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Meet the Team

Curriculum Vitae
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Prof. Federico Polo obtained the Laurea in Industrial Chemistry in 2003 and the PhD in Chemical Sciences in 2007 at the University of Padova under the supervision of Prof. Flavio Maran. His research area focused on molecular electrochemistry and electron transfer mechanism in molecular model systems based on donor/acceptor redox moieties connected by a peptide bridge. 

As PhD student and postodoctoral fellow, he spent several research stay abroad (USA, Canada, Germany, France) to develop his own research line and hone his skills.

Currently, his scientific interests and activities in the field of molecular electrochemistry concern electron transfer mechanism and electrogenerated chemiluminescence, electroluminescent devices, and biosensing platforms for precision medicine. 

 

ERC sectors: PE4 (1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 17); PE5 (6, 7); LS7 (3, 10)

 

At Ca' Foscari University of Venice he is currently teaching the following courses:

  • Toward next generation of biosensing platforms: integrating molecular recognition and nanostructure architectures within opto-electronic devices for the PhD students of Chemistry, and Science and Technology of Bio and Nanomaterials.

  • Bioanalytical chemistry for undergraduate students of MSc in Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry

  • Analytical chemistry for undergraduate students of BSc in Chemistry for Cultural Heritage

  • Light and matter, vision and imaging. In the framework of the “Minor” course series offered to all the undergraduate students of all academic curricula.

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Education

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  • 2007, March 20. Doctorate Degree in Chemical Sciences, University of Padova. Thesis: “Electron Transfer to and through Peptides and Characterization of Related Self-Assembled Monolayers”. Thesis Advisor: Prof. Flavio Maran

  • 2003, July 17. Laurea in Industrial Chemistry, University of Padova . Thesis: “Effect of the Distance on the Electron Transfer through Donor-Oligopeptides-Acceptor Systems”. Thesis Advisor: Prof. Flavio Maran

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Appointments

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  • 2021, December 21 – present. Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, ITALY

  • 2018, December 21 – 2021, December 20. Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, ITALY

  • 2015, September 16 – 2018, December 20. Senior Researcher and Group Leader, Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology Division, IRCCS Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di Aviano – National Cancer Institute, Aviano, ITALY

  • 2014, January 1 – 2015, September 15. Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemical Sciences (Molecular Electrochemistry and Nanosystems group), University of Padova, ITALY 

  • 2012, March 1 – 2013, December 31. Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemical Sciences (Molecular Electrochemistry and Nanosystems group), University of Padova, ITALY 

  • 2011, February 1 – 2012, January 31. Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemical Sciences (Molecular Electrochemistry and Nanosystems group), University of Padova, ITALY 

  • 2009, March 2 – 2011, January 31. Postdoctoral Fellow, Physikalisches Institut (De Cola’s Research Group), Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, GERMANY

  • 2008, January 28 – December 14. Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Applied Sensors Laboratory), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.

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Visiting Scholar

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  • 2023, May 1 - December 31. Visiting Scholar, Institut de Physique et de Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg (IPCMS, Dr. Matteo Mauro’s Research Group). Strasbourg,, FRANCE

  • 2018, October 1-19. Visiting Scientist, Department of Chemistry (Masson’s Research Group). University of Montreal, QC, CANADA

  • 2016, September 1-16. Visiting Scientist, Department of Chemistry (Masson’s Research Group). University of Montreal, QC, CANADA

  • 2012, July 23 – August 31. Visiting Scholar, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Rusling’s Research Group). University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.

  • 2007, August 3 – September 23. Visiting Scientist, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Whitesides Research Group). Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

  • 2005, March 21 – October 31. Visiting Student, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Applied Sensors Laboratory) . Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.

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Additional Professional Experience

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  • 2023, November – present. Delegate for the International Relations of the Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

  • 2022, January – present. Board member of the International PhD Program in Chemistry, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

  • 2021, September – present. Coordinator for the Minor courses “Science and Senses” at the Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

  • 2020, December – present. Coordinator of the Erasmus Committee for Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

  • 2020, May – present. Member of the Teaching Committee for MSc in Chemistry and Sustainable Technologies at the Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

  • 2008, December 22 – 2012, December 31. Consulting Scientist, Radiation Shield Technologies (RST), Miami, FL, USA. Consulting activities for RST, world leading company in the research, design, and production of personal protection systems for ionizing and nuclear radiation

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Achievements

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  • 2021, July 9. Tenure successfully completed.

