School of Chemistry
 

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Vincenzo Taresco

Nottingham Research Fellow, Faculty of Science

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Biography

Vincenzo Taresco defended his PhD in 2013 at the University of Rome La Sapienza, with a thesis aimed at the development of different medical platforms based on novel antimicrobial polymers.

From 2014 till 2019 he has been working at the School of Pharmacy of Nottingham. In this period, he has divided the core of his research in the design and synthesis of (multi) responsive polymers, their use in the development of smart drug/gene delivery carriers and their screening through automated high‐throughput methodologies.

In May 2019 he has embarked in a new exciting experience as senior Postdoc under the supervision and mentoring of Prof. Steve Howdle where he will aim to combine the fields of green chemistry, bio-medicine and pharmaceutics.

From September 2022 he started his Nottingham Research Fellowship hosted in the School of Chemistry, working on new functionalised polymers for pharma and biomedical applications from sustainable sources.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE DETAILS

2022- to date: Nottingham Research Fellowship.

2019-2022: Senior Research Officer, School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham under the supervision of Prof Steven M. Howdle.

2014-2019: Research Fellow, School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, under the supervision of Profs Martin Garnett and Cameron Alexander. EPSRC-funded projects 'Understanding polymer - drug interactions and their role in formulation of medicines' and 'Radiotherapy activated materials for enhanced cancer treatments.' Developing functionalised enzymatically synthesised polymers for alternative solid dispersions and nano-platforms for drug delivery. Developing smart multiresponsive biodegradable-polymers with different grafting dock functionalities. Developing novel miniaturised high throughput screening assays for drug delivery systems.

01-07/2013: Visiting PhD researcher in the laboratory of Prof Nicola Tirelli, Pharmacy Department, University of Manchester. Design, synthesis (via ATRP) and application of dopamine-based polymers with antioxidant and antimicrobial features.

Teaching Summary

CHEM4024: within the "Inorganic and Materials Chemistry A" course, delivering Polymer Chemistry part.

CHEM1008: within the "New Frontiers in Chemistry" course, delivering a series of lectures together with Prof Steven Howdle and Dr Daniel Keddie.

Research Summary

The current aim of the group is to create a range of polymers with flexible and tuneable properties that can dramatically improve the drug delivery, tissue engineering and additive manufacturing… read more

Selected Publications

  • LENTZ, JOACHIM C., CAVANAGH, ROBERT, MOLONEY, CARA, PIN, BRUNO FALCONE, KORTSEN, KRISTOFFER, FOWLER, HARRIET R., JACOB, PHILIPPA L., KRUMINS, EDUARDS, CLARK, CHARLOTTE, MACHADO, FABRICIO, BREITKREUZ, NICHOLAS, CALE, BEN, GODDARD, AMY R., HIRST, JONATHAN D., TARESCO, VINCENZO and HOWDLE, STEVEN M., 2022. N-Hydroxyethyl acrylamide as a functional eROP initiator for the preparation of nanoparticles under "greener" reaction conditions POLYMER CHEMISTRY. 13(42), 6032-6045
  • LARDER, RYAN R., KRUMINS, EDUARDS, JACOB, PHILIPPA L., KORTSEN, KRISTOFFER, CAVANAGH, ROBERT, JIANG, LONG, VUOTTO, CLAUDIA, FRANCOLINI, IOLANDA, TUCK, CHRISTOPHER, TARESCO, VINCENZO and HOWDLE, STEVEN M., 2022. Antimicrobial 'inks' for 3D printing: block copolymer-silver nanoparticle composites synthesised using supercritical CO2 POLYMER CHEMISTRY. 13(25), 3768-3779
  • O'BRIEN, DARA M., ATKINSON, RACHEL L., CAVANAGH, ROBERT, PACHECO, ANA A. C., LARDER, RYAN, KORTSEN, KRISTOFFER, KRUMINS, EDUARDS, HADDLETON, ALICE J., ALEXANDER, CAMERON, STOCKMAN, ROBERT A., HOWDLE, STEVEN M. and TARESCO, VINCENZO, 2020. A 'greener' one-pot synthesis of monoterpene-functionalised lactide oligomers EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL. 125,

Current Research

The current aim of the group is to create a range of polymers with flexible and tuneable properties that can dramatically improve the drug delivery, tissue engineering and additive manufacturing fields. Most importantly, this suite of polymers will be built on renewable and degradable materials and will largely be fabricated using natural enzymatic catalysts. These functionalised polymeric nano-delivery devices will be able to encode the optimum drug encapsulation as well as the greatest therapeutic efficacy and, thus, it will provide a step change in available formulation strategies. In addition, these new polymeric platforms will address the lack of novel and sustainable materials needed in the production of the next generation of additive manufacturing devices, drug delivery carriers and in the biofabrication field.

School of Chemistry

University Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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