FunMo: Functions at the Molecular Scale

Projects

  • The project FunMo: Functions at the molecular scale is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship hosted at the Department of Philosophy at Durham University (UK).

  • The project investigates the functionality of molecules in living systems, exploring the borders between chemistry and life and the application of such notions in life sciences and medicine.

  • It has three research strands: i) molecular functionality, ii) DNA and RNA functionality, iii) in-vitro and in-silico technologies and molecular functionality

  • I am the main investigator in this project, mentored by Prof Robin Hendry and Prof Peter Vickers.

Functions in Philosophy Network

  • The “Functions in Philosophy Network” is a growing network of international philosophers and it explores how different notions of functions are used in philosophy across different case-studies.

  • Join our “Functions in Philosophy” reading group! Meeting the first Wednesday of the month on zoom at 15 GTM. Send me an email if you would like to join!

ERC Assembling-Life Project

  • The Assembling-Life Project is a European Research Council (ERC) project funded under the EU Horizon research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 101089326). It aims to build a new theoretical framework for understanding and explaining life, building on the increasing knowledge about self-assembly and self-organization processes.

  • The project is interdisciplinary, and biology, nanoscience, chemistry and physics will inform the philosophical work

  • I was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the project working on the philosophy of biochemistry and self-assembly phenomena in molecular biology (2024- 2025). I still continue my collaboration with the project as Researcher.

ERC MetaScience Project

  • The Metaphysical Unity of Science Project is a European Research Council (ERC) project funded under the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 771509). It pursued the question of what, if anything, unifies the natural sciences.

  • The project studied the question from the perspective of metaphysics and philosophy of science by way of employing case studies from biology, chemistry, and physics.

  • The main output of my work for the project is an account of unity in biochemistry based on notions of weak emergence (as explored in my PhD thesis and in multiple papers).

  • I worked for the project as a researcher and project coordinator (March 2023-August 2023). Previously, I was a PhD student in the project (2019-2023) and I wrote my thesis on unity and kinds in biochemistry.

  • During my time with MetaScience, I collaborated organising multiple workshops and conferences and promoting the project’s research via social medias, generalists articles and outreach activities.