Gerardo Palazzo is Full Professor in Physical-Chemistry at the University of Bari.

He currently holds the position of Director of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bari for the four-year period 2022-2026.

He is appointed of courses of “physical chemistry 1” for the BS in Chemistry and “industrial physical chemistry” for the MS in Industrial Chemistry of the University of Bari.

He was Deputy Director of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bari (from 2013 to 2018) and Director of the same department for the four-year period 2019-2022.

He is a member of the Council of the PhD program in Chemical and Molecular Sciences at the University of Bari.

He was the group leader of the Bari Research Unit in several Italian and EU Research Projects.

He has published more than 200 papers in international peer reviewed journals and books (for a list his ISI papers see http://www.researcherid.com/rid/G-9030-2011 , https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7005681815

and also http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yI1qSjYAAAAJ ) .

His main research activities deal with

I) development of new experimental and theoretical approaches for the comprehension of surfactant based systems (micelles, microemulsions and lipid vesicles), II) development of biosensors, III) interactions between proteins and lipids or surfactants.

Nationality Italian

Education 1988 Laurea Degree (BS+MS) in Chemistry from the University of Bari

2004 Ph.D. in Applied Biochemistry and Chemistry from the University of Molise

Research areas - membrane mimetic systems and membrane proteins– surfactant systems - Molecular diffusion. -PGSE-NMR –Dynamic Light Scattering –biosensors

Professional Experience

1989-1990 invited scientist at Institut für Polymere - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) of Zürich

1991-2005 Assistant professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Bari

1996-2001 Short-term guest at the Department Physical-Chemistry 1- Lund University-Sweden

2003-2005 Group leader of the Bari research unit of a PRIN03 project financed by the Italian Research Ministry

2002-2005 member of the board of the Faculty of Science, University of Bari

2005-2017 Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Bari

2005-2007 Group leader of the Bari research unit of a PRIN05 project financed by the Italian Research Ministry

2008-present member of the Chemistry of Advanced Materials Ph.D. Council, University of Bari.

2010-2012 Group leader of the Bari research unit of a PRIN08 project financed by the Italian Research Ministry

2010-2015 President of the degree courses (BS+MS) in Chemistry, University of Bari

2012-2017 Member of the Physical Chemistry Division Council of the Italian Chemical Society

2012-2018 Group leader of the Bari research unit of a PRIN2010 project financed by the Italian Research Ministry

2013-2018 deputy Director of the Department of Chemistry, University of Bari

10-07-2017 Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Bari

1-10-2017 WP leader of the H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 project BIOCLEAN

2018-2021 Member of the national commission for the evaluation of the scientific qualification to function as associate or full professor in Physical Chemistry (ASN SC 03/A2).

1-11-2018 Director of the Department of Chemistry, University of Bari

Major Scientific contributions

- First use of Hetero Sandwich Immunoassay as tool to probe the composition of the Extracellular Vesicles membranes (ACS Omega 2025, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.4c09363 )

- Delucidation of the mechanism of surfactant interactions with coronaviruses (J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2024, , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2024.02.088 ) .

- Extension of the HLD framework to cationic ammonium surfactants (JCIS Open 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jciso.2021.100033 )

- first demonstration that metallic nanoparticles synthesized through laser ablation are stabilized by an excess of electrons. (J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2016.09.017 )

- first demonstration that detection at high ionic strength in electrolyte-gated OFET sensors is due to the capacitance of Donnan’s layer. (Adv. Mater. 2015, 27, 911-916. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201403541)

- Single-molecule detection with a millimetre-sized transistor (Nat. Commun. 2018, 9,3223 | DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05235-z )

- first demonstration that metallic nanoparticles synthesized through laser ablation are stabilized by an excess of electrons. (J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2016.09.017 )

-for the first time it was demonstrated that the response of sensitive water gated OFET sensors relies on subtle changes of capacitance (Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 6010 doi: 10.1038/ncomms7010)

- for the first time, an experimental correlation between rheological properties and the presence of branches in solution of wormlike micelles has been demonstrated. Soft Matter 2012, 8, 10941-10949 Corresponding author.

