Despite the impressive advances in medicine and pharmaceutics in recent years, thousands of lives are still lost each year due to “unbeatable viruses”. The reason is that vaccines cannot cover the whole range of infections, and many bacteria are highly resistant to antibiotics. Scientists even warn that the day will soon come, when even the most powerful antibiotics – so-called “last resort” – will not be able to deal with specific bacterial mutations that could cause epidemics and pandemics.

Therefore, in order for mankind to avoid the “perfect medical storm”, several scientists follow different approaches. One of the most interesting and promising one is through the exploitation of nanotechnology.

Francesco Stellacci, a professor at the Lausanne Federal Polytechnic School (EPFL), will present in his speech at the Athens Science Festival how nanotechnology can be used to fight infections. The EPFL research team has created nanoparticles that initially attract viruses and then destroys them by exploiting the pressure that follows this process. This process essentially “mimics” how human cells work and then “deceives” the viruses. Stellacci will analyse this revolutionary approach that could lead to the development of a broad spectrum of antiviral therapy.

The award-winning Italian scientist studied material engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arizona. He worked as an assistant and assistant professor at MIT, and since 2010 he has appointed professor at EPFL, where he also holds the Constellium chair.

Title: How to use nanotechnology to fight viruses || Date & Time: 29 April, 20.00 – 20.50