Dr Francesca Piana joined Reddie and Grose in January 2021 and works in the life science IP sector.
Francesca completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in chemistry in Italy at Università degli Studi di Parma. Her Master thesis consisted in the synthesis, characterisation and study of the cellular transfection properties of novel macrocyclic nano-baskets arginine-calix[4]arenes. She applied the calix[4]arenes as drug delivery systems in the form of amphiphilic self-assembly nano-carriers.
Between her bachelor and master studies, she spent four months working on the development of luciferin-based substrates as R&D Scientist at Promega Biosciences LLC in California, U.S.A..
Just after completing her M.Sc., she moved to England, where she obtained her Ph.D. in supramolecular chemistry at University of Southampton. Her Ph.D. focused on the development of new materials through molecular self-assembly, aiming at obtaining similar properties to polymer materials while exploiting reversible non-covalent interactions. The project was the result of a collaboration with the U.K. Ministry of Defence and consisted in the synthesis and physical/chemical characterisation of over 40 new supramolecular gel materials by means of DSC, TGA, rheology, (Environmental)SEM, liquid and solid-state NMR, IR, fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular modelling. In particular, some of them were shown to be effective in detecting nerve agent Soman (courtesy of Dstl, Porton Down, UK) in remarkably low amounts. Being the Ph.D. project part of the European Program INTERREG for France-England Cross border cooperation, Francesca also attended courses at Université Le Havre Normandie and Université de Rouan in France.
At the end of her studies, Francesca started working for a consultancy firm in Milan, leader in pharmaceutical regulatory remediation activities. During her time as consultant, she had the chance of being part of different projects serving some of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world. Being the firm willing to expand in the U.S.A. market, she gained some experience in business development while spending a month between Boston and Albany (N.Y.).
Subsequently, Francesca worked for almost three years in the Novartis site of Kundl, Tyrol, Austria. During this time, Francesca acquired experience in quality assurance and regulatory compliance for the world-wide antibiotics market. Her daily basis tasks focused on root cause analysis and risk assessment of technical complaints of the oral and sterile anti-infective products, thereby obtaining extensive knowledge of pharmaceuticals production and related operational activities, such as supply chain and quality control.
Francesca is fluent in English and French, together with her mother tongue Italian. She has also working proficiency in German and Spanish.
While living abroad for almost ten years across four different countries, Francesca learnt how to fully appreciate foreign cultures, from which she derived her love for travelling. She is a sporty person who enjoys mountain biking, hiking, skiing and is a keen runner, motivated also by the beautiful landscape surrounding Munich.
