Francesco Simone Ruggeri

Francesco Simone Ruggeri is an Associate Professor at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands, leading research in Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter. He holds a PhD in Biophysics from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) and completed a Junior Research Fellowship at the University of Cambridge (UK). His work focuses on nanoscale characterization of biomolecular systems using advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques.

Education:

• PhD in Biophysics, EPFL (2015)
• MSc in Physics, University of Catania (2010)
• BSc in Physics, University of Catania (2007)

Research Interests:

• Single-molecule AFM-based approaches for studying biomolecular processes
• Development of infrared nanospectroscopy for biological samples
• Structural analysis of amyloid proteins in neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s)
• Phase separation and liquid-liquid condensates in cells
• Nanochemical biomarkers for disease detection

Key Contributions:

• Pioneered AFM-IR for single-molecule chemical fingerprinting in liquid environments
• Discovered early-stage phase separation in protein aggregation
• Identified structural polymorphism in amyloid fibrils
• Developed microfluidic platforms for biomaterial analysis

Grants & Projects:

• Leading the NanoNu Marker project for early dementia detection
• Investigating biomarkers for cognitive aging (NWO-funded)
• Developing functional surfaces and nanoscale tribology

Labs & Teams: Manages the Microscopy and Nanospectroscopy of Biomolecular Systems lab at WUR, collaborating with interdisciplinary teams in physics, chemistry, and neuroscience.