Topics Webinar | Recent Advances in Chemical Artificial Intelligence by Exploring Molecular Systems
24 September 2025
Welcome from the Chairs
Topics Webinar: Recent Advances in Chemical Artificial Intelligence by Exploring Molecular Systems
Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are becoming more prevalent in our societies. They assist, and sometimes even replace, humans in accomplishing specific tasks and dealing with complex systems. Traditionally, AI and robotics are developed in software and hardware, the latter being either rigid or soft. In the early 2010s, the following promising strategy was put forward: using molecular, supramolecular, and systems chemistry in wetware (i.e., in fluid solutions) to mimic some aspects of human (and, more generally, biological) intelligence and develop the so-called chemical artificial intelligence (CAI) and chemical robotics. In CAI, information is encoded, collected, stored, processed, and sent primarily through molecules and chemical reactions. CAI and chemical robots will allow humans to colonize the nanoscopic world. Artificial intelligent chemical systems will help diagnose and cure diseases, safeguard the environment, and contribute to increased energy and food supplies. Finally, designing and implementing various forms of autonomous chemical intelligence will allow for a deeper comprehension of two remarkable emergent properties: intelligence and life.
Date: 24 September , 2025
Time: 3:00 pm CEST 9:00 am EDT
Webinar ID: 815 2885 8652
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Event Chairs
Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, 06123 Italy.
Pier Luigi Gentili is currently an Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry and a member of the “Photochemistry and Photophysics Group” at the University of Perugia (Italy). He also worked in other groups at Harvard, Brandeis, and Bowling Green State Universities in the USA, the “European Laboratory of Nonlinear Optics” in Florence, and the “Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Photochemistry” at the University of Siena, Italy. His research and teaching activities are focused on the interdisciplinary subject of Complex Systems. One question driving his research is: “Which biological intelligence competencies can be mimicked through inanimate chemical systems”?
Department of Chemistry
Faculty of Science
University of Malta
Msida, MSD 2080
MALTA
David Magri obtained his B.S.c (Hons) and Ph.D. in Chemistry at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. He spent two years as a post-doctorate at Queen’s University Belfast with Prof. A. P. de Silva. He held teaching positions at the University of Prince Edward Island, Ontario Tech University and Acadia University. He moved to the University of Malta, Malta in 2010 to set up an independent research programme on molecular-logic based computing. He is an inventor of the 'Lab-on-a-Molecule' and ‘Pourbaix sensor’ concepts. He has received the WIPO medal for inventors and is a twice recipient of a Malta Science Innovation Award.
Jerzy Gorecki has been working at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences for over 45 years. Experiments and numerical simulations of a complex time evolution in far-from-equilibrium systems with chemical reactions are the primary field of his research. The studies covered oscillations, spatio-temporal structures, self-motion in active matter, and potential applications of chemical processes for information processing. His recent publications have concerned the top-down design strategy of information processing devices based on simple reaction networks. Such an approach allows for more efficient use of the media computing potential than the bottom-up design based on chemical logic gates.
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (DiSTeBA), University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
Pasquale Stano obtained a degree in chemistry from the University of Pisa, Italy, then spent two years as a scientific collaborator of Pier Luigi Luisi at the ETH Zurich. Then, he moved to Rome to work with the University of Roma Tre and with the “Enrico Fermi” Research Center, on the “minimal synthetic cell” project. He is currently an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Lecce, Italy, where he develops research on origins of life, synthetic biology, systems chemistry and artificial life. More information at: https://sites.google.com/unisalento.it/stano-lab/home-page
Keynote Speakers
AGH University of Krakow, Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology
Konrad Szaciłowski graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University (Kraków, Poland) in 1995 (M.Sc.) and 2000 (Ph.D.). After habilitation (2008), he moved from Jagiellonian University to the AGH University of Krakow. Now he is the head of Chair of Photophysics and Electrochemistry at the Academic Center of Materials and Nanotechnology. His initial interest in photochemistry and spectroscopy of coordination compounds has gradually evolved towards molecular and nanoscale logic devices and finally towards unconventional computing. At the moment, his main research interests encompass the design of inorganic materials for memristive applications, mimicking of neutral and synaptic processes in inanimate systems, reservoir computing, and relations of musical harmony with other fields of science. He is an author of the book Infochemistry: Information processing at nanoscale (Wiley 2012) and numerous papers in fields such as coordination chemistry, material science, spectroscopy, catalysis, and electrochemistry. In his free time, he enjoys classical music, philately, and single malts from Islay and Speyside.
