Cristina Manuela Santi received her PhD in Chemistry in 2021 from University of Milan (Italy), under the guidance of Prof. Luigi Lay. Her doctoral research focused on the synthesis of carbohydrate antigens and their structural analogues for vaccine development. Following her doctoral studies, she continued her research within the same group as a research fellow, concentrating on the synthesis of carbohydrate-based vaccine adjuvants.
In 2022, she joined the University of Bristol (UK) as a postdoctoral research associate under the supervision of Prof. Carmen Galan, where she worked on the development of novel diagnostic tools and alternative therapies targeting multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Since May 2024, she has been a postdoctoral researcher in the Polymers and Biomaterials group at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, under the direction of Prof. Nicola Tirelli. Her current research is centered on two key areas: the development of polymeric nanoparticles for targeted nucleic acid delivery and the design of sulfur-based polymers for the scavenging of reactive oxygen species.