Valentina Cauda

Background

About Valentina Cauda

I lead a research group in nanomedicine with> 20 people at Politecnico di Torino, Dept. of Applied Science and Technology. The group was founded in 2016 as the TrojaNanoHorse Lab (in brief TNHLab) when I got my first ERC Starting Grant. As main research we develop theranostic nanoparticles, from wet-chemical synthesis, chemical functionalization and physical-chemical characterization of metal oxide nanomaterials to drug delivery, stimuli-responsive activation for triggering cancer cell death, tumor cell targeting, and bio-imaging. Materials like zinc oxide, mesoporous silica, titania and metal (gold, silver) nanostructures are investigated. These NPs are then made biomimetic by coating them with either artificial and natural derived phospholipids, in particular those originating from extracellular vesicles (EVs). We are also is expert in the isolation of EVs, their re-engineering or even their fully artificial biomimicking for obotaining advanced drug delivery and nanoimaging vehicles. More info at the web-site: Since 2021 I'm co-founder and sicentific advisor of the Start-up U-Care Medical, to study, monitor and predict the insurgence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in critically hill patients. More info at: http://u-caremedical.com/.