The project aims at developing hybrid systems combining the ultralow energy, speed, and control of plasmonic opto-heating with the unique property of nanoscale graded magnetic metamaterials to display magnetic phase transitions across precisely engineered critical temperatures. 

HiMat focuses on the development of hybrid layered materials (HLMs) with tailored physical  properties and their integration in lab-scale devices for opto- and spin- electronics or quantum computing. By taking advantage from the chemical flexibility of organic molecules, HiMat explores tailored HLMs obtained through a top-down approach as intercalated compounds and through a bottom-up approach as organic-inorganic metal-halide perovskites.

The objectives of the project include establishing correlative nano-FTIR, TERS, and TEPL spectroscopy, studying industrially relevant polymers, exploring organic conductors' conductivity, and investigating phonon polaritons in 2D materials. The project targets developing advanced near-field spectroscopy instrumentation and achieving vibrational strong coupling in nanoresonators and molecular vibrations.

CARDIOPRINT is born with the ambition of shaping a quantum leap in the fields of Additive Manufacturing and Biofabrication of therapeutic human cardiac tissues, at both the technological and applicative levels. The overall concept of this enterprising project is to develop a new multifunctional additive manufacturing technology able to provide the sufficient accuracy for the manufacturing of human tissues at an organ scale for the first time. 

This project aims at establishing s-SNOM as a platform technology for label-free ultrastructural pathology. s-SNOM is an emerging technique -- co-developed at nanoGUNE -- that beats the diffraction limit and allows for obtaining infrared images with nanoscale spatial resolution. Applied to ultrathin cell sections, s-SNOM will allow for an unprecedented view on the chemical composition of the interior of a cell that cannot be easily calculated nor measured. Thus, s-SNOM will provide a reference data set that will help to validate already existing medical application of infrared microscopy and may even lead to the discovery of new nano-IR biomarkers.
 

A unique combination of features in a single focused ion beam electron microscope. 

Microbes use surface proteins to infect hosts, with bacterial adhesins, like long filaments, crucial for attachment, resisting mechanical forces from pico to nanoNewtons. This resistance is vital for anchoring in shear-rich environments like urinary tract infections. Understanding the link between adhesin mechanical resistance, attachment ability, and pathogenicity remains incomplete. The proposal aims to study Staphylococcus aureus mechanics in active endocarditis, exploring adhesin proteins Clumping factor A (ClfA) and Fibronectin-binding protein A (FnBPA) connections to infection. Techniques span atomic force spectroscopy, magnetic tweezers, and clinical S aureus strains, seeking to correlate pathogenicity with adhesin mechanics and discover molecules to prevent infections, contributing to Mechanopharmacology.

This project aims to leverage our expertise in surface functionalization and hybrid material fabrication to develop new systems for diagnostics, energy conversion, and food packaging. Our capabilities include synthesizing 0D materials (nanoparticles) and 2D materials (atomic scale thin films) and modifying surfaces with hybrid materials to introduce or enhance chemical and physical properties. Our focus will be on developing innovative materials with exciting applications in biomedical diagnostics and therapies, and concepts for enhancing common polymers used for intelligent food packaging in the future.

Among the ultimate goals of materials science is the fabrication of materials with on-demand capabilities, which could improve current technologies and inspire novel device concepts. Molding2D uses the chemical programmability of molecules to manipulate the intrinsic physical properties of 2D Materials, reaching a controllable tuning of 2D ferromagnetism and superconductivity. By combining a device approach with spectroscopic and structural characterization, Molding2D is the demonstration that molecule/2D Material interfaces constitute an ideal experimental platform to design novel materials with programmable functions.