Cinzia Giannini Personal Page
Present position : Senior Researcher
Address and Email :
Tel +39 080 5929167
Fax +39 080 5929170
E-mail cinzia.gianniniATic.cnr.it
Address via Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy
Short CV :
Cinzia Giannini received the Ph.D. in Physics at Bari University in 1994. She leads the X-Ray MicroImaging Laboratory (XMI-LAB).
More than 25 years’ experience in the structural characterization of materials, nanomaterials, biomaterials, interfaces and surfaces with X-ray based scattering techniques (XSW, XRR, XRD, SAXS, WAXS, GISAXS, GIWAXS, Scanning SAXS/WAXS Microscopy). Research interests span the structural analysis of (nano)materials, biomaterials, natural and bio-engineered tissues. A more recent area of interest is X-ray micro and nanoimaging techniques, also with coherent X-rays.
H index 39 (Google Scholar), 34 (Web of Science).
Research Activity :
In the nanobulk age, which already predominates and more and more will dominate research on (bio)materials in the next 10-15 years, the benefits of nano- and biomaterials assembling to create useful macroscopic structures will be exploited. A smart material (nanostructured material or engineered tissue) no longer consists of simple nanoparticles, nanowires, or DNA strands, but rather of a complex bio-nano objects whose novel properties will depend on each of its (inorganic and biological) nano-components and their interaction. Realizing such structures strongly relies upon bottom-up approaches, through self-assembling of building blocks into macroscopic architectures. Self-assembled macroscopic architectures are hierarchical structures, characterized by a different order at different length scales. Also biological tissues as wood, bone, skin are hierarchical structures. Some of them are mineralized, forming for instance an organic/inorganic nanocomposite made of a fibrous matrix reinforced by crystalline or amorphous nanoparticles. Bones, teeth, horns, for instance, consist of a matrix of protein fibres (mainly collagen) reinforced by calcium phosphate nanocrystalline particles. The first step for in depth understanding of the function/structure relation, is a detailed structural characterization at all hierarchical levels.
The research activity aims at performing the most efficient and detailed structural, microstructural and morphological characterization platform of nanostructured materials and engineered tissues by means of using X-ray and Electron Imaging techniques, also developing original crystallographic approaches for an advanced material/tissue analysis.
Selected publications :
1. L. De Caro, E. Carlino, G. Caputo, P. D. Cozzoli & C. Giannini. Electron diffractive imaging of oxygen atoms in nanocrystals at sub-angstrom resolution. Nature Nanotechnology 5, 360-365 (2010)
2. D. Altamura, R. Lassandro, L. De Caro, D. Siliqi, M. Ladisa & C. Giannini. X-ray MicroImaging Laboratory (XMI-LAB). J. App. Cryst. 45, 869–873 (2012)
3. C. Giannini , D. Siliqi, M. Ladisa, D. Altamura, A. Diaz, A. Beraudi, T. Sibillano, L. De Caro, S. Stea, F. Baruffaldi & O. Bunk. Scanning SAXS-WAXS microscopy on osteoarthritis-affected bone – an age-related study. J. Appl. Cryst. 47, 110-117 (2014)
4. Sibillano, L. De Caro, F. Scattarella, G. Scarcelli, D. Siliqi, D. Altamura, M. Liebi, M. Ladisa, O. Bunk & C. Giannini. Interfibrillar Packing of Bovine Cornea By Table-Top And Synchrotron Scanning SAXS Microscopy. J. Appl. Cryst. 49, 1240-1244 (2016)
5. L. Mino, E. Borfecchia, J. A. Segura-Ruiz, C. Giannini, G. Martinez-Criado & C. Lamberti. Materials characterization by synchrotron x-ray microprobes and nanoprobes. Rev. Mod .Phys. (in press)