Gabriele Greco

My research is focused on spider silks and spider biomechanics. 

I love spiders, nature, and all their related cultural topics.

I enjoy hiking, animal watching, and all kinds of outdoors activities.

2023 – Current – Invited lecturer for “Bioinspired Engineering” course at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

2022 – Current – Invited lecturer for “Biomaterials and Biomedical Technologies” Master course at the University of Trento 

2021 – Organizer and lecturer in the Ph.D. course “Introduction to Mechanics of soft materials” at the Graduate School for Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences).

2016 – Current – Invited lecturer at the course Surface Physics and Nanostructures, Master Degree in Physics, University of Ferrara. 

Spider Silks and webs; Spider Biomechanics; Spiders' behavior and ecology; Biomechanics; Biomimicry and biomimetic approach; Experimental Mechanics

Active projects: 

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF: EPASS – Expanding the properties of Artificial Spider Silk; 01/09/2023 - 31/08/2025

EPASS

2020 PhD in Civil, Environmental and Mechanics Engineering cum laude.

Thesis: “Experimental nanomechanics of natural or artificial spider silks and related systems”

Special label “Doctor Europaeus”

2016 Master’s Degree in Physics. University of Ferrara. 110/110 cum laude. 

Thesis: “Mechanical Properties of spider’s silk: investigation of nonlinear stress regimes under

Quantized Fracture Mechanics”

2014 Bachelor’s Degree in Physics. University of Ferrara. 110/110 cum laude. 

Thesis: “I-V characteristic of nanocrystalline semiconductors for sensors application”

2010 High school graduate. Liceo Ariosto di Ferrara. 100/100 cum laude

Current:

PhD student (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Viktoria Langwallner, co-supervision

Past:

Sara Residori, “Mechanical properties of different chitin-based structures: the example of spiders”. 

Andrea Fiorese, “Interaction between a spider and an artificial Kevlar® web, the cutting phenomenon”.

Mattia Cipriani, “Design and realization of artificial spider orb webs”. 

Massimo De Nardi, “Morphology and soil characteristics of a tarantula tunnel”.

Matteo Colombo, “Spider lifting mechanics”. 

Erik Caldart, “Did spiders invent the concrete?”.  

Jacopo Tagliapietra, Sharpness and morphology variation of more than 100 spider species teeth. 

•  G. Greco, B. Schmuck, S. K. Jalali, N. M. Pugno, A. Rising, Influence of experimental methods on the mechanical properties of silk fibers: A systematic literature review and future road map, Biophysics Rev. 4, 031301, 2023, doi: 10.1063/5.0155552
• B. Schmuck, G. Greco, F. G. Bäcklund, N. M. Pugno, J. Johansson, and A. Rising, Impact of physio-chemical spinning conditions on the mechanical properties of biomimetic spider silk fibers, Communications Materials, 3, 83, 2022, doi: 10.1038/s43246-022-00307-6
• G. Greco, T. Arndt, B. Schmuck, J. Francis, F. G. Bäcklund, O. Shilkova, A. Barth, N. Gonska, G. Seisenbaeva, V. Kessler, J. Johansson, N. M. Pugno & A. Rising, Tyrosine residues mediate supercontraction in biomimetic spider silk, Communications Materials, 2021, 2, 43, doi: 10.1038/s43246-021-00147-w
• G. Greco, N. M. Pugno, How spiders hunt heavy prey: the tangle web as a pulley and spider’s lifting mechanics observed and quantified in the laboratory, J. R. Soc. Interface, 2021, 18: 20200907, doi: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0907. (Cover article)
• G. Greco, Jonas Wolff, Nicola Maria Pugno, Strong and tough silk for resilient attachment discs: the mechanical properties of piriform silk, in the spider Cupiennius salei (Keyserling, 1877)., Front. Mater., 2020, 7:138. doi: 10.3389/fmats.2020.00138

The full list of my publications can be found here: 

Full list of publications

Gabriele Greco