NFFA-EUROPE sets out a platform to carry out comprehensive projects for multidisciplinary research at the nanoscale extending from synthesis to nanocharacterization to theory and numerical simulation.
Advanced infrastructures specialized on growth, nano-lithography, nano-characterization, theory and simulation and fine-analysis with Synchrotron, FEL and Neutron radiation sources are integrated in a multi-site combination to develop frontier research on methods for reproducible nanoscience research and to enable European and international researchers from diverse disciplines to carry out advanced proposals impacting science and innovation.
NFFA-EUROPE enables coordinated access to infrastructures on different aspects of nanoscience research that is not currently available at single specialized ones and without duplicating their specific scopes.
Approved user projects have access to the best suited instruments and support competences for performing the research, including access to analytical large scale facilities, theory and simulation and high-performance computing facilities.
The users access includes several “installations” and is coordinated through a single entry point portal that activates an advanced user-infrastructure dialogue to build up a personalized access programme with an increasing return on science and innovation production.
The own research activity of NFFA-EUROPE addresses key bottlenecks of nanoscience research: nanostructure traceability, protocol reproducibility, in-operando nano-manipulation and analysis, open data.
NFFA-EUROPE integrates 19 Partners, half of which are nano-foundries that are co-located with Analytical Large Scale facilities.
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Joint Research Activities overcoming bottlenecks of nanoscience research.The Joint Research Activities of NFFA-Europe, by addressing bottlenecks of nanoscience research, aim to overcome them and to develop new enabling methods and tools at the frontier in nanoscience and novel services to the TA users program to carry out academic as well as industrial projects.
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The Networking and Innovation activities address the construction and awareness of a comprehensive shared technical platform aiming to identify and enable the best solution to a user request, among possible access alternatives at the wide range of NFFA-Europe sites. The backbone of the platform is the Technical Liaison Network (TLNet), a team operating across the NFFA-Europe nodes, devoted to user support, to exchange technical information. Around this backbone operate the complementary networking activities of dissemination, training and mobility, industrial innovation, knowledge transfer and data management.
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Training and mobility opportunities, open to young and senior scientists and technology developers from across Europe in both academia and industry are in the form of schools, specialised training materials and the opening of short term visits to NFFA-Europe facilities to gain hands-on experience.
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Data management is contributing to creating a platform-wide data model to allow efficient recording and sharing of results as well as a strong contribution to building a successful open data policy for European technological platforms.
Principal Investigator
Technical Staff
Research Associates
Funding
Sophia Sotiropoulou is physicist, University of Athens (1991), post graduated in Physical methods in Archaeology and Museography, Univ. of Bordeaux (1993) and PhD in Chemical Engineering at the NTUA (2000). She is devoted to heritage science, conducting research in the development of analytical strategies and optimization of methodologies for the study of a wide range of archaeological materials, artworks and heritage objects or structures. She has been specialized in applying imaging techniques, optical, photometric and spectroscopic methods for the analysis of materials, the study of mechanisms of natural aging and the characterization of paint surfaces (including optical, chemical and visually perceptible properties) of heritage objects.
Education
- 2000, Phd, National Technical University of Athens, Department of Chemical Engineering, Section of Materials Science, Greece
- 1993, D.E.S.S.- “Méthodes Physiques en Archéologie et Muséographie”, BORDEAUX I (Department of Science and Technology), France
- 1993, D.E.A. - “Histoire, Civilisation: Archéologie des mondes antiques”, University of BORDEAUX III (Department of Social and Human Sciences), France
- 1992, D.E.U.G. History of Art, PARIS X NANTERRE (Paris Nanterre University). France
- 1991, Diploma of Physics, Physics Department, School of Sciences, University of Athens, Greece
Career
- 2018 to present, Senior Research Associate, FORTH – Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser(IESL), Greece
- 2010 to present, Assistant Module Coordinator (AMC) at "General Principles of Light, Hellenic Open University (HOU) - School of Applied Arts”- Master course "Lighting Design, Greece
- 1996 to 2017, Senior researcher, “Ormylia” Foundation - Art Diagnosis Centre (OfADC) , GREECE
- 1993 to 1996, Research Associate, N. C. S. R. “Demokritos”, Institute of Materials Science, Laboratory of Archaeometry , Greece
Interests
- Heritage Science
- Colour Science
- Technology of Wall paintings
- Pigments Analysis
- Technical imaging
- Molecular Spectroscopies (microRaman, FTIR)
- XRF elemental analysis
- Ancient Polychromy
- Aegean Prehistory
- Museum Lighting
Evdoxia Dimitroulaki is an MSc student at the Materials Science and Technology Department at the University of Crete, while she holds a BSc degree at the Physics Department of the same university.
