A. (Angelo) Accardo PhD

A. (Angelo) Accardo PhD

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Biography

Dr. Angelo Accardo is Associate Professor at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (ME), Department of Precision and Microsystems Engineering (PME), Micro and Nano Engineering section.

Dr. Angelo Accardo received his Master's degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy (2008) and his Ph. D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Italy (2012) in collaboration with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. After a Post-doc at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genova, Italy (2012-2015), Dr. Accardo joined the Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems (LAAS-CNRS), Toulouse, France in 2016 as a Research Associate. In June 2019, He joins Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor within the Department of Precision and Microsystems Engineering (PME).

During his Ph. D. and Post-doctoral activity at IIT, Dr. Accardo acquired a strong knowledge of nano-fabrication processes in clean room facilities by means of which he designed several technological platforms that have been integrated for the first time in the context of synchrotron radiation scattering characterization of biological soft matter compounds (e.g. neurodegenerative peptides, cancer cell exosomes). The main topic under investigation was the realization of superhydrophobic surfaces made of different materials, such as polymer and silicon, following a biomimetic approach and exploiting the characteristic evaporation mechanisms of droplets drying in quasi contact-free conditions for tuning self-assembly and crystallization mechanisms.

Since 2016, his main area of research focuses on the development of multi-scale (nano-micro-meso) 3D fabrication paradigms to address a wide range of open questions in cell biology. He is interested in particular in the design and fabrication of 3D microenvironments, by employing light-assisted additive manufacturing techniques (such as two-photon lithography and stereolithography), for studying the mechanobiology, migration and differentiation mechanisms of of cells coming from different tissues (e.g. brain, bone) as well as the response of cancer cells to proton therapy. He also employs multi-technique 3D imaging protocols combining conventional morphological characterization techniques (based on Scanning Electron Microscopy) and advanced 3D fluorescence imaging (Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy and Two-photon confocal imaging) for unveiling cellular features.

Dr. Accardo is author of 56 publications in peer-reviewed journals (of which 34 as first/corresponding author, h-index=24), 4 book chapters (of which 2 as first author) and principal inventor of 1 industrial patent on electrowetting superhydrophobic surfaces. His work has been featured in Nature Photonics, Materials Today, Advanced Materials, Advanced Healtchare Materials, PNAS, Small, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and Nanoscale.

(Last update March 2024)

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Prizes

  • 2020-1-30

    TU Delft Health Initiative Pilot Award

    Angelo Accardo, expert in the area of Soft Micro- and Nano-system Technology for Life Sciences and Biology, received the TU Delft Health Initiative Pilot award. The pilot project will be about his research on the creation of standardized, reproducible and physiologically relevant 3D engineered cell microenvironments (3D Onco-Scaffolds) to be used as a benchmark tool for proton Radiobiology. The obtained results of this project will pave the way for pre-treatment characterization and response assessment of cancerous and healthy tissues. The pilot study will be done in close collaboration with the Holland Proton Therapy Center (HPTC), the cell lab facilities of HPTC partner institutes and the Erasmus MC Optical Imaging Centre.

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