Biography

Mariano Venanzi, Ph.D., is associate professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ since 1998. He has been guest researcher at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (U.K.), at the Max Planck Institut fur Stromungforschung in Göttingen (Germany), at Melbourne University, Melbourne, (Australia).

The research activity of MV focused on the study of the photophysical properties of biomolecules in solution and in organized phase (liposome, vesicles, membranes), the design and characterization of bio-hybrid materials, the aggregation mechanism of theraputic peptides.

He is author and co-author of more than 150 papers on international peer reviewed journals. He held seminars and invited talks at the Universities of Bologna, Perugia, Padova, Catania, Ecole Normale Superieur in Paris, Technical University of Prague, Bielorussian Academy of Sciences, Melbourne University, Universidad de Coimbra, Tel Aviv University, Universidad de la Habana and at national and international conferences.

Funded Italian projects: FISR2001, PRIN 2001, PRIN2003, PRIN2006, PRIN2008, PRIN2010-2011.

Funded European Projects: Toxin determination in food (FP6), NATO project (UTOV, Technical University of Prague, Byelorussian Academy of Sciences), IRSES Melbourne University, IRSES META Oak Ridge Laboratory (USA), NANOSUPREMI RISE Project (University of Rome Tor Vergata).

H-Index: 28, cit.: > 2400 (Oct 2018)

Full Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy (March 2019)

ACADEMIC and INSTITUTIONAL DUTIES

Board of the Physical Chemistry Division (Italian Chemical Society) for 2007-2009
Board of the Didactic Division (Italian Chemical Society) for 2010-
Chair of the School of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science (UTOV) for 2007-2015
Chair of Italian Chemical Society – Lazio Section (2017-2019)
Chair of The School of Applied Chemistry (2018-2021)

