Biography:Luisa Torsi

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Short description: Italian chemist
Luisa Torsi
Born1964 (age 59–60)
Bari
Alma materUniversity of Bari
Bell Labs
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Bari

Luisa Torsi (born 1964) is an Italian chemist who is a professor at the Università degli Studi di Bari. She was the first woman to serve as President of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS). In 2019 she was named by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry as one of the world's most Distinguished Women in Chemistry.[1]

Early life and education

Torsi was born in Bari.[2] She earned her undergraduate degree in physics at the University of Bari. Torsi has said that she realised that she wanted to be a researcher during her master's research project.[3] She remained there for her graduate studies, switching specialties to chemical sciences. In 1994 Torsi moved to the United States , where she joined Bell Labs as a postdoctoral researcher. During her postdoctoral research Torsi investigated organic field-effect transistors .[3]

Research and career

She returned to Italy in 1993, when she was made Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry.[4] In 2005 Torsi was made a full Professor of Chemistry.[5] Her research considers organic semiconductors and their application in electronic devices.[6] She has developed single molecule transistors that are capable of label-free disease detection.[2] The device was capable of detecting zeptomolar concentrations.[7][8] The discovery launched the Horizon 2020 project SiMBiT,[9] a bio-electronic system that looks to achieve single molecule detection of biomarkers for point-of-care testing.[10][11][12] Torsi looks to use nanoparticle based sensor to detect toxic gases.[13]

In 2015 Torsi delivered a TED talk at TEDxBari, where she discussed resilience.[14] Torsi serves on the editorial board of ACS Omega.[15]

Awards and honours

  • 2010 Henrick Emmanuel Merck international award[16]
  • 2015 Global-Women Inventors and Innovators Network Platinum Prize[17]
  • 2016 Elected President of the European Materials Research Society[3]
  • 2017 Elected Fellow of the Materials Research Society[18][13]
  • 2018 Italian Chemical Society SCI Silver Medal
  • 2019 Alto Riconoscimento "Virtù e Conoscenza"[19]
  • 2019 European Chemical Society Robert Kellner Lecturer[3]
  • 2019 Elected to the Board of Directors of the Leonardo Foundation[20]
  • 2021 Wilhelm Exner Medal[21][22]

Selected publications

  • Cioffi, Nicola; Torsi, Luisa; Ditaranto, Nicoletta; Tantillo, Giuseppina; Ghibelli, Lina; Sabbatini, Luigia; Bleve-Zacheo, Teresa; D'Alessio, Maria et al. (2005). "Copper Nanoparticle/Polymer Composites with Antifungal and Bacteriostatic Properties". Chemistry of Materials 17 (21): 5255–5262. doi:10.1021/cm0505244. ISSN 0897-4756. 
  • Torsi, Luisa; Magliulo, Maria; Manoli, Kyriaki; Palazzo, Gerardo (2013). "Organic field-effect transistor sensors: a tutorial review". Chemical Society Reviews 42 (22): 8612–28. doi:10.1039/c3cs60127g. ISSN 0306-0012. PMID 24018860. 

References

  1. "Awardees of the IUPAC 2019 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering" (in en-US). 2019-02-07. https://iupac.org/iupac-2019-distinguished-women/. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Luisa Torsi" (in it). https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2018/09/15/luisa-torsi-il-micro-transistor-made-in-bari-scopre-le-malattieBari09.html. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Oberbeckmann-Winter, Nicola (2020-08-01). "Robert Kellner Lecture awarded to ABC author Luisa Torsi" (in en). Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 412 (21): 4997–4999. doi:10.1007/s00216-019-02373-1. ISSN 1618-2650. 
  4. (in English) Luisa Torsi. OCLC 4779423923. 
  5. "Curriculum — Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro". https://www.uniba.it/docenti/torsi-luisa/curriculum. 
  6. "Luisa Torsi" (in it). https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2018/09/15/luisa-torsi-il-micro-transistor-made-in-bari-scopre-le-malattieBari09.html. 
  7. Macchia, Eleonora; Manoli, Kyriaki; Holzer, Brigitte; Di Franco, Cinzia; Ghittorelli, Matteo; Torricelli, Fabrizio; Alberga, Domenico; Mangiatordi, Giuseppe Felice et al. (2018-08-13). "Single-molecule detection with a millimetre-sized transistor" (in en). Nature Communications 9 (1): 3223. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05235-z. ISSN 2041-1723. PMID 30104563. 
  8. "A sensor detects the light touch of a single molecule" (in en). Nature 560 (7719): 413. 2018-08-16. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05950-z. PMID 30131535. 
  9. paolo (2019-01-10). "INAUGURATO IL PROGETTO "SIMBIT" Agenzia di stampa Italpress" (in it-IT). https://www.italpress.com/inaugurato-il-progetto-simbit/. 
  10. "SiMBiT project | EMRS". https://www.european-mrs.com/simbit-project. 
  11. "Torsi Luisa" (in it-it). http://www.chimica.uniba.it/it/professori-ordinari/198-torsi-luisa. 
  12. Macchia, Eleonora; Anna Picca, Rosaria; Manoli, Kyriaki; Franco, Cinzia Di; Blasi, Davide; Sarcina, Lucia; Ditaranto, Nicoletta; Cioffi, Nicola et al. (2020). "About the amplification factors in organic bioelectronic sensors" (in en). Materials Horizons 7 (4): 999–1013. doi:10.1039/C9MH01544B. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 "Luisa Torsi eletta presidente dell'E-MRS". http://www.instm.it/news/luisa_torsi_eletta_presidente_dell_e_mrs.aspx?idt=20. 
  14. "TEDxBari | TED". https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/16150. 
  15. "ACS Omega" (in en). https://pubs.acs.org/page/acsodf/editorial-board.html. 
  16. "Heinrich Emanuel Merck Award for 2010 granted to leading Italian scientist" (in en). https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/117302/heinrich-emanuel-merck-award-for-2010-granted-to-leading-italian-scientist.html. 
  17. "Luisa Torsi's printable biological sensor wins European Woman Inventor of the Year Award 2015 – GLOBAL WOMEN INVENTORS & INNOVATORS NETWORK" (in en). http://globalwiin.com/luisa-torsis-printable-biological-sensor-wins-european-woman-inventor-of-the-year-award-2015/. 
  18. "List of MRS Fellows | Materials science awards". https://mrs.org/careers-advancement/awards/spring-awards/mrs-fellows/list-of-mrs-fellows. 
  19. "Alto riconoscimento "Virtù e conoscenza" 2019" (in it). https://www.lecceprima.it/eventi/cultura/alto-riconoscimento-virtu-conoscenza-2019.html. 
  20. "Topolino celebra la scienza al femminile" (in en). https://fondazioneleonardo-cdm.com/en/news/topolino-celebra-la-scienza-al-femminile/. 
  21. "Wilhelm Exner Medals 2021 go to Katalin Karikó and Luisa Torsi". https://www.wilhelmexner.org/en/. 
  22. "Wilhelm Exner Medaillen 2021 an Katalin Karikó und Luisa Torsi" (in de). https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20210318_OTS0155/wilhelm-exner-medaillen-2021-an-katalin-karik-und-luisa-torsi.