PhD in MATERIALS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

email: emanuela.gatto@uniroma2.it
phone: 0672594469
building: SOGENE, Livello 1, Corridoio F
room: 10

Emanuela Gatto, graduated in Chemistry with honors, holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences and carried out postdoctoral research at the group of Prof. Ingemar Lundström (member of the Nobel Prize Committee in Physics) in Linköping, Sweden. She is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical Science and Technology, University of Rome Tor Vergata.

She is co-founder and CEO of the spin-off of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Splastica, which develops a new generation of bioplastic materials, 100% biodegradable and compostable, based on natural polymers. Splastica was awarded the First Prize at StartCup Lazio 2018, the Unindustria Award 2020, was a finalist at the IMSA Award 2022, and won the WomenTECH EU Prize of the European Community for women CEOs of deep-tech startups. Splastica recently won the Roma Smart City Award in 2025, as excellent innovative spinoff in Rome. She serves as Quality Manager of LABCAP, a certified laboratory of the Department of Chemical Science and Technology. She is a member of the Joint Teaching Committee in Chemistry and of the Quality Committee of the Bachelor’s Degree in Materials Science. She is also a member of the PhD Board in Materials for Health, Environment and Energy and of the National PhD Program in Photoinduced Processes and Technologies.

She is the author of 3 patents and 79 publications in peer-reviewed journals, with 1178 citations and an H-index of 23 (Novembere, 12^th, 2025). Her list of publications may be found here: ‪Emanuela Gatto - ‪Google Scholar.

Her research activity focuses on the study of the self-assembly of natural polymers, in particular peptides and proteins, for application in solar cells, sensors, medical devices, and new-generation bioplastic materials.

Teaching activity: she lectures the course of Physical Chemistry with Laboratory for the Bachelor’s Degree in Materials Science, and Biopolymers for Industrial Applications for the Master’s Degree in Chemistry, and Bioplastic course for the students of the Grennano Erasmus Mundus project. She also coordinates a PCTO (school-to-work transition program) on Bioplastics for high schools.

Editorial activity: she is Guest Editor of a Special Issue of Nanomaterials (I.F. 5.7), entitled “Bio-Inspired Functional Nanomaterials”, and of a Special Issue of Energies (I.F. 3.34), entitled “Development and Applications of Solar Energy Systems”.

She has co-organized several conferences and seminars, she was the scientific Director of the PhD School Plastic Pollution and Bioplastic Materials, held at San Servolo Island in September 2021, within the framework of the Venice International University network. She was lecturer of a GREENANO: 2025 Summer School at CNR-ISM.

She has been invited as keynote speaker at several international EMRS conferences and at national conferences of the Physical Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society.

Membership: she has been a member of the Italian Chemical Society since 2003, of the Italian Peptide Society since 2016, and of the European Peptide Society since 2012. She is also affiliated with CHOSE, CSGI, and INBB.

Awards and recognition: she has received several awards for her academic career, including the Semerano Prize for the best PhD thesis in physical chemistry in Italy, the Best Poster Award at the EMRS Congress in 2015, and in 2019 she was invited by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to the National Day of the Republic as a researcher distinguished in science and technology.

She has also been invited as a speaker at TEDx Frascati and in several television and radio programs.

Projects: she has coordinated and still coordinates several basic and industrial research projects, both national and international.