The program comprises 9 researchers performing multidisciplinary research at the molecular, macromolecular and mesoscopic scales targeting applications in health, technology and the environment.

Current topics include:

• Total synthesis of natural products; design, synthesis and chemical biology of related analogues for applications in life sciences.
• Design and synthesis of small organic molecules for applications in microlithography and organic electronics. Development of cyclodextrin-based multimodal molecular/drug transporters and release systems.
• Development of new biomarkers related to DNA damage, repair mechanisms and lipid transformations.
• Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation of organic and inorganic polymeric nanocontainers as drug delivery systems for targeted therapy. Macromolecular crystallization methods and crystal structure analysis of biomacromolecules.
• Development of new or modified nanomaterials based on electron and nuclear spins (e.g. trapped atoms in silicon-oxide) with long spin coherence times for quantum computing applications.
• Supramolecular synthesis, via self-assembly, of artificial biomimetic light-harvesting functional materials for performing specific light functions e.g., accumulation and tuning in fluorescence, up-conversion of light, electronic energy transfer (EET), EET based sensing systems, molecular machinery, solar energy conversion etc.
• Structural studies and characterization of molecular/supramolecular entities, macromolecules and related nanostructures by high resolution liquid state NMR, pulsed EPR, ENDOR, Raman, UV-Vis, fluorescence emission and FT-IR spectrometers, DLS, as well as AFM, STM and X-ray crystallography.
• Theoretical studies and computational modeling of complex dynamical systems, including nonlinear dynamics, neuron networks (based on MRI, f-MRI and EEG data), bioinformatics and kinetic Monte Carlo methods for stochastic processes.
• Computational studies using semiempirical, density functional and ab-initio methods for the prediction of structural and thermochemical properties of molecular systems with pharmaceutical and environmental interest.
• Numerical study of the magnetic properties and the dynamic behavior of nanostructured materials for energy, environmental and biomedical applications, using multi-scale modeling. The numerical techniques include: ab-initio calculations, Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations.

The program addresses the path from research to innovation in all these strategic topics with a strong commitment to national, European and international competitiveness.