Corrado Di Natale

Curriculum Vitae of Professor Corrado Di Natale

Name:                                   Corrado Di Natale

Date of birth:                   April 25, 1961 in Rome, Italy

Current affiliation:       Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome

web:sensorsgroup.eln.uniroma2.it

Education:

1981:    Technical Degree in Nuclear Power at the ITIS E. Fermi, Frascati (Rome) rank: 60/60

1987:    Laurea in Physics, University of Rome “La Sapienza” rank: 110/110.

                  Thesis work: Design, fabrication and test of a millimetre wavelength telescope for the detection of the Cosmic Background Radiation

Job positions:

1988-1990      Project Manager in a private company of IT

1990-1996      Research assistant with the Department of Electronic Engineering at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

1996-2000      Assistant Professor of Electronics at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

2000-2012      Associate Professor of Electronics at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

2012-today     Full professor of Electronics at the Department of Electronic Engineering of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

Publications

Di Natale has published 217 papers on international peer reviewed journals, and 350 papers in international conferences. These papers have been cited 4486 times obtaining a h-index=40 (source Scopus, may 2013).

Besides, he published 27 papers on collective books. He edited 17 volumes of proceedings of the Italian Conference on Sensors and Microsystems (publisher World Scientific from 2006 to 2009, and then Springer Verlag). He has been guest editor of three issues of Sensors and Actuators B and one issue of the Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines,

He patented 6 original inventions.

Teaching

Currently Di Natale gives courses on “Electronic Devices and Sensors” and “Sensors Systems” for the graduate program in Electronics Engineering, and the undergraduate program in Engineering Science.

He is the coordinator of the PhD course in “Engineering of sensorial and learning systems”

He tutored 11 PhD students.

He has been part of PhD evaluation commissions at the following universities: Siena, Linköping (twice), Barcelona (twice), Leuven, Brescia, Pisa, Tarragona (twice), Granada.

Other Achievements

• Chairman of Eurosensors XVIII in 2004, Rome
• Chairman of the 9th International Symposium on Olfaction and Electronic Nose, ISOEN’02, Rome 2002
• Chairman of the 13th Italian Conference on Sensors and Microsystems, Rome 2008
• Chairman of the 2nd NOSE network of excellence workshop, Rome 2001
• Member of the Steering Committee of Eurosensors Conferences series
• Member of the Technical Program Committee of Transducers Conferences series
• Member of the Steering Committee of the International Society on Olfaction and Chemical Sensors
• Director of the European School on Sensors for Food Applications, Isle of Elba, 1999
• Research unit coordinator of several National and European projects
• Co-founder of two spin-off companies
• Associate Editor of IEEE Sensors Journal in the period 2000-2004
• Regular referee for the major journals in the field of sensors, instrumentation, and analytical chemistry
• Project evaluator for several agencies in Italy and abroad (European Union, Sweden, USA, Singapore, France, Romania).
• Invited speaker at the following conferences and workshops:
  • 18th World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Nizza, 1998;  Conference on Applied Neural and Cognitive Science, Boston (USA) 1999; Conference national the capteur chimique, Digione (Francia) 2000; 8th International Symposium on Olfaction and Electronic Nose, Washington (USA) 2001; IATICE 2002, Melbourne (Australia) 2002; In Vino Analytica Scientia, Aveiro (Portogallo) 2003; 3rd International Conference on Porphyrins and Phtalocyanines, New Orleans (USA) 2004; 10th International Meeting on Chemical Sensors, Tsukuba (Giappone) 2004; Electronic Noses applications and technologies (NEAT’04), Buenos Aires (Argentina), 2004; 20th European Rhinology Society Conference, Istanbul (Turchia) 2004; NOSE Network of Excellence workshop, Roma 2004; 10° Conferenza Nazionale Sensori e Microsistemi, Firenze 2005; International conference on Bio-Nano-Informatics, 20-22/7/2005, Marina del Rey (USA); Workshop on nanostructured photonic sensors, 3/9/2005, Varsavia (Polonia); Plastics Electronics Conference 2005, 3-4/10/2005, Frankfurt (Germania); 5th International Conference of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, 6-11/7/2008, Mosca (Russia); Eurosensors XXIII, Losanna 3-6/9/2009; Polymat 2009, Huatulco (Messico) 2009; 217th Electrochemical Society Meeting, Vancouver 2010; 7th International Conference of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, 6-11/7/2010, Albuquerque (USA); 13th International Meeting on Chemical Sensors, Perth (Australia) 2010; Workshop of “Smart Textile” Linkoping (Svezia) 2010, 218th Electrochemical Society Meeting, Montreal 2011; 3° Workshop nazionale Gruppo Sensori della Società di Chimica Italiana, Teramo 2011; 221th Electrochemical Society Meeting, Seattle 2012; 223th Electrochemical Society Meeting, Toronto 2013;
• Invited research seminars at the following research centres and universities:
  • University of Brescia, Dipartimento di Chimica e Fisica dei Materiali, 1994; University of Barcelona (Spagna), Dipartimento di Elettronica, 1998; University of California, Davis (USA), Dipartimento di Ingegneria Agraria, 1998; University of San Petersburg (Russia), Dipartimento di Chimica, 1999; Università di Bologna, Scuola di Perfezionamento in Fisica Sanitaria, 1999; Università di Buenos Aires (Argentina), Dipartimento di Fisica, 1999; Università di Gembloux (Belgio), Facoltà di Agraria, 2000; Università di Linköping (Svezia), Dipartimento di Fisica Applicata, 1999, 2002, 2005 e 2010; Institut National Agronomique de Paris (Francia), 1999 e 2000; Università Rovira i Virgili di Tarragona (Spagna), Dipartimento Ingegneria Elettronica 2003; Università di Teramo, Facoltà di Agraria, 2004; University of Warsaw (Poland), Dipartimento Ingegneria Elettronica, 2004; ENEA Centro Ricerche Portici 2005; Università di Siena Dipartimento Ingegneria Elettronica 2009; Institute of Bioengineering of Catalunya, Barcelona, 2009; University of Gottingen, Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience, 2009

