Her work includes multiple research papers, most of them as part of broad working groups with high female participation. In her current research group, there are other female researchers that stand out in their field, like Eleonora Macchia or Brigitte Holzer. There are other contemporary investigators in the working group that published the relevant paper on molecule detector transistors, like Nicoletta Ditarano or Rosaria Anna Picca.
Review
She graduated in physics and is now a doctor and professor in applied chemistry. She has participated in the development of a millimetric transistor (SiMoT) capable of measuring a single protein molecule. The development of SiMoT has been carried out between her university, Aldo Moro in Bary, the University of Brescia and the INSTM Consortium.
Biosensors are mechanisms capable of transforming biochemical information into a quantitative signal, giving great information at clinical laboratory or research level.
The development of these systems might revolutionise medical diagnosis, since said molecules might be bioindicators of certain pathologies, and they might be detected in a small amount of a biological fluid.
Activities
Justifications
Graduated in physics with a PhD in Chemistry, and professor at University of Bari, she was the first woman to be president of the European Material Research Society.
She is the only woman to have received the H.E. Merck award.
She researches bioconductors and printable organic sensors and, more specifically, she has developed the biotransistor known as SiMoT, used for clinical diagnosis.
Biography
She was born in Bari in 1964 and graduated in physics in 1989 from the University of Bari. In 1993 she obtained her PhD in chemistry in that same university. She completed her post-doctorate works between 1994 and 1996 at Bell Labs in the United States, where she conducted investigations on organic transistors that today are the basis for most of her research. After her stay in the US, she came back to Italy, where she is a professor of chemistry. She has been a senior lecturer of chemistry at University of Bari since 2005.
She was also a visiting professor at French universities Anger and Paris 7 during 2005 and 2006. Since 2017, she is an associate lecturer at Abo Academy University in Finland.
As a research professor, she has developed biotransistors, which have awarded her several prizes and recognitions. Among them, being the only woman to ever receive the Merck award, in 2010. She is a member of the Italian government programme Horizon 2020, which aims to develop biotransistors, since 2014. In 2016 she is elected president of the EMRS (European Material Research Society).
In her current working group there are many young female post-doctorate researchers that are starting to stand out in the bioelectronics field. Besides being a referent as a researcher, she is an active educator and a great motivation to young scientists, as it proves her Twitter profile.
Works
Her work consists of countless research papers, as well as many participations in textbooks. Among her papers, the following can be highlighted due to their great number of references:
CIOFFI, N, TORSI, L. et al. “Copper nanoparticle/polymer composites with antifungal and bacteriostatic propierties” (2005) en Chemistry of Materials, 17-21, pp. 5255-5262.
TORSI, LUISA, et al. “Organic field-effect transistor sensors: a tutorial review" (2013) en Chemical Society Reviews, 42.22 pp 8612-8628.
TORSI, LUISA, et al. "A sensitivity-enhanced field-effect chiral sensor." (2008) en Nature materials 7.5 pp. 412-417.
