People

Cristina Nativi graduated in chemistry (magna cum laude) at the University of Florence, Italy. Awarded with a grant from the Fond National Suisse, from 1987 to 1989 she worked as research fellow on “naked sugar” in the group of professor Pierre Vogel, at the University of Lausanne (CH). In 1991 she became assistant professor at the University of Florence and in 1993, awarded with a CNR-NATO grant, she moved to the Université de Montrèal (CDN) to study new glycosylation methods in the group of professor Stephen Hanessian.  In 2000 she became associate professor at the University of Florence, where since Feb. 2005, she is full professor of organic chemistry. Awarded in 2019 with the prize of the Organic Division of the Società Chimica Italiana for her researches on Life Sciences and in 2020, she was selected by ACS Omega for the special collection “Women at the Forefront of Chemistry”. Cristina Nativi’s main scientific interests concern: the development of saccharidic anti-pathogens; the design and synthesis of antigen mimetics for immunotherapy; molecular recognition of carbohydrates and the development of saccharidic inhibitors of Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs). 

Oscar Francesconi graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (magna cum laude) at the University of Firenze, Italy, in 2005, where he received his PhD in 2010, working on the development of synthetic receptors for the molecular recognition of carbohydrates. After a period as visiting researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas in Madrid, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Firenze. In 2017 he was appointed as Assistant Professor (RTDA) in organic chemistry and in 2020 as Assistant Professor (RTDB) in tenure track. Currently he is Associated Professor in organic chemistry at the Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff" DICUS of the University of Firenze. His interests are in supramolecular chemistry and physical- organic chemistry, with particular focus on the biomimetic recognition of biological relevant molecules, in particular carbohydrates. He has received a Junior Research Award (2016) from the Italian Chemical Society, and Research Award 2018 from CINMPIS.

Stefano Roelens graduated in chemistry at the University of Roma, Italy in 1976. After five years at Montedison Chemical Company as a research scientist, in 1982 he joined the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), holding a permanent research position in the Centro Composti Eterociclici at the University of Firenze, where he was Project Leader from 1995. He has been research fellow at the University of Montréal (1993), Appointed Professor at the Universities of Messina (1993, 1995) and Firenze (1999, 2002). He has been Senior Scientist of the CNR at Centro Meccanismi di Reazione (CMR, Roma, 1999 – 2001), at Istituto Composti Organometallici (ICCOM, Firenze, 2001 – 2006), and at Istituto Metodologie Chimiche (IMC, Firenze, 2006 – 2015), leading research projects in Supramolecular Chemistry at the Chemistry department of the University of Firenze. From 2015 he is research associate at the Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali (INSTM), at the Chemistry department of the University of Firenze. His recent scientific interests are focused on molecular recognition and self-assembly by hydrogen bonding, design and synthesis of artificial receptors, host-guest interactions, molecular recognition of carbohydrates  

Andrea Sodini graduated in organic chemistry (summa cum laude) from the university of Florence. Currently he is a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Cristina Nativi working on the development of therapeutic vaccine against Triple-Negative breast cancer.

During his first year of PhD, as a visiting student, he spent a period abroad at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal) and at CIC bioGUNE (Derio, Spain) where he studied the interaction between cancer-related lectins and glycomimetics using NMR techniques.

 Livia Guiggi graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (magna cum laude) at University of Pisa in 2024, with an experimental thesis on synthesis and characterization of prodrug inhibitors. In 2024 she spent 6 months at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), working on the synthesis of novel inhibitors for the Keap1/Nrf2 interaction. She is currently a PhD student in Chemical Sciences in Cristina Nativi's group, focusing on synthesis of antimicrobial glycopeptides. 

In September 2019, I enrolled in the undergraduate program "Biology and Chemistry" at the Faculty of Science, University of Split. During my studies, I developed a strong passion for Organic Chemistry, and after obtaining my bachelor's degree in September 2022, I decided to pursue a graduate program in "Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry" at the Faculty of Chemistry and Technology, University of Split. I obtained my master's degree in June 2024. Throughout both my undergraduate and graduate studies, my work primarily focused on organic synthesis and spectroscopic techniques. 

Paula González graduated in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid in 2023 with a thesis in organic synthesis. She obtained a Master's Degree in Synthetic and Industrial Chemistry from the University of the Basque Country in 2024 carrying out a thesis focused on studying the binding properties of different sugars using NMR spectroscopy and MD techniques. Currently, she is a PhD student in Structural Biology in Cristina Nativi's group, focusing her work on the synthesis and characterization of saccharides.

In June 2019, Naufia Mohamedzakaria Shibinasbarveen was enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Chemistry program in Madras Christian College, Tamil Nadu, India. Upon its completion she did Master of Science (Research) in Chemistry in Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence deemed to be University, Delhi NCR, India. During the research program in her masters, she developed her skills on organic syntheses and various spectroscopic techniques. Her research interests primarily include host-guest complexes and supramolecular chemistry.