- For the first time biological structures have been integrated into an organic thin film transistor preserving both biological functionality and exceptional electronic performances. The streptavidin-containing device allows label-free biotin electronic detection at 10 part-per-trillion concentration level (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2012, 109, 6429–6434. Corresponding author; Biosensors Bioelectronics 2012. DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2012.07.068 Corresponding author)

- Optical biosensors based on proteins immobilized in polyelectrolyte multilayers (J. Phys.Chem. B 2007, 111, 3304-3314 Corresponding author; Biosensors Bioelectronics 2010, 25, 2033-2037; Sensors Actuators B 2012, 163, 69-75)

- - room temperature ionic liquids tune the spontaneous curvature of AOT films (J. Phys. Chem. B 2009, 113, 9216-9225. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2011, 13, 9238-9245)

- The role of protein dynamics in the electron transfer was studied at room temperature in photosynthetic proteins by incorporating the protein in sugar glasses (Biophys. J., 2002, 82, 558-568 Corresponding author; Biophys. J. 2003, 85, 2760-2775; BBA-Bioenergetics 2004, 1658, 50-57; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 10240-10246; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 9353-9363. Corresponding author)

- combination of PGSE-NMR and SAXS allow the complete characterization of the micelles in multicomponents systems (Langmuir 2005, 21: 6717-6725 Corresponding author. J. Phys.Chem. B 2007, 111, 7184-7193 Corresponding author).

- the formation supercomplexes among proteic complexes (viz. reaction center and light-harvesting complex I) in photosynthetic membranes increases the efficiency of light induced electron transfer (Biochemistry 2004, 43, 14199-14210)

- quantitative evaluation of the effect of cosurfactant on the microstructure of reverse micelles (J. Phys. Chem. 1996, 100, 3190-3198; J. Phys. Chem. B 2003 107, 1924-1931; Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2004, 6, 1423-1429; Colloid Surface A 2004, 237, 49-59); Corresponding author of all the papers.

- first experimental report on liquid-liquid phase separation of a surfactant-solubilized membrane protein (Phys. Rev. Letters, 2003, 90, article n. 208101.).

- structure, dynamics and phase behaviour of phospholipid/water/oil systems (J. Phys. Chem. B 1998, 102, 2883-2889 Corresponding author; Langmuir, 1999, 15, 1679 1684 Corresponding author; Langmuir 2000, 16, 2124-2132 TC 42; ; Langmuir 2004, 20, 619-631 Corresponding author; Langmuir 2005, 21, 140-148 Corresponding author ).

- first experimental measurements of surfactant curvilinear diffusion in giant wormlike micelles (Phys. Rev. Letters 1998, 81, 2823-2826.)

- the dynamics of shear-induced ordering and of the subsequent relaxation was studied on wormlike reverse micelles: First time resolved SANS study on the relaxation (J. Phys. Chem. B 2002, 106, 2426-2428). First time-resolved deuterium NMR study (J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 10325-10328). ordering oscillation under shear experimentally observed for the first time (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010,12, 8856-8862). detailed rheological analysis Soft Matter 2010, 6, 1769 – 1777).

- intraproteins electron transfer kinetics can be described as a cumulant expansion giving easily meaningful kinetic parameters (Biophys. J., 2000, 79, 1171-1179 Corresponding author)..

Professional Activities

Consultant of the Company Sanofi/Eurapi for biopolymer processing issues

Consultant of the Company Procter&Gamble (Brussel Innovation Center) for colloidal stability issues

Consultant of the Company FATER for colloidal stability issues

Consultant of the Company ITALFARMACO for drug-delivery issues

Consultant of the Company Unilever (R&D Port Sunlight) for personal care formulations

Expert independent reviewer for the Italian Research Ministry (PRIN and FIRB projects).