Unconventional Computing Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom
I was born in Patras, Greece, and studied chemistry at the University of Patras, where I received my BSc and MSc degrees. I then completed my PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester. My research is in organic electronics and conducting polymers, and I have developed solution techniques to optimize organic field effect transistors, thin films, chemical sensors, and other devices. I have also gained experience in x-ray absorption spectroscopy by studying the effect of calcium carbonate lubricant additives on the crystallization of hydroxyapatite and the preparation of titania nanotubes for water splitting applications. I am now working in the Unconventional Computing Laboratory at UWE Bristol under the supervision of Prof. A. Adamatzky, where I research the electrical properties of proteinoid microspheres and develop analog and neuromorphic circuits and proteinoid anesthesia.
Unconventional Computing Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom
Andrew Adamatzky is a professor in unconventional computing in the Department of Computer Science and the director of the Unconventional Computing Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. He conducts research in reaction-diffusion computing, cellular automata, physarum computing, massive parallel computation, applied mathematics, collective intelligence and robotics, bionics, computational psychology, non-linear science, novel hardware, and future and emergent computation.
University of Southampton, UK
Taylor joined the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Southampton as Professor of Reaction Engineering in 2024. Her research involves the design and optimisation of chemical and biochemical processes. She is particularly interested in catalytic reaction networks in aqueous phase or soft matter systems, as well as the control of dynamics in cellular biological or bioinspired systems. Taking inspiration from nature or the use of natural components allows us to not only design functional materials and processes that are greener or more sustainable but also harness the unique properties arising from feedback in natural systems including collective behaviour (e.g. quorum sensing in bacteria) and self-organisation.
Center for Systems Chemistry, Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Sijbren Otto received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees cum laude from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Following postdoctoral positions with Prof. Regen at Lehigh University (USA) and Prof. Sanders at the University of Cambridge (UK), he started his independent research career in Cambridge in 2001. He moved to the University of Groningen in 2009 where he is currently a full professor. Sijbren Otto received the ERC Starting, Advanced and Synergy grants and chaired two COST Actions on systems chemistry. He currently coordinates a Marie Curie Doctoral Training Network on the topic of Darwinian chemistry (DarChemDN).
Department of Computer Science, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Matthew Lakin obtained his B.A. and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Cambridge, then spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research. Dr. Lakin is currently an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering. His group works on computational and experimental molecular computing, DNA nanotechnology, and synthetic biology. Dr. Lakin received the NSF CAREER award in 2021 and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2025. He has also previously won the UNM School of Engineering's Junior Faculty Research Excellence Award.
Registration
Sponsors and Partners
Organizers
Program
| Speaker/Presentation | Time in CEST |
|
Pier Luigi Gentili Introduction to Chemical AI |
3:00 - 3:10 pm |
|
David Magri Introduction to Speakers 1 and 2 |
3:10 – 3:15 pm |
|
Konrad Szacilowsky Reservoir computing and chemical sensing: A marriage of convenience. |
3:15 - 3:40 pm |
|
Panagiotis Mougkogiannis and Andrew Adamatzky The Effects of Omeprazole on the Neuron-like Spiking of the Electrical Potential of Proteinoid Microspheres. |
3:40 – 4:05 pm |
|
Jerzy Gorecki Introduction to Systems Chemistry for CAI and Speakers 3 and 4 |
4:05 – 4:10 |
|
Annette Taylor Programming with pH using chemical reaction networks in vesicles. |
4:10 - 4:35 pm |
|
Sijbren Otto Propagation of information in (autocatalytic) chemical reaction networks. |
4:35 – 5:00 pm |
|
Pasquale Stano Introduction to Synthetic Biology for CAI and Speaker 5. |
5:00 – 5:05 pm |
|
Matthew Lakin Learning in molecular computing systems. |
5:05 – 5:30 pm |
|
Pier Luigi Gentili Closing Remarks |
5:30 – 5:35 pm |
