Interview with guest professor Andrea de Camargo
How do you like your time at the Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) so far?
"Very much indeed! Despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic and limited in-person interaction with colleagues and students, my hosts and staff have been very supportive and welcoming! I have been comfortably installed and have everything I need for my work."
What has brought you to the SoN?
"From 2008 to 2010 I worked as a Humboldt Fellow in Professor Luisa de Cola's group at the Center for Nanotechnology (CeNTech) at the University of Münster. Because the Humboldt Foundation maintains a lifelong relationship with its fellow alumni, they invited me to apply for a return fellowship of 6 months this year, making it possible for me and one of my postdoctoral fellows, Dr. Leonnam Merizio, to come. We were particularly interested in joining the groups of Professor Bart Jan Ravoo and Professor Helmut Zacharias at the SoN because their research nicely complements some recent interests of ours. Unfortunately, Leonnam has not been able to join us yet because of travel restrictions due to COVID-19, but we are optimistic that he will join us this summer."
What projects are you working on?
"Our main project is assembly of supramolecular luminescent systems based on nanoparticles with the ability to convert infrared radiation into visible light. These so called “upconversion” nanoparticles (UCNPs) can have their surface functionalized with chemical groups which exhibit light responsive conformation through which binding or detachment to or from other particles can be promoted. Our aim is to develop a molecular switch that involves binding of UCNPs to metallic (gold) nanoparticles to take advantage of the plasmonic effect of the AuNPs that can potentially lead to increased luminescence intensity of the UCNPs of orders of magnitude.
An additional side project, in collaboration with the group of Professor Zacharias, involves the use of CdTe quantum dots with variable sizes as active media for the generation of high order harmonic generation. The dots are prepared in our lab in Brazil and the laser experiments will be conducted at SoN."
What practical implications does your research have?
"By functionalizing nanoparticles it is possible to conduct bioimaging of tissues and microorganisms and even measure the temperatures of cells. It is also possible to guide nanoparticles to harmful bacteria or tumors and use Photodynamic Therapy (PTD) to target and kill them.
The nanoparticles are crystals doped with ions that absorb infrared light, which is low energy, that are then converted to high-energy that is visible to the human eye. With this technology, my student is able to work on bacteria sensors, or functionalized nanoparticles that bind with particular bacteria."
What impact will your time at the SoN have on your work at home?
"Through my research stay at SoN I hope that we can build a robust, long lasting, bilaterally funded collaboration, that will benefit students from University of Sao Paulo in Brazil (USP) and the University of Münster through internships and/or future research stays at the postdoctoral level.
At the USP, my research group is focused on the development and structural-functional characterization of solid-state materials with the capability to harvest, generate, convert and store luminous energy. Recently we have been particularly interested in the development of fluorescent NPs and derived architectures to target applications as bioimaging, photodynamic therapy, optical thermometry and gas sensing.
With these applications, the capacity to functionalize the NPs’ surfaces opens up a vast range of possibilities for defining specific (biological) targets and developing multifunctional systems. Through interaction with the Ravoo Group, we expect to develop surface functionalization strategies directed to our specific aims, enabling us to reach even greater depth in our scientific contributions. As well, our collaboration with the Zacharias Group is equally promising since the topic of higher order harmonic generation in plasmas and QDs is a relatively new one in which we have the opportunity to learn a great deal of physical concepts and make seminal contributions."
What experience do you bring with you that we can learn and benefit from?
"I consider myself a very curious, versatile and interdisciplinary researcher with a broad range of interests in the field of optical properties and applications. I started working with rare earth ion spectroscopy when I was a scientific induction student in Chemistry. After completing my Masters on the same area, I got a PhD in Applied Physics working in the field of near-infrared laser spectroscopy and development of glass and glass ceramics-based laser active media. After I became a Junior Professor at USP in 2006, and through my first Humboldt stay in Münster (at CeNTech), I became interested in mesoporous host-guest materials based on highly luminescent molecular species such as metal complexes and organic dyes. Currently, my lab has two main research lines focused on: 1) Design, synthesis and characterization of glassy high energy scintillators and solar converters, and 2) Nano- and mesoscopic materials with applications ranging from bioimaging, biosensing and PDT to lighting devices.
The experience I have collected working on these different, but directly correlated topics, has granted me the ability to interact with chemists, physicists and engineers. In fact, my lab attracts students and postdoctoral fellows from all these areas, and I see this as a positive model in which we combine expertise to do fun, collaborative and relevant science!
My interdisciplinary approach to science has led me to the current roles as one of the Scientific Directors of SBPMat - the Brazilian Materials Research Society, and an Editor of the J. Mater. Sci. from Nature Springer. In Brazil the research funding is not as stable as it is in Germany. We often go through 'ups' and 'downs' and you have to be creative, organized and a competent 'improviser.' In that sense, I have also gathered an appreciable experience in project planning with a high success rate and I am glad to share that experience.
Finally, I am an activist for the promotion of Women in Science! In my Institute – one of the top ranked Physics Institutes in South America (São Carlos Institute of Physics, USP), we are a total of 95 professors but only 8 of us are women and only one has reached the level of full professorship so far – she is now 84 years old. There is obviously something very wrong with these numbers! So, although Gender in Science is not my main field of research, I do my best to actively play my part in Brazil and around the world in promoting female scientists through invited talks, interviews, discussions, participation and organization of events. Through my capacity of Humboldt Ambassador Scientist in Brazil, I am taking an active role in promoting an increase in number of South American applications from women and also motivating German young researchers in general, to take advantage of the Feodor Lynen Fellowship to come and do quality research in one of our many reputable Brazilian institutions."