The project which includes my research activity is about the deposition of films of organic molecules and biomolecules on inorganic substrates in order to develop sensitive and selective biosensors. In particular, I’m studying the functionalization of gold substrates with ultrathin films of DNA.

The aim of the research is to develop a biosensor able to detect specific nucleotides sequences (for example, short RNA sequences associated to pathologies or virus) or to recognize cancer biomarkers (through the immobilization of sensitive proteins), exploiting the hybridization mechanism between complementary strands of nucleic acids.

The main investigation methods are scanning probe nanolithography (through atomic force microscope), spectroscopic ellipsometry and X-Rays photoelectron spectroscopy, that allow to obtain information about structural, optical and chemical properties of the analyzed films.