Biochemistry Department

«Giovanni Moruzzi» Bologna University.

Via Irnerio, 48

40126 Bologna (Italy)

Phone +39 051 209 43 88;

Fax  +39 051 209 43 87;

sandro.carrara@unibo.it

Dr. Sandro Carrara P.hD.

 

Sandro Carrara was born in 1964. He graduated in Physics from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 1990 and he received the Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of Padoa, Italy, in 1998. He began his research activity in the field of the STM microscopy. During his PhD, his interest was centered on the electron conductivity phenomena on thin films. In 1996, he won a prize in a NATO Advanced Research Workshop for his work on the role of nanoparticles size in mono-electron conductivity. He is currently working in the field of thin films by using different investigation techniques, such as Small Angle X-ray Scattering, Atomic Force Microscopy, Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy. His research activity also covers the field of sensing, with particular focus on the development of protein based Biosensors. He has more then 45 international publications and 6 patents. From 1997 to 2000, he has been a member of the international User Committee of the ELETTRA Synchrotron. From 2000 to 2003, he has been scientific leader of a National Research Program (PNR) in the field of Nanobiotechnology. He has been Assistant Professor in Biophysics at the University of Genoa. He recently joined the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Bologna, were he is Research Affiliate, and Lecturer in Nanobiotechnology.

 

Research interests

  • Conductivity phenomena in Organic Thin Films
  • Molecular Electronics
  • Protein Array Biosensors
  • Nano-fabrications
  • X-ray Lithography by Synchrotron Sources
  • Single electron Phenomena
  • Scanning Probe Microscopy
  • Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Small Angle X-ray Scattering

 

 

Scientific Publications

1- Carrara S., Facci P., Nicolini C.: "More information on the calibration of Scanning Stylus Microscopes by two dimensional Fourier Transform Analysis" - Rev. Sci. Instrum., 65(9), 2860-2863, 1994.

 

2- Carrara S., Gussoni A., Erokhin V., Nicolini C.: "On the Degradation of Conducting Langmuir-Blodgett Films" - Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 6, 79-83, 1995.

 

3- Erokhin V., Facci P., Carrara S., Nicolini C.: "Observation of Room Temperature Mono-electron Phenomena on Nanometer-Sized CdS Particles" - J.Phys.D: Appl. Phys. 28, 1-5, 1995.

 

4- G.Nicastro, C.de Chiara, L.Franzoni, M.Tatò, S.Carrara, E.Carrara, C.Nicolini: NMR and Nanogravimetric Comparative Studies between Oxidised and Reduced Form of Thioredoxin from Escherichia coli - Quat. Magn. Res. in Biol. and Med. - II/4,283-298, 1995.

 

5- Mascetti G., Vergani L., Diaspro A., Carrara S., Radicchi G., Nicolini C.: "Effect of fixatives on calf thymocyte chromatin: 3D hight resolution fluorescence microscopy" - Cytometry - 23(2), 110-119, 1996.

 

6- Carrara S. contribution to C. Nicolini: "Molecular Bioelectronics", World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1996.

 

7- Carrara S., Mascetti G., Nicolini C.: "Image restoration: an approach using derivative filtering" - Optik, 104(1), 35-39, 1996.

 

8 - Facci P., Erokhin V., Carrara S., Nicolini C.: "Room Temperature Single Electron Element", Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (USA), 93, 10556-10559, 1996

 

9- Erokhin V., Facci P., Carrara S., Nicolini C.:"Monoelectron phenomena in nanometer scale particles formed in LB films" - Thin Solid Films, 284/285(1996), 891-893.

 

10 - Carrara S., Erokhin V., Facci P., Nicolini C.: "On the role of nanoparticle sizes in monoelectron conductivity", Invited contribution to Fendler J. & Dékány I. (Eds) "Nanoparticle in Solid and Solutions", Kluwer publisher, Dordrecht (NL) 1996, NATO ASI Series 3. High Technology - vol. 18, pag. 497-503.

 

11- Ram M.K., Carrara S., Paddeu S., Maccioni B., Nicolini C.: "Poly(Ortho-Anisidine) Langmuir-Shaeffer Films: Fabrication and Characterisations", Langmuir, 13, 2760-2765, 1997.

 

12- Ram M.K., Carrara S., Paddeu S., Nicolini C.: "Effect of annealing on physical properties of conducting Poly(ortho-anisidine) Langmuir-Blodgett films", Thin Solid Films, 302, 89-97, 1997.

 

13- Erokhin V., Facci P., Carrara S., Nicolini C.:"Fatty acid based monoelectron junction" - Biosensor & Bioelectronics, 12, 601-606, 1997.

 

14- Nicolini C., Carrara S., Mascetti G.: "High order DNA structure as inferred by optical fluorimetry and scanning calorimetry" -  Molecular Biology Reports 24, 235-346, 1997.