Research Activity

Work in progress

Selected Publications

• Gatto and M. Venanzi. Self-assembled monolayers formed by helical building-blocks: a new tool for bionspired nanotechnology (Review). Polymer J. 1-13 (2013)
• Caruso, E. Placidi, E. Gatto, C. Mazzuca, L. Stella, G. Bocchinfuso, A. Palleschi, F. Formaggio, C. Toniolo and M. Venanzi. Fibers or globules? Tuning the morphology of peptide aggregates from helical building blocks. J. Phys. Chem. B 117, 5448-5459, 2013.
• Gatto, A. Quatela, M. Caruso, R. Tagliaferro, M. De Zotti, F. Formaggio, C. Toniolo, A. Di Carlo and M. Venanzi. Mimicking Nature: A novel peptide-based bio-inspired approach for solar energy conversion. ChemPhysChem 15, 64-68, 2014
• Venanzi, E. Gatto, M. Caruso, A. Porchetta, F. Formaggio, C. Toniolo. Photoinduced Electron Transfer through peptide-based self-assembled monolayers chemisorbed on gold electrodes: Directing the flow-in and flow-out of electrons through peptide helices. J. Phys. Chem. A 118, 6674-6684, 2014.
• I.W. Hamley, S. Kirkham, A. Dehsorki, V. Castelletto, J. Adamcik, R. Mezzenga, J. Ruokolainen, C. Mazzuca, E. Gatto, M. Venanzi, E. Placidi, P. Bilalis, H. Iatrou. Self-assembly of model peptide incorporating a hexa-histidine sequence attached to an oligo-alanine sequence, and binding to gold NTA/Nickel nanoparticles. Biomacromolecules 15, 3412-3420, 2014
• E. Simoncini, F. Caroleo, F. Ceccacci, G. Mancini, M. Stefanelli, R. Paolesse, R. Lettieri, M. Venanzi, D. Monti. Surfactant-induced chirality on reluctant aggregates of a chiral amphiphilic cationic (L)-proline-Zn(II)poprphyrin conjugate in water. RSC Adv. 4, 55362-55366, 2014.
• M. Caruso, E. Gatto, E. Placidi, G. Ballano, F. Formaggio, C. Toniolo, D. Zanuy, C. Aleman and M. Venanzi. A single-residue substitution inhibits fibrillization of Ala-based pentapeptides. A spectroscopic and molecular dynamics investigation. Soft Matter 10, 2508-2519, 2014.
• Vecchi, N.R. Erickson, J.R. Sabin, B. Floris, V. Conte, M. Venanzi, P. Galloni and V.N. Nemykin. Electronic Properties of mono-substituted tetraferrocenyl porphyrins in solution and on a gold surface: Assessment of the influencing factors for photoelectrochemical applications. Chem. Eur. J. 21, 269-279 (2015)
• Scarselli, P. Castrucci, F. De Nicola, I. Cacciotti, F. Nanni, E. Gatto, M. Venanzi and M. De Crescenzi. Applications of three-dimensional carbon nanotubes networks. Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology 6, 792-798 (2015)
• Agresti, S. Pescetelli, E. Gatto, M. Venanzi, A. Di Carlo. Polyiodides formation in solvent based Dye Sensitized Solar Cells under reverse bias stress. Journal of Power Sources 287, 87-95 (2015)
• Gatto and M. Venanzi. The impervious route to peptide-based dye sensitized solar cells. Isr. J. Chem. 2015, 55, 671-681 (2015) (Review)
• Longo, K. Wright, M. Caruso, E. Gatto, A. Palleschi, M. Scarselli, M. De Crescenzi, M. Crisma, F. Formaggio, C. Toniolo and M. Venanzi. Peptide Flatlandia: a new-concept peptide for positioning of electroactive probes in proximity to a metal surface. Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 15495-1506.
• G.M.L. Messina, M. De Zotti, R. Lettieri, E. Gatto, M. Venanzi, F. Formaggio, C. Toniolo nad G. Marletta. Design of Lipidic Platforms Anchored Within Nanometric Cavities by Peptide Hooks. RSC Adv. 6, 46984-46993, 2016
• Sabuzi, M. Tiravia, A. Vecchi, E. Gatto, M. Venanzi, B. Floris, V. Conte and P. Galloni. Deposition of Tetraferrocenylporphyrins on ITO Surfaces for Photo-Catalytic O₂ Activation. Dalton Trans. 45, 14745-14753, 2016.
• Wojnilowicz, M. Tortora, B.G. Bobay, E. Santiso, M. Caruso, L. Micheli, M. Venanzi, S. Menegatti and F. Cavalieri. A Combined Approach for Predicting the Cytotoxic Effect of Drug Nanoaggregates. J. Mat. Chem. B 4, 6516-6523, 2016.
• Lettieri, F. Di Giorgio, A. Colella, R. Magnusson, F. Bjorefors, E. Placidi, A. Palleschi, M. Venanzi and E. Gatto. DPPTE Thiolipid Self-Assembled Monolayer: A Critical Assay. Langmuir 32, 11560-11572, 2016.
• Sabuzi, V. Armuzza, V. Conte, B. Floris, M. Venanzi, P. Galloni and E.Gatto. KuQuinones: A New Class of Quinoid Compunds as Photoactive Species on ITO. J. Mater. Chem. C 4, 622-629, 2016.
• Lettieri, L. Cardova, E. Gatto, C. Mazzuca, D. Monti, A. Palleschi, E. Placidi, P. Drasar and M. Venanzi. Hierarchical Transfer of Chiral Information from the Molecular to the Mesoscopic Scale by Langmuir-Blodgett Deposition of Tetrasteroid-Porphyrins. New J. Chem. 41, 639-649, 2017.
• Venanzi, E. Gatto, F. Formaggio and C. Toniolo. The Importance of Being Aib: Aggregation and Self-Assembly Studies on Conformationally Constrained Oligopeptides. J. Pept. Sci. 23, 104-116 (2017 )(Review)
• Di Napoli, C. Mazzuca, P. Conflitti, M. Venanzi, A. Palleschi. Behavior of a peptide during a Langmuir-Blodgett compression isotherm: a molecular dynamics simulation study. J. Phys. Chem. C 122, 515-521 (2018)
• De Zotti, B. Muzzi, E. Gatto, B. Di Napoli, C. Mazzuca, A. Palleschi, E. Placudi, F. Formaggio, C. Toniolo, M. Venanzi. Tuning the morphology of nanostructured peptide films by the introduction of a secondary structure conformational constraint: A case study of hierarchical self-assembly. J. Phys. Chem. B 122, 6305-6313 (2018)
• J.N.B.D. Pelin, E. Gatto, M. Venanzi, F. Cavalieri, C.L.P. Oliveira, H. Martinho, E.R. Silva, A.M. Aguilar, J.S. Souza, W.A. Alves. Hybrid conjugates formed between gold nanoparticles and an amyloidogenic diphenylalanine-cysteyne peptide. ChemistrySelect 3, 6756-6765 (2018)
• Intrieri, C. Damiano, S. Rizzato, R. Paolesse, M. Venanzi, D. Monti, M. Savioli, M. Stefanelli, E. Gallo. Sensing of diclofenac by a porphryin-based artificial receptor. New J. Chem. 42, 15778-15783 (2018)

Edited Special Issues

• Venanzi, O. N. Oliveira Jr., V. Soldi. Special issue ‘Nano meets Bio’. Mat. Sci. Eng. C 28 465-466 (2008).
• Aleman, A. Bianco and M. Venanzi. Special Issue on ‘Peptide-based materials: from nanostructures to applications’. J. Pept. Sci. 17, 73-74 (2011)
• M. Venanzi and S. Kimura. Special Issue on ‘Peptide Materials’. Polym. J. 45, 467 (2013)
• G. Morelli, C. Toniolo and M. Venanzi. Special Issue on ‘Peptide Materials for Biomedicine and Nanotechnology’. J. Pept. Sci. 20, 451-452 (2014)

Research Books

• Aleman, A. Bianco, M. Venanzi. Peptide Materials: From Nanostructures to Applications. Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, UK, 2013.

Teaching – link to Didattica web