About Luca
Luca Dell’Amico was born in Carrara, Italy, north of Tuscany – the city of the white marble. He started his studies in Parma, Italy, where the musics of the “Maestro” Giuseppe Verdi were the perfect inspiration. In 2010, he completed his M.Sc. in Medicinal Chemistry at the Parma University under the supervision of Prof. Giovanni Casiraghi, working on the development of novel eco-friendly vinylogous methods. Fascinated by synthetic chemistry and by the principle of vinylogy, in the same year he started his PhD in “Stereoselective Synthesis of Biologically Active Compounds” under the supervision of Prof. Franca Zanardi. In 2013, he spent a ten-months research period at the Center for Catalysis of Århus Univesity, Denmark, where he was introduced to the field of organocatalysis by Prof. Karl Anker Jørgensen. Luca completed his PhD with highest honours and the Doctor Europaeus mention at the Parma University in 2014. Shortly after, he moved to the ICIQ, Tarragona, Catalunya, joining the group of Prof. Paolo Melchiorre as a Marie-Curie cofund fellow. During this time he worked on the development of novel stereoselective light-driven processes, mainly based on the photochemical generation of reactive nucleophilic species. In the end of 2016 he started his independent career at the Padova University as an assistant professor (tenure track) and member of the NanoMolCat group. In 2022, he was awarded an ERC starting grant to investigate new mechanistic pathways in organophotoredox catalysis. His research spans from the study of stereoselective photochemical processes to the development of novel organocatalytic methods using renewables.
Selected awards and distinctions
2022 ERC-Starting Grant 2021 (European Research Concilium) [link]
2021 Junior Scientist Program (JSP) Fellowship (Swiss Chemical Society, Bürgenstock) [link]
2020 YourJOC Talents collection of EurJOC [link]
2020 Thieme Chemistry Journals Award [link]
2019 National Scientific Abilitation as Associate Professor
2019 Giacomo Ciamician Medal – From the Italian Chemical Society [link]
2018 Secretary of the European Winter School in Physical Organic Chemistry
2018 Chemical Communication Emerging investigator Issue [link]
2014 Marie-Curie cofund Fellowship – At ICIQ, Tarragona, Spain