On June 18th, 2024 at 3.00 pm the seminar "Molecular Communication Theory: Foundations and Future Perspectives" will take place at DEIB PT1 Room (Building 20).

Molecular communication theory is a discipline in communication systems engineering that studies how information can be encoded and propagated through chemical molecules.
The implicit biocompatibility and nanoscale feasibility of molecular communication make it a promising paradigm for engineering the interconnections between embedded computing systems able to not only directly interact with biological processes, but also utilize these same processes as their building blocks, i.e., the Internet of Bio-Nano Things. The first part of this talk will focus on a broad introduction of molecular communication as a research field, together with its initial motivations and landmarks research results at its intersection with biochemistry, with highlights from systems and synthetic biology, neuroscience, and bioinformatics. The second part of the talk will focus on the latest results and open challenges in the characterization of information flow through biological cells, and the engineering of novel communication components able to harness, control, and enhance this flow for future applications ranging from implantable and wearable device networking to the design of communication components in engineered cells.

Massimiliano Pierobon is the Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professor at the School of Computing, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), NE, USA, where he also holds a courtesy appointment at the Department of Biochemistry. He is fellow of the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI). He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, in 2013.
He is the co-Editor in Chief of Nano Communication Networks (Elsevier), and an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. Selected honors: 2011 Georgia Tech BWN Lab Researcher of the Year Award, 2013 IEEE Communications Letters Exemplary Reviewer Award, UNL CSE Upper Ugrad and Graduate Level Teaching Award in 2016 and 2017, 2017 IEEE INFOCOM Best Paper Runner-up Award and ACM NanoCom Best Paper Award, 2020 ACM NanoCom Outstanding Milestone Award, and 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 UNL College of Engineering Excellence in Research Awards. Dr. Pierobon is the PI of multiple NSF and DoD projects and the co-organizer/chair of the NSF Workshop on Biology through Information, Communication & Coding Theory. His research interests are in molecular communication theory, nanonetworks, intra-body networks, information and communication theory applied to synthetic biology, and the Internet of Bio-Nano Things.