This is who we are

a collaborative environment is key and we share it with great people

Prof. Armando Carlone

associate professor

Armando was born in 1979 in Campobasso, Italy.
In 2003, he graduated in industrial chemistry at the Università di Bologna – Alma Mater Studiorum (Italy). Following a fellowship in 2004, he pursued a PhD in chemistry at the Università di Bologna – Alma Mater Studiorum in asymmetric organocatalysis, under the supervision of Prof. Paolo Melchiorre and the direction of Prof. Giuseppe Bartoli. In 2006, he spent a 9-month stay working with Prof. Karl Anker Jørgensen at the “Center for Catalysis”, Århus University (Denmark).

In 2008, he moved to Edinburgh (UK) to join Prof. Dave Leigh as a postdoc and, in 2009, he won a Marie Curie Intra European fellowship (SupramolOrganocat ) to work in the same group on a project at the interface of organocatalysis, supramolecular chemistry, and molecular motors.

In 2011, he then joined pharma industry with Dr. Reddy’s (Cambridge, UK), developing new, innovative and cost-efficient processes for APIs, using cutting-edge chemistry, ranging from biocatalysis to chemocatalysis, from organocatalysis to flow chemistry. At Dr. Reddy’s, he was also responsible for external collaborations for the UK Cambridge site.

During his career, Armando was responsible for international relationships and board member of ADI – Association of PhD candidates and holders of Italy (2006-2008), board member of EURODOC – European Council of doctoral candidates and young researchers (2007-2008), member of the Society of Chemical Industry Young Chemists’ Panel (2012-2016), Cambridge Pint of Science coordinator (2014-2016), and was also lead scientist at Dovetailed (2016).

Armando eventually returned to academia and to Italy when he was appointed associate professor in organic chemistry at the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila on 1st September 2017.

Currently Editorial Board Member of Tetrahedron Green Chem and Catalysts.

Dr Fabio Pesciaioli

fixed-term researcher type A

Fabio was born in 1982 in Narni, Italy. He earned a B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry in 2005 under the supervision of Prof. Rosini and Prof. Righi with a thesis entitled “Betti’s Amines: synthesis, characterization and study of some properties”. In 2007, he earned a M.Sc. in Products, Materials and Processes for Industrial Chemistry in the group of Prof. Bartoli under the supervision of Prof. Paolo Melchiorre with a thesis on Organocatalytic Asymmetric Addition to α,β-unsaturated ketones through iminium-ion activation”.

In 2008, he started his doctoral studies in the same group under the supervision of Prof. Giuseppe Bartoli and Prof. Paolo Melchiorre focusing on Asymmetric Organocatalysis. During his PhD, he spent 8 months in Prof. Dr Rueping Group at RWTH Aachen University working on the design and synthesis of new Brønsted acids. In 2011, he earned his PhD in Chemical Sciences with an organic chemistry thesis entitled “Asymmetric Aminocatalisys: a modern strategy for molecules, challenges and life”.

In 2011, Fabio started his first postdoc in Prof. Dr Benjamin List group at Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung, where he worked on Brønsted and Lewis acid based organocatalysis and on the synthesis of new metal-free motifs for achieving ppm catalyst loading transformations.
After a research stay as a Cariplo Fellow at Pavia University in the group of Prof. Zanoni, working on the merging of organocatalysis and metal-catalysis, he joined the group of Prof. Lutz Ackermann at Göttingen University focusing mainly on asymmetric C-H activation using catalytic amounts of 3d transition metal based catalysts. While working on this research field, he developed a new family of chiral Brønsted Acids able to enantioselectively induce the protodemetalation of Cobaltate intermediates on high oxidation state.

In July 2020, he was appointed as fixed-term researcher (RTDa) at the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, working on organocatalytic eco-friendly transformations and C-H activation.

CURRENT GROUP MEMBERS

Maria Edith Casacchia

PhD candidate

(M.Sc. : Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Italy)

Maria Edith was born in 1996 in Castel di Sangro, Italy. She obtained both her B.Sc. (2018) and M.Sc. (2020) degrees in Chemistry at the “Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna” under the supervision of Prof. Daria Giacomini. In 2021, she worked for 4 months as lab analyst at Revlon Inc., in Bologna. In the same year, she started her PhD in Sustainable Development and Climate Change (coordinated by IUSS Pavia, Italy) at the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila in our lab.