Research Actitivities

Since 1990 Di Natale works at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.  Currently he leads the Sensors Group at the Department of Electronic Engineering. His scientific interests have been oriented towards sensors and sensor systems. His major contributions are reassumed in the following research themes for which of them a list of reference papers is given.

Fundamental of Sensors

• D’Amico, C. Di Natale; A contribution on some basic definitions of sensor properties, IEEE Sensors Journal 1 2001 183-190

Artificial Olfaction and Taste Systems

• Martinelli, E., Polese, D., Dini, F., Paolesse, R., Filippini, D., Lundström, I., di Natale, C.; An investigation on the role of spike latency in an artificial olfactory system, Frontiers in Neuroengineering 4, 2011, 16
• Dini, F., Filippini, D., Paolesse, R., D'Amico, A., Lundström, I., Di Natale, C.; Polymers with embedded chemical indicators as an artificial olfactory mucosa, Analyst, 135 2010 1245
• C. Di Natale, E. Martinelli, R. Paolesse, A. D’Amico, D. Filippini, I. Lundstrom; An experimental biomimetic platform for artificial olfaction, PLoS ONE 3 2008 e3139
• C. Di Natale, R. Paolesse, A. D’Amico; Metalloporphyrins based artificial olfactory receptors, Sensors and Actuators B 121 2007 238-246
• Y. Vlasov, A. Legin, A. Rudnitskaya, C. Di Natale, A. D’Amico; Non specific sensor arrays (“electronic tongue”) for chemical analysis of liquids (IUPAC Technical Report), Pure and Applied Chemistry 77 2005 1965-1983
• Legin, A. Rudnitskaya, Y. Vlasov, C. Di Natale, F. Davide, A. D’Amico; Tasting of beverages using an electronic tongue, Sensors and Actuators B 44 1997 291 - 296
• Di Natale, A. Macagnano, F. Davide, A. D’Amico, R. Paolesse, T. Boschi, M. Faccio, G. Ferri; An electronic nose for food analysis, Sensors and Actuators B 44 1997 521-526

