Ilaria Sandei

Ilaria Sandei joined Professor Fiona Meldrum’s group as a PhD student in 2018. Her research is interdisciplinary, focusing on the study of crystallisation of ice and other inorganic compounds in the presence of biomolecules, from Affimer proteins to DNA origami, with the aim to provide insights into the polymorph selection and the templating effect over the crystal structures.

Before joining the group, she completed her Master in Photochemistry and Molecular Materials at the University of Bologna, Italy, where she worked on the synthesis and characterisation of gelatin-based scaffolds functionalised with antioxidant molecules.

In 2016 she completed her undergraduate studies in Industrial Chemistry at the University of Bologna, working on the synthesis under inert atmosphere of Pt-based clusters and their further characterisation.

When she’s not working in the lab, she likes travelling, writing, going out with friends or just losing herself in a good book