Expert independent reviewer for the Israel Science Foundation

Expert independent reviewer for the Swiss National Science Foundation

Section Editor (Formulations and Cosmetics) of Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science - Elsevier

Regularly serves as a referee for a number of international journals, including JACS, Langmuir, Soft Matter, PCCP, JPC; Adv Mat.

Teaching

His teaching activity was addressed to the students of the BS in Chemistry, Materials Science and (in the past) Biotechnology and to the Chemistry MS students.

Courses

1996/97 “Chemical kinetics” five-years (BS+MS) degree in Chemistry
1997/98 “Chemical kinetics and molecular dynamics” five-years (BS+MS) degree in Chemistry
1998-2005 “Physical chemistry of colloids and interfaces" five-years (BS+MS) degree in Chemistry
2000-02 "Laboratory of Physical chemistry III" five-years (BS+MS) degree in Chemistry
2002-05 "Physical chemistry III" five-years (BS+MS) degree in Chemistry
2003-2010 "Laboratory of Biophysical Chemistry" BS in Chemistry
2004-06 “Physical chemistry of Biotechnological Processes " BS in Biotechnology

2006-08 “Colloids in Technology” BS in Material Science

2008-present “Colloids & Interfaces” BS in Material Science

2009-2019 “Physical Chemistry of Materials and Surfaces” MS in Chemistry

2010-present “Physical Chemistry 1” BS in Chemistry

2019-2021 “Physical Chemistry of Formulations” MS in Chemistry

2022-to present “Industrial Physical Chemistry” MS in Industrial Chemistry

Memberships: Società Chimica Italiana, European Colloids & Interfaces Society

Funding ID

MUR PRIN2022PNRR project P2022ZAHJY – LOST ( PI Bari unit)

H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016 project 722871"BIOfilm management and CLEANing by leveraging fundamental understanding of biological, chemical and physical combined approaches” –Bioclean- (role WP leader).

PON02_00576_3329762 AMIDERHA sistemi avanzati mini-invasivi di diagnosi e radioterapia (role Principal Investigator of the Department of Chemistry research unit) 2012-2015

Italian MIUR ministry PRIN 2010-2011 Project 2010BJ23MN “Nanostructured Soft Matter : from Fundamental Research to Novel Applications” (role Principal Investigator of the University of Bari research unit)

FP7-PEOPLE-2013, “Organic Bioelectronics” ORGBIO, Project ID: 607896, (role Investigator)

FP7 – PEOPLE – 2012 – ITN. “OFET biosensors for point-of-care applications” – Sense-of-care, Project ID 316845 (role Investigator)

FP7 - ICT-2009-3.3-Flexible, Organic and Large Area Electronics: “Electrolyte-Gated Organic Field-Effect Biosensor – BioEGOFET, Project ID 248728 –(role: Investigator)

Italian MIUR ministry PRIN 08 Project 2008ZWHZJT “Structure-Dynamics-Function of Biomolecules in Systems Far from Thermodynamic Ideality” (role Group Leader of the University of Bari research unit)

2007-2009 Consorzio Interuniversitario per lo Sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase (CSGI) Consultancy Research Contract on personal care formulations (role Principal Investigator)

Italian MIUR ministry PRIN 05 Project 2005027011 “Dynamical, Structural and Functional Properties of Proteins Embedded in Non-Liquid Systems Containing Residual Water: Coupling with the External Matrix” (role Principal Investigator of the University of Bari research unit)

Italian MIUR ministry PRIN 03 Project 2003022158 “Novel Biosensors Based on Immobilised Neuroreceptors” (role Principal Investigator of the University of Bari research unit)

2002-2004 Consorzio Interuniversitario per lo Sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase (CSGI) Consultancy Research Contract on drug delivery formulations (role Principal Investigator)

2000-2003 University of Bari, yearly research grants (role Coordinator).

Dipartimento di Chimica

Sito Web:

Responsabile struttura:

Personale complessivo (75)