Chemical Sensors and molecular nanostructures

• Compagnone, D., Fusella, G.C., Del Carlo, M., Pittia, P., Martinelli, E., Tortora, L., Paolesse, R., Di Natale, C.; Gold nanoparticles-peptide based gas sensor arrays for the detection of food aromas, Biosensors and Bioelectronics 42 (2013) 618-625
• Sivalingam, Y., Martinelli, E., Catini, A., Magna, G., Pomarico, G., Basoli, F., Paolesse, R., Di Natale, C.; Gas-sensitive photoconductivity of porphyrin-functionalized ZnO nanorods, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 116, 2012, 9151-9157
• Cauzzi, D., Pattacini, R., Delferro, M., Dini, F., Di Natale, C., Paolesse, R., Bonacchi, S., Prodi, L.; Temperature-dependent fluorescence of Cu5 metal clusters: A molecular thermometer, Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. 51 (2012) 9662-9665
• Nardis, S., Pomarico, G., Tortora, L., Capuano, R., D'Amico, A., Di Natale, C., Paolesse, R.; Sensing mechanisms of supramolecular porphyrin aggregates: A teamwork task for the detection of gaseous analytes, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 21 2011 18638-18644.
• C. Di Natale, D. Monti, R. Paolesse; Chemical sensitivity of porphyrin assemblies, Materials Today 13 2010 46-52
• F. Dini, E. Martinelli, G. Pomarico, R: Paolesse, D. Monti, D. Filippini, A. D’Amico, I. Lundstrom, C. Di Natale; Chemical sensitivity of self-assembled porphyrin nano-aggregates, Nanotechnology 20 2009 055502 (8pp)
• C. Di Natale, K. Buchholt, E. Martinelli, R. Paolesse, G. Pomarico, A. D’Amico, I. Lundstrom, A. Lloyd-Spetz, ; Investigation of Quartz Microbalance and ChemFET transduction of molecular recognition events in a metalloporphyrin film, Sensors and Actuators B 135 2009 560-567
• Di Natale, R. Paolesse, A. Macagnano, S. Nardis, E. Martinelli, E. Dalcanale, M. Costa, A. D’Amico; Sensitivity-selectivity balance in mass sensors: the case of metalloporphyrins, Journal of Materials Chemistry 14 2004 1281-1287
• R. Paolesse, D. Monti, L. La Monica, A. Froiio, S. Nardis, C. Di Natale, E. Martinelli, A. D’Amico; Preparation and self-assembling of a chiral porphyrin diad onto the gold electrodes of Quartz Crystal microbamances: a novel potential approach to the develpment of enantioselective chemical sensors, Chemistry, an European Journal 8 2002 2476-2484
• C. Di Natale, C. Goletti, P. Chiaradia, M. Drago, A. Salvati, R. Paolesse, A. D’Amico; Optical anisotropies of Langmuir-Blodgett sapphyrin films, Applied Physics Letters 77 2000 3164-3166

Optical Sensors

• Dini, F., Martinelli, E., Paolesse, R., Filippini, D., Schild, D., Lundström, I., Di Natale, C.; Data processing for image-based chemical sensors: Unsupervised region of interest selection and background noise compensation, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 402, 2012, 823-832
• G. Bussetti, A. Violante, S. Cirilli, P. Chiaradia, C. Goletti, L. Tortora, R. Paolesse, E. Martinelli, A. D’Amico, C. Di Natale, G. Giancane, L. Valli; Site-sensitive gas sensing and analyte discrimination in Langmuir-Blodgett porphyrin films, Journal Physical Chemistry C 115, 2011, 8189-8194
• G. Bussetti, S. Cirilli, A. Violante, P. Chiaradia, C. Goletti, L. Tortora, R. Paolesse, E. Martinelli, A. D’Amico, C. Di Natale, G. Giancane, L. Valli; Optical anisotropy readout in solid-state porphyrins for the detection of volatile compounds, Applied Physics Letters 95 2009 091906
• D. Filippini, E. Gatto, M. Malik, C. Di Natale, R. Paolesse, A. D’Amico, I. Lundstrom; Polychromatic fingerprinting of excitation emission matrices, Chemistry An European Journal 14 2008 6057-6060
• D. Filippini, A. Alimelli, C. Di Natale, R. Paolesse, A. D’Amico, I. Lundström; Chemical senses with familiar devices, Angewandte Chemie Int Ed 45 2006 3800-3803
• C. Di Natale, A.G. Mignani, R. Paolesse, A. Macagnano, A. Mencaglia, A. D’Amico; Array of opto-chemical sensors based on fiber optic spectroscopy, IEEE Sensors Journal 5 2005 1165-1174
• C. Di Natale, D. Salimbeni, R. Paolesse, A. Macagnano, A. D’Amico; Porphyrins-based opto-electronic nose for the volatile compounds detection, Sensors and Actuators B 65 2000 220-226

