Image of Dr Francesca Giuntini

Dr Francesca Giuntini

Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences

Faculty of Science

Email: F.Giuntini@ljmu.ac.uk

Telephone: 0151 231 2072

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ORCID

I studied Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Florence (Florence, Italy), and I obtained my PhD from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, working on cationic amphiphilic phthalocyanines for the photodynamic inactivation of microorganisms. After my PhD, I worked at Molteni Farmaceutici (Florence, Italy), where I was involved in a project concerning the synthesis of carboranyl-containing phthalocyanines as dual radio- and photo-sensitising agents for synergistic boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumours: a collaboration between the University of Padova (Padua, Italy), the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (Rome, Italy), and Molteni Farmaceutici. From Florence, I moved to the University of Aveiro (Portugal) in the group of Prof J. Cavaleiro, to work on the functionalisation of tetra-arylporphyrins to yield conjugatable derivatives. Following this position, I joined the group of Dr. Ian Eggleston (University of Bath) and worked on the synthesis of peptide prodrugs of 5-aminolaevlinic acid (ALA) for the PDT of cancer and bacterial infections, and on the use of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) as delivery agents for ALA-containing dendrimers, quantum dots, and porphyrins. I then followed on to the University of Hull in the group of Prof. Ross Boyle, where I worked on novel polyacrylamide nanosensors to monitor intracellular calcium fluctuations in response to photodynamically induced generation of singlet oxygen. Since June 2013 I have been a Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at Liverpool John Moores Unversity.

Academic appointments

Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, 2013 - present

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