Emanuele Cocco

PhD candidate

(M.Sc. : Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy)

Emanuele was born in Rome in 1994, and graduated from Sapienza Università di Roma (B. Sc. 2017 and M. Sc. 2019), under the supervision of Prof. Antonella Dalla Cort.
Following his passion, he moved to Tohoku University to work as a research fellow under the supervision of Prof. Yujiro Hayashi; there he studied the reactivity of α-dicyano compound from October 2020 to September 2021.

Alessandro Brusa

PhD candidate

(M.Sc. : Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Italy)

Alessandro was born in Carpi in 1998. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in industrial chemistry (2020) under the supervision of Prof. Luca Bernardi. He worked with Prof. Arianna Quintavalla for his M.Sc. degree in chemistry (2022) at Università di Bologna – Alma Mater Studiorum. In November 2022, he joined our group to start a PhD on the development of sustainable and innovative methodologies for the synthesis, design and screening of potential pharmaceuticals.

Alessio Carioscia

PhD candidate

(M.Sc.: Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy)

Alessio was born in Prato in 1997. He graduated from Università degli Studi di Firenze (2022) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, under the supervision of Prof. Cristina Nativi and Dr Stefano Roelens. After his graduation, from March to October 2022, he carried out an Erasmus Traineeship in Maynooth University (Ireland) under the supervision of Dr Trinidad Velasco-Torrijos, where he pursued the synthesis of aromatic glycoconjugates. He joined our group in November 2022, to work on an industrial PhD in collaboration with Dipharma.

Debora Iapadre

PhD Candidate

(M.Sc.: Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy)

Debora graduated in 2022 from Università degli Studi dell’Aquila in our group, with a Master thesis on the synthesis of 7-hydroxy cannabidiol. Following her graduation cum laude, she took up a research fellowship with us in 2023 to further strenghten her research background and skills, working on total synthesis and asymmetric organocatalysis. At the end of 2023, she started her PhD in Catalysis (coordinated by University of Perugia, Italy) at the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila in our lab, in collaboration with Fater. In 2025, Debora will be spending 6 months in Giulio Ragazzon’s lab in Strasbourg.

Elena Incerto

PhD Candidate

(M.Sc.: Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy)

Elena graduated in October 2024 from Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, completing a Master thesis in our group in Anion Binding Catalysis. Following her graduation cum laude, she began her PhD in Supramolecular Organocatalysis in November 2024, as part of a Vinci programme, funded by the Franco-Italian University. Her PhD is in co-tutelle between our group and Prof. Giulio Ragazzon (Université de Strasbourg).

Matteo Di Saverio

PhD candidate

(M.Sc.: Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy)

Matteo was born in Teramo in 1999. He graduated cum laude in both his Bachelor and Master degrees in Chemistry from Università degli Studi dell’Aquila. He completed his Master thesis in our group, focusing on the synthesis, characterization, and study of heterogeneous organocatalysts. In 2024, Matteo gained practical industry experience working in the electroplating laboratory at YKK Mediterraneo S.p.A., in Ascoli Piceno. During the same year, he started his PhD in Catalysis (coordinated by University of Perugia, Italy) at the Università degli Studi dell’Aquila in our lab, in collaboration with Fater. In 2026, Matteo will be spending 6 months in Mattia Silvi’s lab in Nottingham.

Martina Porco

PhD candidate

(M.Sc.: Università di Pisa, Italy)

Martina was born in Cosenza in 1997. She obtained her B.Sc. degree at the Università della Calabria under the supervision of Prof. Iolinda Aiello. For her M.Sc. degree she moved to Università di Pisa, where she graduated cum laude in chemistry in 2024 (supervisors: Prof. Chiara Gabbiani and Dr. Alessandro Pratesi). In November 2024, she joined our group to start a PhD in Catalysis (coordinated by Università degli Studi di Perugia) , in collaboration with Fresenius Kabi. In 2026, Martina will be spending 6 months in Giacomo Crisenza’s lab in Manchester.