She joined the IESL-FORTH for her thesis, followed by an internship, concentrating on “Laser-Induced Fluorescence Spectroscopy to monitor the controlled laser ablation of aged varnish layers from paintings".
In 2019 she visited the Institute of Molecular Science and Technologies, of the National Research Council in Perugia, Italy as an ERASMUS trainee aiming at studying FTIR spectroscopy for the assessment of laser cleaning procedures in paintings.
Education
- 2020, B.Sc., Department of Physics, University of Crete, Greece
Interests
- Laser ablation of aged varnish
- Monitoring of laser cleaning
- LIF spectrsoscopy
Athanasia Papanikolaou studied Physics at the Physics Department of the University of Crete (B.Sc.) and received her MSc in “Photonics & Nanoelectronics” from the same department, in 2018. She joined IESL-FORTH to pursue her undergraduate thesis under the title “Towards the understanding of the two-wavelength laser cleaning in avoiding yellowing on stonework”, and she continues her research work with her MSc thesis focused on the “Development of a photoacoustic monitoring system for the study of laser ablation processes upon the removal of encrustation from stonework”.
In 2019 she received a scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. studied at the Warsaw University of Technology Institute of Micromechanics and Photonics within the CHANGE (https://change-itn.eu/) ITN project. Her aim is to develop a “Portable multimodal system for CH surface measurement and monitoring” under the supervision of prof. Malgorzata Kujawinska.
Education
- 2018, M.Sc., Department of Physics, University of Crete, Greece
- 2016, B.Sc., Department of Physics, University of Crete, Greece
Interests
- Laser cleaning of stone
- Two wavelength Laser Cleanign
- Photoacoustic imaging
- Monitoring laser ablation
Other
Currenty a PhD student at University of California, Santa Barbara (USA)
Maira Tampakaki is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Medicine. She holds a Master’s degree in Brain and Mind Sciences from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete (2020) and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the same university (2016). Her research focuses on studying brain cancer physiology using standardized biological systems, such as organoids, organotypic cultures, and humanized animal models for preclinical drug testing and computational modeling of cancer progression. Part of her work also involves the cultivation and imaging of ocular tissue, utilizing hybrid microscopy systems with the aim of studying and identifying imaging biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. Her research interests include the mechanisms of neural system function and development, cancer neurophysiology, the development of biological models for studying human diseases with molecular imaging, and computational/mathematical modeling of cancer
Education
- 2023, Phd cand. , Department of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece
- 2020, ΜSc, Department of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece
- 2016, BSc, Department of Biology, University of Crete, Greece
Interests
- Mechanisms of neural system function and development
- Cancer neurophysiology
- Molecular imaging
- Μathematical modeling
Michalis Orfanakis is a Physicist and currently a PhD student, member of the Laboratory for Biophotonics and Molecular Imaging (LBMI) of IESL. His research focuses on developing spectroscopic and photoacoustic techniques for bio-marker monitoring. The aim of this doctoral research is the development of spectroscopic and photoacoustic techniques for the identification and real time monitoring of bio-markers, using visible and infrared light. He has a MSc in Microelectronics and Optoelectronics from the Physics Dpt. of the University of Crete with his master thesis in the field of Optical Tweezers. Michalis is also a science teacher in secondary education and he is interested in adapting modern scientific research projects to school level. He is an expert in the field of STEM Education and he is honored with two European Awards. The “European STEM Teacher Award” in 2017 for the development of an Optical CT Scanner and in 2019 for the development of an Optical tweezers set up, aiming at presenting basic phycics principles in Secondary Education.
Awards/Prizes/Distinctions
- 1st Prize Science on Stage Europe 2019
- 1st Prize Science on Stage Greece 2018
- 1st Prize Science on Stage Europe 2017
- 1st Prize Science on Stage Greece 2016
