Research
My research investigates the physical and chemical evolution of matter in interstellar, circumstellar, and planetary environments. By integrating computational physics, molecular astrophysics, and astrobiology, I aim to understand how fundamental cosmic building blocks contribute to chemical complexity and potential atmospheric biosignatures.
Computational astrophysics & cosmic nanocarbons
Prebiotic chemistry & C60 fullerene dynamics
Fullerenes (C60 and related nanostructures) represent some of the largest and most resilient organic molecules identified in the interstellar medium (ISM). My research focuses on evaluating the physical stability, molecular survival mechanisms, and potential catalytic roles of C60 fullerenes under extreme cosmic conditions—including high-energy ultraviolet radiation, cosmic shock waves, and planetary atmospheres.
Furthermore, I explore their potential contributions to prebiotic chemical evolution, investigating how nanocarbon surfaces may protect, transport, or catalyse key organic precursor molecules.
NanoSpace Knowledge Hub & data infrastructure
Astrochemical data standardisation
As one of the developers of the NanoSpace Knowledge Hub and Head of the Database Strategy Group within the NanoSpace COST Action, I work at the intersection of astrochemical data infrastructure and molecular physics.
In this role, I contribute to strategic initiatives aimed at structuring, standardising, and integrating complex molecular spectroscopy and astrochemical data across international repositories. This platform provides standardised access to molecular data essential for modeling chemical networks in astronomical objects.
This work has been supported by an E-COST-GRANT-CA21126-a3bd7e19 dissemination grant, awarded for an online survey on the current state of cosmic nanocarbon databases.
Scientific computing & numerical modeling
Custom simulation pipelines (C++, Python, Fortran)
Simulating physical systems and molecular dynamics requires high-performance computational methodologies. I design and implement numerical simulation routines and analytical software tools tailored for complex physical equations.
My computational stack utilizes C++ for execution speed in heavy numerical routines, Python for data processing, database integration, and statistical evaluation, and Fortran for legacy scientific computing algorithms within Linux ecosystems.
Toward exoplanet biosignatures
An emerging direction
My work on standardising astrochemical spectral data — through the NanoSpace Knowledge Hub and the PAH spectral analysis tool — builds infrastructure directly transferable to exoplanet atmosphere characterisation, where the same challenge of matching molecular absorption features against standardised databases applies.
I contributed to the Community Report from the Biosignatures Standards of Evidence Workshop (arXiv, 2022), which addressed how evidentiary standards for biosignatures should be defined. I'm now looking to extend this spectroscopic and database-infrastructure work toward exoplanet atmospheric characterisation as a next step.