Luisa Torsi received her Laurea degree in Physics from the University of Bari in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences from the same institution in 1993. She was a post-doctoral fellow at Bell Labs from 1994 to 1996. In 2005 and 2006 she was an invited professor at the University of Anger and Paris 7. Since 2005 she is a full professor of chemistry at the University of Bari and from 2017 to 2022, she was an adjunct professor at the Abo Academy University in Finland. She is also presently member of the prestigious Accademia dei Lincei. In 2010 she has been awarded the Heinrich Emanuel Merck prize for analytical sciences, marking the first time the award has been given to a woman. The IUPAC – International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry awarded her with the 2019 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering. The analytical chemistry division of the European Chemical Society (EuChemS) conferred her the Robert Kellner Lecturer 2019. Prof. Luisa Torsi is also the winner of the Wilhelm Exner Medal 2021 with the following motivation: “for her pioneering research in organic bioelectronics and for having successfully combined electronic and electrochemical sensors, analytical chemistry, organic semiconductors, solid-state device physics, and materials chemistry in an interdisciplinary manner”. The prize has been awarded since 1921 by the Austrian Industrial Association to celebrate excellence in science and the over 230 awardees include more than 20 Nobel prizes. The Italian President, Sergio Mattarella invited Prof. Torsi to the Quirinale in Rome to personally congratulate her on this award. Just recently she has been selected as the winner of the Premio Presidente della Repubblica, that since 1949 is awarded by the Accademia dei Lincei. Among the people awarded, there are several winners of other important awards such as the Nobel Prize and the Wolf Prize. Torsi is the author of about 230 ISI papers, published in journals such as Science and Nature Materials. Her works have gathered almost 16.500 citations, contributing to an h-index of 64 (Google Scholar). She is among the 2% most cited scientists in the world (John P.A. Ioannidis, DOI: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.4) and is the second most cited woman in Italy in materials science (Research.com ranking). She is also a co-inventor of numerous patents and has given over 200 invited seminars, including more than 50 plenary talks at conferences and universities in USA, Asia, and Europe. Research funding amounts to nearly €40M, including several European, national, and regional projects, of which Torsi is often the coordinator. Right now, at the Apulian regional center “Single-Molecule Digital-Assay” chaired by Torsi a clinical trial is ongoing to validate the Single-Molecule with a large Transistor (SiMoT) technology patented by the group led by Torsi in 2016. SiMoT technology, which is currently at a Technology-Readiness-Level of 5 (TRL5), is planned to reach TRL7-8 in 3-5 years and meet the needs of an ideal point-of-care device by combining the advantages of a salivary antigen test (fast, disposable, easy to use, non-invasive) with the performance of a molecular one (reliably sensitive to one single marker in a droplet of 0.1 ml). Torsi also coordinated the “Single-molecule bio-electronic smart system array for clinical testing – SiMBiT” European project that successfully brought the SiMoT proof-of-principle device published in 2018 to an all-electronic ELISA-like single-molecule array prototype for early and minimally invasive pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Another key project, BioScreen, financed by the Lombardia region, concerned the development of a SiMoT-based salivary single-sensor test, for single COVID-19 virion assay. Torsi is presently coordinating an Italian project financed by the Ministry of Agriculture in which a SiMoT POC prototype is developed to assay a single live Xylella fastidiosa bacterium directly in infected olives trees’ sap. She has also coordinated a “European Industrial Doctorate” Marie Curie project in collaboration with the German Multinational Merck and a Marie Curie “International Training Networks” to establish a European Network of electronic sensing. Several national Italian projects funded by the Ministry of Research were also coordinated by prof. Torsi. Since 2020 she has been appointed National Representative for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action of Horizon Europe by the Italian Minister for Education and Research. She is also a past president of the European Material Research Society (over 4,000 members), the first woman to serve in this role. Torsi has been also elected 2017 Fellow of the Material Research Society, for pioneering work in the field of organic (bio) electronic sensors and their use for point-of-care testing. She is also Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2022. Presently, she is serving as Vice-President of the Scientific Committee of the Italian National Research Council. She is also the President of MEDISDIH S.c.ar.l., the evolution of the Apulian Mechatronics technology district strongly involved in promoting industrial product and process innovations that integrate the progress achieved by digital technologies in support of multidisciplinary mechatronic technologies also for health applications. Torsi is a member of the Board of Directors of the Leonardo Foundation – Civiltà delle Macchine, established by the Founding Member Leonardo SpA, to promote collaboration with stakeholders, communities, and territories. Prof. Torsi is committed as a role model for younger women scientists. She has been giving several talks including a TEDx talk. She is one of the 100Experts a project led by Fondazione Bracco comprising an online databank with the CVs of female experts in STEM, a sector historically underrepresented by women but strategic for the economic and social development. In a recent campaign to foster gender equality in science among children, prof. Torsi was featured in a story of TOPOLINO (Italian comic digest-size series of Disney comics), as “Louise Torduck”, a successful female scientist of the Calisota valley.
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