 

15 – V.Erokhin, S.Carrara, C.Nicolini: “Thermal treatment induced order in protein Langmuir-Blodgett films as revealed by small-angle scattering of synchrotron radiation”, invited contribution to H.Amenitsch, S.Bernstorff (Compiled by) Annual Report 1996/97 of the Austrian SAXS Beam-line at Elettra, Graz. 1998, pagg. 57-58

 

16 – S.Carrara: “Nanoparticles-Mediated Monoelectron Conductivity” Invited contribution to J.Fendler (Ed.) ”Nanoparticles and Nanostructured Films” Wiley-VCH, New York, 1998, pagg. 349-369.

 

17 - V.Erokhin, S. Carrara, S.Bernstroff, H.Amenitsch, C.Nicolini: "Semiconductor Nanoparticles for Quantum Device", Nanotechnology, 9, 1-4, 1998.

 

18 - Paddeu S., Ram M.K., Carrara S., Nicolini C.: "Langmuir-Shaeffer films of Poly(ortho-anisidine) for sensors and displays", Nanotechnology, 9, 228-236, 1998

 

19 - V.Erokhin, S. Carrara, S.Guerzoni, C.Nicolini: "Synchrotron study of heat induced order in protein Langmuir-Blodgett films", Thin Solid Films, 327-329, 636-638, 1998

 

20 - V.Erokhin, S. Carrara, C.Nicolini: "Single electron phenomena and quantum phenomena in ultra small particles", Invited contribution to C.Nicolini (Ed.) “Biophysics of Electron Transfer and Molecular Bioelectronics” Plenum Press, New Yoork, 1998, pagg. 117-138

 

21- A Schenone, S Carrara, G Mascetti:A neural network based method selecting Gabor wavelet filters for the detection of microcalcifications”, paper presented to the 4th International Workshop on Digital Mammography (IWDM'98),  June 7-10, Nijmegen, Holanda, 1998.

 

22 – L.Tiano, M.G.Chessa, S.Carrara, G.Tagliaferro, M.U.Delmonte Corrado: “Macronuclear chroatin structures dynamics in Colposa inflata (Protesta, Ciliophora) restino ecystmentEur. J. Histochem., 43 (1999) 113-120.

 

23 – A.Schenone, S.Carrara, G.Mascetti: “A neural network approach to selection of optimal wavelet filter in texture analysis”, regular paper presented to the 3rd International ICSC Symposium on Soft Computing (SOCO99), June 1-4, Genoa, Italy, 1999

 

24 – F.Ferrillo, M.Beekle, M.Billard, S.Carrara, G.Mascetti, L.Nobili: “A model of sleep regulation in narcolepsy”, Sleep Research online 2(supplement 1) (1999), 31.

 

25 – V.Erokhin, S.Carrara, S.Paddeu, C.Paternolli, S.Bernstorff, P.Dubcek, L.Valcova, C.Nicolini: “Small-angle X-ray synchrotron study of Phthalocyanine containing Langmuir-Blodgett superlatticies”, invited contribution to H.Amenitsch, S.Bernstorff (Compiled by) Annual Report 1998 of the Austrian SAXS Beam-line at Elettra, Graz. 1999, pagg. 85-87

 

26 - Carrara S., Erokhin V., Nicolini C., “STM image formation of organic thin films: the role of water shell”, Langmuir 16, 6577-6582, 2000.

 

27 - Mascetti G., Carrara S., Vergani L..: “Relationship between chromatin condensation compactness and dye uptake for in situ chromatin stained with DAPI”, Cytometry 44, 2, 2001.

 

28- Carrara S, Stura E, Bavastrello V, Nicolini C: “New Nanomaterials for lithium battery”, paper accepted to the 1st International Energy Convertion Engineering Conference Book, August 17-21 Portmouth, Virginia, 2003, American Institute Aeronautics and Astronautics – AIAA-2003-6062

 

29- Shumyantseva V, De Luca G, Bulko T., Carrara S, Nicolini C, Usanov S.A., Archakov A: “Cholesterol amperometric biosensor based on cytochrome P450scc”, Biosensor & Bioelectronics, 19, 971-976, 2004

 

30 - Bavastrello V, Stura E, Carrara S, Erokhin V, Nicolini C: "poly(2,5-dimethylaniline)-MWNTs nanocomposite: a new material for conductometric acidity sensors", Sensor & Actuator B: Chemical, 98, 247-253, 2004

 

31 - Bavastrello V, Carrara S, Ram M.K., Nicolini N: “Optical and Electrochemical Properties of Poly(ortho-toluidine)–Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes Composite Langmuir-Schaefer Films”, Langmuir, 20, 969-973, 2004.

 

32 - Enrico Stura , Sandro Carrara , Valter Bavastrello , Francesca Bertolotti , Claudio Nicolini, "Hydrogen storage as stabilization for wind power: a completely clean system for insulated power generation", Chemical Engineering Transactions,  4, 317-323, 2004

 

33- Bavastrello V, Erokhin V, Carrara S, Sbrana F, Ricci D, Nicolini N: “Morphology and conductivity in poly(ortho-anisidine)/carbon nanotubes films”, Thin Solid Films, 468, 17-22, 2004.

