Today medical diagnostics make use of accurate instrumentations for early identification of serious pathologies, but for some degenerative diseases (like, for instance, Alzheimer’s disease, type II diabetes, age-related macular degeneration), whose causes are still unclear, an early diagnosis is not available yet. Slowing down the disease course is one of the current strategies.
- Concerning those degenerative disease related to uncontrolled self-assembly of proteins (i.e. amyloid- or amylin-based proteins), methodologies that exploit scattering techniques are developed in order to check in vitro the extent of aggregation phenomenon and the effectiveness of synthetic peptides in hindering coalescence.
- For ocular pathologies, new instrumentation based on Resonant Raman scattering is designed and realized to investigate the effectiveness of pharmaceutical formulations in reaching the retina. For corneal tissue a method exploiting fluorescence and diffuse reflectance is realized for controlling and quantifying the concentration of an active principle absorbed in the stroma.
- Imprinted polymeric materials for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and smart integrated micro-nanosystems for an efficient cystic fibrosis inflammation control are designed.
- Mathematical-physical models of mechanics and electrodynamics of fluids are also developed for the study of biological tissues.