Prof. Maurizio Prato has made numerous significant scientific contributions to the field of Organic Chemistry applied to Nanosciences by enabling innovative, controlled and reproducible ways to make intractable materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, useful materials for sensing, catalysis, drug delivery, as well as in neurosciences and energy-relevant technologies.

The breadth of Maurizio Prato's activity is unique, with major contributions in nanoscience, such as:

1. The chemical functionalization of C60 fullerene and their use in photovoltaic applications: the Prato Reaction.
2. Chemical functionalization and solubilisation of CNTs and their subsequent application in the fields of drug delivery, including gene delivery and immunology.
3. Biocompatibilization of CNTs by designed chemical functionalization.
4. Development of carbon nanostructures as scaffolds for neuronal growth.
5. Design of innovative carbon nanodots for applications in bio-imaging, sensing and catalysis.

Has published more than 700 papers on international peer reviewed Journals, with a total of around 57,000 citations and an h-index of 111. Has been invited to more than 250 conferences and workshops in the last 10-15 years as a plenary or keynote speaker, and has given more than 50 invited talks in Universities or research centers all around the world.

Director of more than 50 PhD students, 50 master theses, more than 40 postdocs and more than 25 visiting researchers.

EU funding: 10 MC-RTN, 2 ERC Advanced Grant, 5 SMALL, 5 FET Total funding 10+ M€, National funding: 23 projects as PI/coordinator. Total funding ca. 3.5 M€ and Industrial funding: 1 project as PI. Total funding 130 k€.

Professional Career

• 1978-82 Laurea degree, University of Padova, Department of Organic Chemistry.
• 1983-92 Assistant professor, University of Padova.
• 1986-1987 Postdoctoral fellow: Yale University, New Haven, USA, Chemistry Department.
• 1991-1992 Visiting scientist, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, Institute for Polymers and Organic Solid.
• 1992-2000 Associate professor, University of Trieste.
• 2000 Full professor, University of Trieste.
• 2001 Visiting professor, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France.
• 2008 Recipient of the ERC Advanced Research Grant, European Research Council.
• 2010 Member, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.
• 2010 Visiting Professor, Université de Namur, Belgium.
• 2013 Honorary Professorship, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
• 2013 Member, European Academy of Sciences.
• 2014 Visiting Professor, Université de Strasbourg, France.
• 2014 Laurea Honoris Causa in Science and Technology of Materials, University of Roma Tor Vergat.a
• 2015 Ikerbasque Research Professor.
• 2016 Doctoral degree Honoris Causa, University of Castilla-La Mancha.

Editorial Activity

• Associate Editor of Scientific Reports (Nature Journals), 2015- .
• Associate Editor of ChemSusChem (Wiley-VCH), 2015- .
• Chairman of the Editorial Board, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2003-2006.
• Member of the International Advisory Board of the following Journals: Chemical Communications, 1997- and Journal of Materials Chemistry, 1994-2002.
• Member of the International Advisory Board of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2010- .
• Member of the Editorial Board of "NANO", World Scientific Publisher, Singapore, 2006-2012.
• Member of the Editorial Board of "Fullerenes, Nanotubes, and Carbon Nanostructures" Taylor & Francis, Inc., Philadelphia, USA, 2005- .
• Associate Editor, Frontiers in Neuroengineering, Frontiers Research Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2008- .
• Member of the International Advisory Board of Chemical Physics Letters, 2009- .
• Member of the International Advisory Board of ACS Nano, 2014- .

Fellowships and Awards

• Federchimica Prize, Association of the Italian Chemical Industries (1995).
• National Prize for Research, Italian Chemical Society (2002).
• Nominee for the Descartes Prize for Excellence in Scientific Collaboration (2006), European Commission.
• Ciamician-Gonzalez Prize, Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (2008.)
• Recipient of the ERC Advanced Grant (2008), European Research Council.
• Mangini Gold Medal, Italian Chemical Society (2009).
• Ree-Natta Lectureship, Korean Chemical Society (2010ç).
• Honorary Professorship, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China (2013).
• Member of Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (2013), National Academy of Sciences of Italy.
• EuCheMS Lecture Award (2013).
• Blaise Pascal Medal, European Academy of Sciences (2013).
• Natta Gold Medal, Italian Chemical Society (2014).
• Honoris Causa Laurea in Science and Technology of Materials, University of Roma (2014).
• European Carbon Association Award (2015).
• French-Italian Chemical Societies Award, French Chemical Society (2015).
• ACS Nano Lectureship Award, American Chemical Society (2015).
• Honoris Causa PhD in Chemistry, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain (2016).
• AXA Chair in Nanobiotechnology, AXA Research Fund (2016).
• Francqui Chair, Fondation Francqui Stitching, Bruxelles, Belgium (2018).
• ChemPubSoc Fellow (2018).
• Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate Analytics (2014-2018).
• Richard Smalley Award, Electrochemical Society (USA)(2019).