The second edition of our Winter School Advanced techniques for the analysis of novel materials strategic for sustainable transitions: 2. Biopolymers has just concluded successfully.
Organized by the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI) together with the Center for Instrument Sharing of the University of Pisa (CISUP), the Winter School offered a one-week full-time multidisciplinary program, dedicated to training students with a technical-scientific background on the advances in the analysis of materials of environmental chemical interest. This second edition was focused on the study of biopolymers and their applications in advanced and sustainable materials.
Students had access to cutting-edge instrumentation present at DCCI, most of which is part of the CISUP, like:
- analytical pyrolysis – gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) with micro UVirradiator systemmicro UVirradiator system,
- Bruker Avance NEO 500 Solid State NMR Spectrometer,
- Thermogravimetric Analyzer-Gas chromatography/Mass spectrometer TGA-GC/MS – TGA8000-Claurus 690 GC/Claurus SQ 8T MS + Thermogravimetric Analyzer/Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy TGA/FTIR - Q5000 IR (TA Instruments)/Cary 640 (Agilent Technologies).
In addition to an introductory lesson on the innovative applications of biopolymers in the field of bioengineering and an introduction to the materials studied during the school, students were provided with detailed information on advanced techniques, and in particular on the aforementioned instruments. The lessons included both a theoretical introduction (with a focus on applications) in the classroom, and a practical one in the laboratory, accompanied by explanations on how to critically analyze the data. In addition to the teachers who gave the school lessons (program), the DCCI researchers (Luca Bernazzani, Jacopo La Nasa, Francesca Nardelli, Chiara Pelosi) actively participated in the organization of the school and in the delivery of the teaching, assisted by the technical staff (Maria Rita Carosi), as well as by numerous PhD and Master's students (Elisa Dalla Latta, Michele Pierigé, Andrea Scarperi, Arianna Ghelardi, Greta Biale, Cecilia Campi).
10 students of different nationalities (6) and origins (3 Italian universities and 4 foreign ones) participated in the Winter School. All students are doing their doctorate on topics related to the one of the Winter School, but not of a strictly chemical nature. The students particularly appreciated the fact that most of the teaching hours included practical demonstrations carried out in the laboratory, accompanied by individual data processing. The instrumentation used was of great interest thanks to its variety and very high technical level.
