Meet Emanuela Gionfriddo

Emanuela develops microextraction and separation technologies for environmental and bioanalytical applications. Her group uses task-specific materials to create efficient, sustainable workflows for extracting, separating, and detecting emerging contaminants, while investigating the chemical interactions governing partitioning processes.

“What excites me most is developing analytical tools that allow us to look more closely at complex environmental and biological systems – not just measuring what is there, but understanding how chemicals interact, partition, and move within these systems,” she says. Emanuela particularly values interdisciplinary research, “where advances in separation science can be combined with complementary expertise to answer scientific questions that no single discipline could address alone.”

Emanuela expects miniaturized analytical platforms to make in situ, in vivo, and on-site measurements increasingly accessible, including beyond highly specialized laboratories. Combined with AI, these platforms could help scientists predict performance, optimize workflows, and interpret complex data. “However, I believe AI will have the greatest impact when it complements, rather than replaces, the analytical scientist’s fundamental understanding of analytical processes and instrumentation,” she says. “Operating an instrument and generating data are not the same as understanding the measurement.” As automation increases, Emanuela believes strong analytical training will become more important than ever.

Spending around half of her PhD at the University of Waterloo under Janusz Pawliszyn’s mentorship proved pivotal to Emanuela’s career. The move from Italy to Canada exposed her to an international research environment, different scientific perspectives, and opportunities to work with industry, while establishing collaborations that remain active today. She also credits her upbringing with shaping her scientific approach: “I was raised to be hands-on and to value precision, patience, and attention to detail. That combination of precision, logical thinking, and curiosity continues to shape the way I approach research.”