Fashinated by the unique brightness, photostability offered by Quantum Dots to study cell and tissue dynamics, in vivo, she also understood that unfunctionalized NPs can elicit unexpected behavioural responses in treated animals, proving the necessity to study the bio-non bio interactions when designing nanodevices for biological applications

Beside basic investigations on key pathways controlling development and cell differentiation using conventional approaches of cell and molecular biology, the novelty of our research is the development and the use of nanoparticle-based methods to probe biological functions, in particular the mechanisms of stem cell differentiation

In the frame of numerous collaborations, our studies are at the interface between nanochemists demanding new systems to test biocompatibility, bioactivity and toxicity of new nanomaterials and biologists, demaning new advanced tools to probe complex networks and phenomena underlying life.

Research Grants secured

Project coordinator: Beneficiary of MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS Individual Fellowships (IF-2014). Principal investigator: Maria Moros Caballero (University of Zaragoza).  “Profiling gene expression in Hydra vulgaris following Gold Nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermia” (HyHeat) (2015-2017)

Team Leader: NanoSciERAnet project NANOTRUCK: “Multifunctional gold nanoparticles for gene therapy” (2009-2012)

Project coordinator: ITALY-ISRAEL Joint Innovation Program for Scientific and Technological Cooperation in R&D

Project: “Impact of engineered nanoparticles on aquatic invertebrates: from nanoecotoxicology to advanced fluorescence imaging” (2012-2014)                                                                           

Go to: Why Hydra?

The NanoBiomolecular group was established in 2007 at Istituto di Cibernetica “ E.Caianiello”, CNR by Claudia Tortiglione. She exploited for the first time the possibility to use cnidarian organisms as model systems to elucidate the complex interactions between metal based nanocrystals and living matter.

Hydra nerve net