Antonio Tilocca University College London

Dr Antonio Tilocca

Royal Society University Research Fellow

University College London

Recent research highlights and news :

Paper Structural role of zinc in biodegradation of alkali-free bioactive glasses (a collaboration with Jose' Ferreira's group at University of Aveiro, Portugal) accepted in J. Mater. Chem. B. This paper investigates the effect of zinc on the biological activity of alkali-free glasses based on the ternary (diopside - fluorapatite - tricalcium phosphate) system. We show how the glass solubility and apatite-forming ability measured through various experimental probes (XRD, FTIR, ICP-AES) can be rationalised on the basis of nanoscale features of the bulk glass revealed in models produced by Molecular Dynamics simulations.

"Real-size model of a bioactive glass nanoparticle": my entry for the Royal Society Picturing Science competition.

Bioglasses page updated with most recent research highlights. Enjoy!

I am now serving as a member of the main Chemistry panel of the 2004-2010 Research Evaluation Exercise in Italy (corresponding to the UK's REF)

Two papers (link 1 and link 2) published in J. Phys. Chem. B and J. Mater. Chem., respectively. In these papers we show how the in-vivo solubility of glasses (critical for their use in biomedical applications) is controlled and can be predicted on the basis of nanoscale structural features such as intertetrahedral cross-links, segregated clusters, chains and loop motifs. More information here.

Paper DFT-GGA and DFT+U Simulations of Thin Water Layers on Reduced TiO₂ Anatase published on J. Phys. Chem. C

Our paper The initial stages of bioglass dissolution: a Car-Parrinello molecular-dynamics study of the glass-water interface in the top-ten papers published on Proc. R. Soc. A in 2011
The Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A Theme Issue on "Structure and Biological Activity of Glasses and Bioceramics", edited by myself and Alastair Cormack, is now online.

The new book Nanotechnology in Regenerative Medicine (Series: Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 811, Springer) contains my chapter "Molecular Dynamics methods for modeling complex interactions in biomaterials" .

Our paper on the Bioglass // liquid water interface published in Proc. R. Soc. A was featured on the cover.

Check out my MD movies of ion migration and surface activity in bioglasses here and on the TYC website

Present address:
Department of Chemistry, University College London
Christopher Ingold Building, Office G19B
20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, UK
Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 7463
E-mail: a.tilocca{at}ucl.ac.uk

Current position :
Royal Society University Research Fellow (URF)

Research Interests
Modified silicate glasses, bioactive glasses and surface-active biomaterials
Adsorption, electronic and catalytic properties of oxide surfaces and clays

Computational Methods
Classical Molecular Dynamics (codes: DL_POLY, GULP)
Ab-initio (Car-Parrinello) Molecular Dynamics (codes: CP, CPMD)
Total Energy Pseudopotential Calculations within Density Functional Theory (codes: PWSCF)

Publications (~ 1400 ISI Web of Science^® total citations to date, ISI h-index = 25).

Research

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

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