  • 2020, Habilitation as Associate Professor in

    • Analytical Chemistry, CHIM01 (2020, November 12 – 2029, November 12)

    • Chemical Fundamentals of Technologies, CHIM07 (2020, November 4 – 2029, November 4)

    • Physical Chemistry, CHIM02 (2020, October 27 – 2029, October 27)

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Grants/Awards

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  • 2023. “Engineering Functional Metal Nanocluster-Protein Architectures for Bio(sensing and catalytic) applications” (ProNano4Bio), funded € 200.000,00 by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) in the framework of call "Projects of Relevant National Interest" (PRIN) 2022 under the agreement 2022RSXC9X. Prof. Polo is the PI of one of the four operative units coordinated by Prof. Sara Bonacchi (University of Padova).

  • 2021. “Therapeutic and Illegal Drugs’ Electroluminescent Detection” (TIDE), funded € 50.000,00 by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in October 2021 through its own initiative call Supporting Principal Investigators (SPIN), aiming at attracting and funding outstanding talents. 

  • 2020. “Best publication” award 2019 for the article appeared in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., funded 2,000.00 € by the Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. October 14, 2020. 

  • 2019. Project “Nanoarchitecture-based biosensors for therapeutic drug monitoring in oncology: toward precision and personalized medicine”, start-up grant funded (20 k€) by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. End date: June 2021.

  • 2017. Project (QU17MO06) “Instrument for rapid screening of breast cancer” in the framework of the international collaboration between Québec and Italy, funded (~20 k€) by the Ministry of Foreign Affair (Italy) and Ministère des Relations Internationales et de la Francophonie (Québec). Dr. Federico Polo and Prof. Masson (Université de Montréal) are the principal investigators of the collaborative project. End date: May 31, 2019.

  • 2017. “Nano Diagnostic and Automated Therapeutic Tools for Oncology” (NADIA Tools), funded € 829,366.01 by the Region Friuli-Venezia-Giulia within the call POR-FESR 2014-2020 - Smart Health. Within the partners’ consortium, Dr Federico Polo is the group leader of the operative unit working at the National Cancer Institute (€ 400,255.00, 20% of which is co-funded by CRO). End date: April 5, 2019. 

  • 2015. Finalist group leader candidate at the BioMedX Bootcamp “Nanomaterial-Based Biosensors for Near-Patient Testing”, sponsored by Roche Diagnostics and held in Heidelberg on June 11-15, 2015. Only 17 candidates (4 group leaders, 13 researchers) were selected among over 600 applicants.

  • 2013. Recipient of the Senior Research Fellowship for the project entitled “Molecular Electrochemistry for Cancer Diagnostics” (€21.304/year), granted by the University of Padova in December 2013 through the call “Giovani Studiosi”. Project timeframe: January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2015.

  • 2012. The postdoctoral fellowship (2012-2013) at the University of Padova was granted by AIRC (Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro) “5 per mille” under the grant agreement 12214 for the project entitled “Application of Advanced Nanotechnology in the Development of Innovative Cancer Diagnostics Tools”

  • 2011. The postdoctoral fellowship (2011-2012) at the University of Padova was granted by Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (M. I. U. R.) under the agreement of P.R.I.N. (Project of Relevant National Interest) 20098Z4M5E for the project entitled “Synthesis of Nanometer-Size Gold Particles and their Functionalization with Peptides for Biotechnological Applications”

  • 2009. The postdoctoral fellowship (2009-2010) at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster was sponsored through the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under the grant agreement 212311 of the project entitled “Organic Nanomaterial for Electronics and Photonics (ONE-P)”

  • 2003. The Ph. D. fellowship was granted by Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (M. I. U. R.) under the agreement of P.R.I.N. (Project of Relevant National Interest) 2003035241 for the project entitled “Peptides-Controlled Charge Transfer in Biomimetic Systems”

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Editorial activity

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Peer Reviewer

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  • American Chemical Society: Journal of the American Chemical Society, Analytical Chemistry, ACS Sensors, ACS Pharmacology&Translational Science. 

  • American Association for Clinical Chemistry: Clinical Chemistry.

  • Elsevier: Electrochimica Acta, Current Opinion in Electrochemistry, Sensors & Actuators B: Chemical. 

  • Royal Society of Chemistry: Chemical Society Review, Analyst, Chemical Communications, New Journal of Chemistry, Dalton Transactions. 

  • MDPI: Sensors, Biosensors.

  • Springer: Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry.

  • Wiley: Angewandte Chemie, Electroanalysis.

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Languages

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Italian (native speaker), English (fluent), German (beginner), French (beginner)

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Memberships

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  • Società Chimica Italiana (SCI), member ID 20261, 2003 – present

  • International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE), member ID 14573, 2014 – present

  • Electrochemical Society (ECS), member ID 334198, 2015 – present

  • BioMed X Alumni (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/BioMed-X-Alumni-4988894/about), 2015 – present

  • American Ceramic Society (ACerS), member ID 2008181, 2020 – present

  • European Centre for Living Technology (ECLT) at Ca’ Foscari University, 2020 – present

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