Ricerc@Sapienza

Nutraceuticals represent complementary or alternative beneficial products to the expensive and high-tech therapeutic tools in modern medicine. Nowadays, their medical or health benefits in preventing or treating different types of diseases is widely accepted, due to fewer side effects than synthetic drugs, improved bioavailability and long half-life. Among herbal and natural compounds, curcumin is a very attractive herbal supplement considering its multipurpose properties.

Since around 50 years ago, the academic world is developing knowledge and technology to understand and to control matter at the nanoscale in order to exploit the peculiar mechanical, electrical, optical and magnetic properties emerging when a discrete number of atoms is assembled in structures which must be described according to the weird rules of quantum mechanics.

Although significant improvements in cancer treatment have led to a longer survival period, the death rate of patients with solid tumours has not changed during the last decades. Most researchers are currently concentrating on defining the mechanisms of the different resistance pathways activated by tumour cells; meanwhile, the role of limited drug distribution within tumours has been neglected.

Electrochemical biosensors provide an attractive means of analyzing the content of a biological sample due to the direct conversion of a biological event to an electronic signal. The signal transduction and the general performance of electrochemical biosensors are often determined by the surface architectures that connect the sensing element to the biological sample at the nanometer scale.

A screen-printed electrode was modified using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and titanium oxide nanoparticles (TiO2), with a bio-based ionic liquid (RTIL) as a drop-casting medium. The RTILs here used have been proved to be useful for immobilizing nanomaterials on the working electrode surface. The proposed platform has been used to analyze extra-virgin olive oils (EVOOs), produced with olives of known cultivar and geographic origin. The EVOOs were produced with the olives that have been collected in the Italian region of Lazio during 2016, 2017 and 2018 harvesting seasons.

A new electroanalytical method has been developed for the determination of polar antioxidant compounds in
extra virgin olive oils. This method is based on the extraction of polar antioxidant compounds from extra-virgin
olive oils by means of a deep eutectic solvent and their determination by a modified screen-printed electrode
platform. The platform sensitivity was increased by modifying the working electrode with MWCNT and TiO2
nanoparticles as modifiers and Nafion as a binder. The platform showed very good sensitivity in detecting polar

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BACKGROUND: Chemical disinfection of surfaces and instruments for infection control in dental units is a relevant practice, especially at the time of antibiotic resistance microbes. Resistant bacteria are in fact, involved in the high incidence of healthcare-acquired infections, recognized as critical emergence in hospitals and clinics around the world.

Nanotechnology has paved the way to innovative food packaging materials and analytical methods to provide the consumers with healthier food and to reduce the ecological footprint of the whole food chain. Combining antimicrobial and antifouling properties, thermal and mechanical protection, oxygen and moisture barrier, as well as to verify the actual quality of food, e.g., sensors to detect spoilage, bacterial growth, and to monitor incorrect storage conditions, or anticounterfeiting devices in food packages may extend the products shelf life and ensure higher quality of foods.

In this work, the fabrication and properties of ultraviolet-sensing films based on hybrid nanomaterials, containing graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) as signal transducer and DNA as UV-sensitive element, are investigated. The sensor components are prepared by sonication-driven non-covalent assembly and are embedded in a polymer matrix for enhanced adhesion on several types of space-grade materials and structures. We show that these nanomaterial sensing films can be used to monitor the effects of UV radiation exposure in real time.