Alfredo Maria Gravagnuolo
Alfredo Maria has an inter-disciplinary background. Ranked 29th among the best high school students in Natural Sciences in Italy by ANISN in 2004, he obtained his MSc in Biotechnology cum Laude and Mention in 2011 (University of Naples Federico II, Italy), working with Prof Leila Birolo and Prof Raffaele Velotta on laser induced cross-linking of polypeptides for mass spectrometry based proteomics using Chirped pulse amplification (CPA). In the same year he was awarded a research placement on the EU Leonardo da Vinci programme and joined the group of Prof Pau Gorostiza at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Spain, focusing on remote photocontrol of cell trafficking.
In 2015, Alfredo Maria received his PhD in Industrial and Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Naples āFederico IIā (UNINA), Italy. During his PhD, he worked with Prof Paola Giardina on surface applications of self-assembling functional amyloid proteins and spent one year with Prof Arben MerkoƧiās group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), Spain. Whilst at ICN2, he worked on nanomaterials-proteins hybrids for sensing applications using graphene and quantum dots.
In 2017, after a post-doc in Naples, Alfredo Maria joined the 2D-Health project at the University of Manchester (UoM) working with Prof Nicola Tirelli, Prof Kostas Kostarelos (Nanomedicine Lab) and Dr Dhifaf Jasim on molecular engineering of graphene oxide for cancer immunotherapy.
Since 2019 Alfredo has been a Guest Associate Editor for Nanobiotechnology at Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology ISSN: 2296-4185, Research Topic: Biointerfacing 2D Nanomaterials and Engineered Heterostructures
From 2020-2021 Alfredo served as Data Scientist for the National Testing programme (Lighthouse Lab, Medicine Discovery Catapult & UK government) to support the national effort in combating COVID-19. During this time he co-discovered the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha Variant of Concern, and tracked it effectively providing tools for dynamic risk assessment at national level.
From 2021-2025 Alfredo worked for several spin offs and start ups across Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge, developing the next-generation in vitro diagnostics.
In 2025, he incorporated “The NanoBioTechnology Hub Ltd” into the Company House in the UK. Based in Manchester, the company, with the help of the Bruntwood SciTech Life Sciences Accelerator, and the GC Angels Venture Forward Accelerator, aims to develop and deploy the next-generation nano-bio-technologies to improve the quality of human life, starting from cost-effective, point-of-care in vitro diagnostics.
This website, will be available only to keep historical information, while the new website will be updated on the most recent advances of The NanoBioTechnology Hub.
Publications:
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5701-883X