Dr. Maria Murace
Main Focus
Structural colouration, arising from the interaction of light with transparent materials featuring lengths comparable to visible wavelengths, is a fascinating phenomenon responsible for the appearance of many living organisms. My main research focus is to understand how various living systems, and in particular seaweeds, create vibrant colouration.
I am particularly interested in:
- Understanding structural colour in red and green macroalgae
- Investigating the formation of the photonic structures
- Exploring the biological significance of structural coloration in algae.
I also work on structural colour in bacteria, focusing on novel routes to develop photonic pigments from living microorganisms.
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Maria Murace is a postdoctoral scientist in the Department of Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials, headed by Prof. Silvia Vignolini, at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces.
Maria did her BSc and MSc in Physics at the University of Pisa, during which she developed a keen interest in soft matter and photonics. Fascinated by how nature creates structures that are barely reproducible artificially, she joined Silvia Vignolini’s group in Cambridge to further investigate the interaction of light and matter in the natural world. During her PhD, Maria collaborated with chemists, biologists, and marine scientists, expanding her field of study to new subjects and organisms. Maria’s research interests include structural colour in nature, from marine organisms to land plants. She is also particularly interested in a variety of microscopy techniques, both optical and electron, which she uses to characterise photonic structures.