, officials of government and European agencies, experts in research development, technology transfer and entrepreneurs.

Research topics by curriculum

Morphological and Clinical Nanomedicine
    • Conventional and advanced in vivo imaging techniques for biomedical, experimental, clinical and forensic investigations
    • Advanced microscopy for biomedical and nanobiotechnology applications
    • Imaging techniques for the study of anthropometry and body composition

Forensic Sciences and Technologies
    • New techniques of mass spectrometry applied to chemical-toxicological, forensic and genetic analysis
    • New technologies of capillary electrophoresis and massively parallel sequencing applied to forensic genetic
    • New electrophoretic and electrokinetic technologies in Forensic Science
    • New biomarkers of substance abuse
    • Imaging in Forensic Medicine and Science

Nanomaterials and Chemical, Physical and Analytical Technologies
    • Design and development of nanostructured materials and new contrast media for multimodal imaging
    • Preparation and chemical, physical and electronic characterization of thin films and thin film devices for energy and biomedical applications (i.e. photovoltaic cells, sensors)
    • Preparation and characterization of biocompatible and biodegradable nanomaterials based on biopolymers for biomedical and environmental applications
    • Design and development of luminescent molecules and materials for biomedical and technological applications
    • Preparation and characterization of porous nanostructured materials for energy, environmental and sensing applications
    • Preparation of nanomaterials and characterization of their interactions with biomolecules for application in the biomedical field
    • Physics applied to cultural heritage and environment: optical techniques (interferometry and imaging) for surface metrology and material analysis

 

Course details

Degree type
PhDs
Duration
3 years
Degree class
DOTTORATI - PHD – PhD programmes (university)
Supervisory body
Faculty Board of PhD in Nanoscience and Advanced Technologies
Coordinator
Adolfo Speghini
Information
Administrative Office of the Doctoral School on Natural and Engineering Sciences
Teaching and course administration
Operational unit PhD Unit
Location
VERONA
Altre sedi
University of Verona
Graduate School
PhD Schools Web Page
Main Department
Diagnostics and Public Health
Other Departments
Biotechnology, Computer Science, Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Surgery, Dentistry, Paediatrics and Gynaecology Department of Engineering for Innovation Medicine
Macro area
Natural Sciences and Engineering
Subject area
Sciences and Engineering
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