20 April 2026
13:30 – 14:15 | Registration
14:15 – 14:30 | Opening
Session 1: Exploring the Exposome: Linking Environment, Health, and Disease
14:30 – 15:15 | Ennio Tasciotti – Human Longevity Program, IRCCS San Raffaele Roma; Department of Human Sciences and Promotion of the Quality of Life, San Raffaele Roma Open University, Rome
Nanoplastics in the exposome: from breaching biological barriers to their impact on cellular function
15:15 – 16:00 | Luca Battistini – Neuroimmunology Unit, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome
The Impact of the Exposome on Neuroinflammatory and Neurodegenerative Diseases
16:00 – 16:45 | Coffee Break 🍵
16:45 – 17:30 | Mauro Bologna – Department of Health, Life, Environment, University of L’Aquila, Italy
Microplastics and other pollutants as endocrine disruptors in the Anthropocene: a psycho–neuro–endocrine-immunological perspective
21 April 2026
Session 2: Nano- and Biomaterials for Medicine: Nanotechnological Approaches for Therapeutics/1
09:00 – 09:45 | Luisa De Cola – Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Self-assembly in vivo: challenges for imaging, new therapeutics and more…
09:45 – 10:30 | Laura Russo – Università degli Studi di Milano – Bicocca; Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori; CURAM Research Ireland Centre for Medical Devices, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
The ECM-Mimics Revolution in Tissue Engineering: From AI-Assisted Synthesis to Glycobiomaterials for Cell Fate Modulation
10:30 – 11:15 | Coffee Break 🍵
11:15 – 11:30 | Giancarlo Tria – CNR-Institute of Crystallography URT Caserta c/o DiSTABiF, Caserta, Italy
Research Infrastructures: a cornerstone for nanomedicine – ITACA.SB – the PNRR project ITACA.SB – Potentiating the Italian Capacity for Structural Biology Services in Instruct-ERIC
11:30 – 12:15 | Paolo Netti – Center for Advanced Biomaterials for HealthCare@CRIB Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, and CRIB, University of Naples Federico II, Napoli, Italy
Innervated and Immune-Competent Tissue-on-Chip Systems for Precision Medicine
12:15 – 13:00 | Gianluca M. Farinola – Dipartimento di Chimica Università degli Studi di Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, Italy
Materials from living organisms and living organisms as materials: possibilities and challenges in biomedicine
13:00 – 14:30 | Lunch 🍽️
Session 3: Nano- and Biomaterials for Medicine: Nanotechnological Approaches for Therapeutics/2
14:30 – 14:45 | Federico Forneris – Fondazione INF-ACT, Pavia; Dept. Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, Pavia
Beyond the INF-ACT Extended Partnership. Exploring opportunities and challenges in diagnostics, monitoring and drug discovery against infectious diseases
14:45 – 15:30 | Francesco Ricci – University of Rome Tor Vergata
Programmable and responsive DNA-based synthetic cells and structures
15:30 – 16:15 | Anna Rita Bilia – Department of Chemistry Ugo Schiff, University of Florence, via Ugo Schiff 6, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
Nanocarriers to overcome the blood-brain barrier in disorders of the central nervous system
16:15 – 17:00 | Coffee Break 🍵
17:00 – 19:00 | Special Session: Exposome, Environment, Water & Human Health
Invited speakers:
Pier Paolo Abis – Director, Laboratories and Hygienic-Sanitary Control, Acquedotto Pugliese (AQP)
Mauro Bologna – Department of Clinical Medicine, Public Health, Life and Environmental Sciences (MeSVA), University of L’Aquila; President, Italian Society of Psycho-Neuro-Endocrine-Immunology (SIPNEI)
Maria Siclari – Director General, ISPRA (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research)
Michele Mossa – Professor of Hydraulics, Politecnico di Bari
22 April 2026
Session 4: Nano- and Biomaterials for Medicine: Nanotechnological Approaches for Therapeutics/3
09:00 – 09:45 | Lucrezia Caselli – Department of Chemistry, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; Center for Colloid and Surface Science (CSGI), University of Florence
Hybrid nanosystems: engineering functional interfaces for biomedical applications
09:45 – 10:30 | Lucia Curri – Department of Chemistry, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy; Institute for Physical Chemical Processes IPCF CNR; INSTM
Design of hybrid silica nanostructures: from controlled synthesis to targeted therapeutic applications
10:30 – 11:15 | Coffee Break 🍵
11:15 – 12:00 | Salvador Panè Vidal – Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Magnetic Microrobots: Towards Clinical Applications
12:00 – 12:45 | Fabrizio Mancin – Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Padova, Italy
Targeting without a targeting agent: polymer-based nanoparticles
13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch 🍽️
ERC GIULIa: Magnetic Hyperthermia for Metastasized Tumor Treatment
14:00 – 14:15 | Teresa Pellegrino – Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy
ERC GIULIa: a short introduction and an overview on the project results
14:15 – 14:50 | Davide Peddis – Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry & Genova INSTM RU, nM2-Lab, University of Genova, Genova; Institute of Structure of Matter, National Research Council, nM2-Lab, Roma
Rational engineering of magnetic nanoarchitectures for biomedical applications
14:50 – 15:25 | Nicolò Silvestri – Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy
Unlocking the magnetic potential: advanced strategies for MRI, MPI, and hyperthermia
15:25 – 16:10 | Jelena Kolosnjaj-Tabi – CNRS CRCN, “Cellular Biophysics” Team
Teamwork makes dreamwork: Magnetic field driven strategies from iron oxide nanoparticles to adaptive swarms of magnetic microrobots
16:10 – 16:40 | Coffee Break 🍵
16:40 – 17:25 | Urs Hafeli – Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Effective folate-targeted delivery of anti-arthritic methotrexate macromolecular prodrug to inflamed rheumatoid arthritis joints
17:25 – 18:00 | Loretta del Mercato – Institute of Nanotechnology, National Research Council (CNR-NANOTEC), c/o Ecotekne Campus, Lecce; Tecnomed Puglia – Technopole for Precision Medicine (Biotech Lecce Hub), Lecce
Multifunctional platforms for sensing and therapy
18:00 – 18:15 | Concluding remarks