Martina Delbianco

Dr. Martina Delbianco is a Group Leader in the Carbohydrate Materials group within the Department of Biomolecular Systems at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany. Her research focuses on designing and engineering synthetic carbohydrate-based materials with controlled structures and functions.

Dr. Delbianco's research interests center on carbohydrate chemistry, particularly the development of well-defined polysaccharides and glycan foldamers. Her work explores how these biomolecules can form supramolecular structures through hydrogen bonding and other interactions, with applications in therapeutics and advanced materials. She specializes in automated synthesis methods for creating precisely structured carbohydrates that can adopt specific shapes from helices to sheets.

Her recent publications demonstrate significant advances in glycan foldamer science, including the development of catalytic glycans and methods for controlling glycan folding through ionic functional groups. These innovations represent groundbreaking work at the intersection of carbohydrate chemistry and materials science.

• Feltrinelli Prize for research on carbohydrate-based materials
• ERC Proof of Concept Grant (2024) for the GlycoRoads project

Dr. Delbianco actively mentors students and postdoctoral researchers, supervising Bachelor's and Master's theses in her group. Her GlycoRoads ERC project aims to develop tools for designing glycans with specific shapes for therapeutic and materials applications. She collaborates extensively with researchers across Europe, including Yu Ogawa's group, and participates in major scientific conferences such as the Gordon Research Conference on Carbohydrates.

Her laboratory focuses on creating software for glycan design, integrating molecular dynamics simulations and data analytics to facilitate the development of custom carbohydrate structures. This work positions her at the forefront of computational glycoscience and biomaterials engineering.