It All Started in Tuscany – Italy

In 2015, he joined the Molecular NanoFabrication group as a PhD student under Prof. Jurriaan Huskens, working on the EU Horizon 2020 ULTRAPLACAD cancer diagnostic consortium. His doctoral research focused on engineering poly-L-lysine surface architectures to enhance signal sensitivity in biosensing.

In 2021, he moved to the University of Groningen as a postdoctoral fellow in the Active Molecular System Lab of Prof. Nathalie Katsonis. Here, he focused his research on stimuli-responsive systems, exploring life-like materials and dynamic soft matter.

He returned to the Molecular NanoFabrication group in 2022 as a postdoctoral fellow under Prof. Jurriaan Huskens and Prof. Albert Wong. His research during this period focused on fabricating complex cell surface mimics and exploring the role of interfaces as active components in Chemical Reaction Networks.

In 2023, he secured an MSCA Global Fellowship (brightLINK) split between Harvard, at the Bioinspired Engineering Research Group with Prof. Joanna Aizenberg, and the University of Padova, at the Systems Chemistry Lab with Prof. Leonard Prins. His work investigated out-of-equilibrium materials, including adaptive hydrogels that communicate and encode locomotion in photoresponsive liquid crystal microstructures.

Starting September 2026, Jacopo begins his independent career as an Assistant Professor (RTT) at the APECS Lab, joining the MOC cluster at the University of Padua. His group focuses on designing functional macromolecules, creating “intelligent” soft matter capable of sensing, decision-making, and actuation, as well as engineering innovative (bio)sensing platforms for daily-life applications.