Dr. Nela Malatesti is a full Professor at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Drug Development, at the University of Rijeka (Croatia). She graduated in 1996 at the Faculty of Science at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) in Biology and Chemistry. She received her doctorate in 2002 in organic chemistry from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hull (UK), with her thesis titled ‘A Study of Reactions of Sulphur Containing Dipolarophiles with 1,3-Dipoles’.

 

She completed her postdoctoral studies (2002-2005) at the same department under the mentorship of Professor Ross Boyle, working on the project “Development of targeted porphyrin bioconjugates for phototherapy and imaging” funded by the Wellcome Trust. Her current research interests are the synthesis of new porphyrin-based photosensitisers for anticancer photodynamic therapy and photodynamic inactivation of microorganisms and biofilms. In her porphyrin design, focus is on asymmetric amphiphilic structures for improved cellular uptake.

 

She has published 35 scientific papers and The Organic Chemistry Laboratory Manual and participated in many international conferences. She has reviewed two university textbooks and numerous scientific articles and is very active in science popularisation. She currently teaches courses in organic chemistry and photochemistry to students of biotechnology at her home faculty and students of pharmacy at the Faculty of Medicine in Rijeka. So far, she has mentored three doctorates, 25 master theses and 25 final project theses. In 2018 she received an award from the University of Rijeka for teaching excellence. Among the many administrative duties at her university, she was the head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Osijek, deputy head of teaching at the Department of Biotechnology in Rijeka and head of the Division of medicinal chemistry.

 

Her favourite pastime is walking with her dog Maggie.