Medical Applications of Chemical Sensor Systems

• D’Amico, G. Pennazza, M. Santonico, E. Martinelli, C. Roscioni, G. Galluccio, R. Paolesse, C. Di Natale; An investigation on electronic nose diagnosis of lung cancer, Lung cancer 68, 2010, 170-176
• P. Montuschi, M. Santonico, G. Pennazza, C. Mondino, G. Mantini, E. Martinelli, R. Capuano, G. Ciabattoni, C. Di Natale, P. Barnes, A. D’Amico; Diagnostic performance of an electronic nose, fractional exhaled nitric oxide and lung function testing in asthma, Chest 137 (2010) 790-796
• L. Lvova, E. Martinelli, F. Dini, A. Bergamini, R. Paolesse, C. Di Natale, A. D’Amico; Clinical analysis of human urine by means of potentiometric electronic tongue, Talanta 77 2009 1097-1104
• D’Amico, R. Bono, G. Pennazza, M. Santonico, G. Mantini, M. Bernabei, M. Zarlenga, C. Roscioni, E. Martinelli, R. Paolesse, C. Di Natale; Identification of melanoma with a gas sensor array, Skin Research and Technology 14 2008 226-236
• Di Natale, A. Macagnano, E. Martinelli, R. Paolesse, G. D’Arcangelo, C. Roscioni, A. Finazzi-Agrò, A. D’Amico; Lung cancer identification by the analysis of breath my means of an array of non-selective gas sensors, Biosensors and Bioelectronics 18 2003 1209-1218

Food Analysis with Chemical Sensor Systems

• J. Eifler, E. Martinelli, M. Santonico, R. Capuano, D. Schild, C. Di Natale; Differential detection of potentially hazardous Fusarium species in wheat grains by an electronic nose, PLoS ONE 6 2011 e21026
• Santonico, M., Bellincontro, A., De Santis, D., Di Natale, C., Mencarelli, F.; Electronic nose to study postharvest dehydration of wine grapes Food Chemistry 121 2010 789-796
• Di Natale, R. Paolesse, M. Burgio, E. Martinelli, G. Pennazza, A. D’Amico; Application of metalloporphyrins based gas and liquid sensor arrays to the analysis of red wine, Analytica Chimica Acta 513 2004 49-56
• G. Olafsdottir, P. Nesvadba, C. Di Natale, M. Careche, J. Oehlenschlager, S.V. Tryggvadottir, R. Schubring, M. Kroeger, K. Heia, M. Esaiassen, A. Macagnano, B. Jorgensen; Multisensor for fish quality determination, Trends in Food Science and Technology 15 2004 86-93
• S. Saevels, J. Lammertyn, A.Z. Berna, E.A. Veraverbeke, C. Di Natale, B. Nicolai; Electronic nose as a non destructive tool to evaluate the optimal harvest date of apples, Postharvest Biology and Technology 30 2003 3-14
• F. Sinesio, C. Di Natale, G. Quaglia, F. Bucarelli, E. Moneta, A. Macagnano, R. Paolesse, A. D’Amico; Use of electronic nose and trained sensory panel in the evaluation of tomato quality, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 80 2000 63-71

Signal Processing and Multisensors Data Analysis

• Vergara, A., Martinelli, E., Huerta, R., D'Amico, A., Di Natale, C.; Orthogonal decomposition of chemo-sensory cues, Sensors and Actuators, B 159 2011 126-134.
• Vergara, E. Martinelli, E. Llobet, A. D’Amico, C. Di Natale; Optimized feature extraction for temperature modulated gas sensors, Journal of Sensors 2009 2009 Article ID 716316, 10 pages
• E. Martinelli, C. Falconi, A. D’Amico, C. Di Natale; Feature extraction chemical sensors phase space, Sensors and Actuators B 95 2003 132-139
• Di Natale, E. Martinelli, A. D’Amico; Counteraction of environmental disturbances of electronic nose data by Independent Component Analysis, Sensors and Actuators B 82 2002 158-165
• M. Holmberg, F. Davide, C. Di Natale, A. D’Amico, F. Winquist, I. Lundström; Drift counteraction in odour recognition applications: lifelong calibration method, Sensors and Actuators B 42 1997 185 - 194
• F. Davide, C. Di Natale, A. D’Amico, A. Hierlemann, J. Mitrovics, M. Schweizer, U. Weimar, W. Göpel; Structure identification of non-linear models for QMB polymer coated sensors, Sensors and Actuators B 25 1995 830-842
• Davide, C. Di Natale, A. D’Amico; Self organizing sensory maps in odour classification mimicking, Biosensors and Bioelectronics 10 1995 203-218
• Davide, C. Di Natale and A. D’Amico; Sensor arrays figures of merit: definitions and properties, Sensors and Actuators B 13-14 1993 327-332