 

34- Stura E, Bavastrello V, Carrara S, Nicolini C: Polyaniline derivative nanocomposite materials for low power long life lithium batteries”, paper accepted to the 2st International Energy Convertion Engineering Conference Book, August 16-19, Rhodes Island, Providence, 2004, American Institute Aeronautics and Astronautics – AIAA-2004-22780

 

35 - Carrara S, Riley J., Bavastrello V., Stura E., Nicolini C.: "Review: Methods to fabricate nanocontacts for electrical addressing of single-molecules", Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 105, 542-548, 2005

 

36- Victor Erokhin, Sandro Carrara, Cristina Paternolli, Larisa Valkova, Sigrid Bernstorff,  and Claudio Nicolini: "X-ray study of structural reorganization in phthalocyanine containing Langmuir-Blodgett Heterostructures", Applied Surface Science, 245, 369-375, 2005

 

37 - Sandro Carrara: “Structural Characterization of Supramolecular Heterostructures”, invited contribution to Manoj K. Ram (Ed) "Supramolecular engineering of conducting material", Research Singpost, 2005, pagg. 75-96, ISBN 81-7736-225-9

 

38 - Victoria V. Shumyantseva, Sandro Carrara, Valter Bavastrello, Jason D. Riley, Tatiana V. Bulko, Sergei A. Usanov, Claudio Nicolini and Alexander I. Archakov: "Direct electron transfer between cytochrome P450scc and screen-printed rhodium graphite electrode modified with gold nanoparticles", Biosensors & Bioelectronics, 21, 217-222, 2005.

 

39 - Carrara S, Bavastrello V, Ricci D., Stura E, Nicolini C: “Improved nanocomposite materials for biosensor applications investigated by Impedance Spectroscopy", Sensors and Actuators B: Chemicals, 109, 221-226, 2005.

 

40 - Carrara S., Bavastrello V, Ram M.K. Nicolini C.: "Nanometer size polymer based Schottky junction", Thin Solid Films, 510, 229-264, 2006

 

41 - Sandro Carrara, Davide Ricci, Ermanno Di Zitti, Enzo Di Fabrizio, Matteo Altissimo, Massimo Tormen: “A Route to fabricate Nanocontacts by X-ray Lithography  for the Realization of Single Electron Transistors and Highly Sensitive Biosensors”, Materials Letters 60(2006) 3682-3685

 

42 - Claudio Stagni, Carlotta Guiducci, Luca Benini, Bruno Riccò, Sandro Carrara, Bruno Samorì, Christian Paulus, Meinrad Schienle, Marcin Augustyniak, Roland Thewes, “CMOS DNA Sensor Array with integrated A/D Conversion Based on Label-free Capacitance Measurement”, IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits (2006) in press

 

43 - Sandro Carrara, Bruno Samorì. Maria Di Pasquale, Alberto Ansaldo, Maria Teresa Parodi, Davide Ricci, Ermanno Di Zitti, “Hybrid Nanostructures: Organic Interconnections and Device Applications”, invited paper (and talk) to the IEEE proceedings of the 1st international Conference on Nano-Networks”, Lausanne, Switzerland, September 14-16, 2006. ISBN: 1-4244-0391-X

 

44 - Sandro Carrara, Sigrid Bernstorff, Marina Di Pasquale, Maria Teresa Parodi, Davide Ricci, Ermanno Di Zitti, “Diameter measurements of size-selected thiol encapsulated gold nanoparticles by Small Angle X-ray Scattering”, invited contribution to H. Amenitsch, S. Bernstorff (Compiled by) Annual Report 2005 of the Austrian SAXS Beam-line at Elettra, Graz. 2006, in press.

 

45 - Claudio Stagni, Carlotta Guiducci, Luca Benini, Bruno Riccò, Sandro Carrara, Bruno Samorì, Christian Paulus, Meinrad Schienle, Roland Thewes: “A Fully-Electronic Label-Free DNA sensor Chip”, IEEE Sensor Journal, in press

 

Patents

 

1.      S.Carrara, V.Erokhin: “Serie di penne per tracciare linee con proprietà elettriche e elettro-ottiche desiderate per applicazioni alla didattica e alle decorazioni”, GE2002A000029

2.      V.Shumiantseva, G.De Luca, S.Carrara, et al.:Biosensore Amperometrico per Colesterolo basato sul citocromo P450 e sulla Colesterolo Ossidasi”, GE2003A000058

3.      S.Carrara, V.Bavastrello, et al.:Sensore per gas acidi”, GE2003A000074

4.      S.Carrara, F.Luzzara: “Apparecchiatura per la raccolta e il trattamento della frazione umida da rifiuti di lavorazione di cucina e resti di alimentazione a tavola e sistema per il riciclaggio della frazione raccolta”, PR2004A000083

5.      S.Carrara, D.F.Ricci, E.Di Zitti, D.Caviglia: “Nuovo Metodo per la Fabbricazione di Strutture Nanometriche funzionanti come Transistor a Singolo Elettrone (S.E.T.) a Temperatura Ambiente”, GE2004A000112

  1. F.D'Amato, M.Rosa Clot, P.Rosa Clot, A.Chiarugi, S.Carrara: “Cella multipasso di tipo Herriott a lunghezza variabile”, BO2006A000016