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Dr Felix Rizzuto

Dr Felix Rizzuto

Scientia Fellow (Level C)

2018-2021 - Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, McGill University
2014-2018 - PhD Chemistry, University of Cambridge 
2008-2014 - BSc(Adv, Hons I)/BA, University of Sydney

Science
School of Chemistry

Dr Felix Rizzuto is a Scientia Senior Lecturer and Moderna Australia Fellow in the School of Chemistry at UNSW Sydney. His labs develop new chemical tools for DNA and RNA nanotechnologies for applications in materials science, therapeutics delivery, biosensing, and nanorobotics. After receiving his joint BSc/BA from the University of Sydney, he obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2018. He was then awarded a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Prof. Hanadi Sleiman at McGill University in Canada (2018-2021). He started his labs at UNSW in 2022 with an ARC DECRA fellowship.

 

 
E-mail
f.rizzuto@unsw.edu.au
Location
Office 746, Hilmer Building E10
  • Journal articles | 2026
    Cox LB; Mattick JS; Middleton IA; Rizzuto FJ; Thordarson P, 2026, 'Specificity of the stabilizing interaction between intrinsically disordered protein sequences and G-quadruplexes in RNA', Nucleic Acids Research, 54, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf1471
    Journal articles | 2025
    Chak MH; Wimberger L; Richardson B; Newman NE; Johansson EMV; Violi JP; Sokolova A; Frisch H; Rizzuto FJ; Donald WA; Stenzel MH; Andréasson J; Beves JE, 2025, 'Photoswitchable Merocyanine-Amphiphiles with Programmable Self-Assembly Times', Chemistry A European Journal, 31, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.202502399
    Journal articles | 2025
    Rafique MG; Laurent Q; Dore MD; Fakih HH; Trinh T; Rizzuto FJ; Sleiman HF, 2025, 'Sequence-Defined DNA Polymers: New Tools for DNA Nanotechnology and Nucleic Acid Therapy', Accounts of Chemical Research, 58, pp. 177 - 188, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.4c00580
    Journal articles | 2024
    Berengut JF; Berg WR; Rizzuto FJ; Lee LK, 2024, 'Passivating Blunt-Ended Helices to Control Monodispersity and Multi-Subunit Assembly of DNA Origami Structures', Small Structures, 5, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sstr.202300441
    Journal articles | 2024
    Berengut JF; Berg WR; Rizzuto FJ; Lee LK, 2024, 'Passivating Blunt‐Ended Helices to Control Monodispersity and Multi‐Subunit Assembly of DNA Origami Structures', Small Structures, 5, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sstr.202470015
    Journal articles | 2024
    Cox L; Bai C; Platnich CM; Rizzuto FJ, 2024, 'Divergent Polymer Superstructures from Protonated Poly(adenine) DNA and RNA', Biomacromolecules, 25, pp. 3163 - 3168, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.4c00271
    Journal articles | 2024
    Dore MD; Rafique MG; Yang TP; Zorman M; Platnich CM; Xu P; Trinh T; Rizzuto FJ; Cosa G; Li J; Guarné A; Sleiman HF, 2024, 'Heat-activated growth of metastable and length-defined DNA fibers expands traditional polymer assembly', Nature Communications, 15, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48722-2
    Journal articles | 2023
    Berg WR; Berengut JF; Bai C; Wimberger L; Lee LK; Rizzuto FJ, 2023, 'Light-Activated Assembly of DNA Origami into Dissipative Fibrils', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 62, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.202314458
    Journal articles | 2023
    Berg WR; Berengut JF; Bai C; Wimberger L; Lee LK; Rizzuto FJ, 2023, 'Light‐Activated Assembly of DNA Origami into Dissipative Fibrils', Angewandte Chemie, 135, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ange.202314458
    Journal articles | 2023
    Rizzuto FJ; Pal SC; Kearns ER; Hua C; Solomon MB; Doheny PW; Faust TB; Kepert CJ; Das MC; D'Alessandro DM, 2023, 'The physical and electronic properties of Metal-Organic Frameworks containing dipyridylthiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole', Crystengcomm, 25, pp. 6434 - 6440, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d3ce00541k
    Journal articles | 2023
    Ryan HP; Fishman ZS; Pawlik JT; Grommet A; Musial M; Rizzuto F; Booth JC; Long CJ; Schwarz K; Orloff ND; Nitschke JR; Stelson AC, 2023, 'Quantifying the Effect of Guest Binding on Host Environment', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 145, pp. 19533 - 19541, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c01409
    Journal articles | 2023
    Saliba D; Luo X; Rizzuto FJ; Sleiman HF, 2023, 'Programming rigidity into size-defined wireframe DNA nanotubes', Nanoscale, 15, pp. 5403 - 5413, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d2nr06185f
    Journal articles | 2023
    Wimberger L; Rizzuto FJ; Beves JE, 2023, 'Modulating the Lifetime of DNA Motifs Using Visible Light and Small Molecules', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 145, pp. 2088 - 2092, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c13232
    Journal articles | 2023
    de Rochambeau D; Barłóg M; Rizzuto FJ; Laurent Q; Luo X; Lau KL; Bazzi HS; Sleiman HF, 2023, 'A single monomer difference can impact the nanostructure output of precision oligo(phosphodiesters)', Polymer Chemistry, 14, pp. 3971 - 3977, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d3py00731f
    Journal articles | 2022
    Carpenter JP; Ronson TK; Rizzuto FJ; Héliot T; Grice P; Nitschke JR, 2022, 'Incorporation of a Phosphino(pyridine) Subcomponent Enables the Formation of Cages with Homobimetallic and Heterobimetallic Vertices', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 144, pp. 8467 - 8473, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c02261
    Journal articles | 2022
    Rizzuto FJ; Dore MD; Rafique MG; Luo X; Sleiman HF, 2022, 'DNA Sequence and Length Dictate the Assembly of Nucleic Acid Block Copolymers', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 144, pp. 12272 - 12279, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c03506
    Journal articles | 2022
    Saliba D; Trinh T; Lachance-Brais C; Prinzen AL; Rizzuto FJ; de Rochambeau D; Sleiman HF, 2022, 'Asymmetric patterning drives the folding of a tripodal DNA nanotweezer', Chemical Science, 13, pp. 74 - 80, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d1sc04793k
    Journal articles | 2021
    Rizzuto FJ; Platnich CM; Luo X; Shen Y; Dore MD; Lachance-Brais C; Guarné A; Cosa G; Sleiman HF, 2021, 'A dissipative pathway for the structural evolution of DNA fibres', Nature Chemistry, 13, pp. 843 - 849, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41557-021-00751-w
    Journal articles | 2020
    Li Q; Zhao J; Liu L; Jonchhe S; Rizzuto FJ; Mandal S; He H; Wei S; Sleiman HF; Mao H; Mao C, 2020, 'A poly(thymine)–melamine duplex for the assembly of DNA nanomaterials', Nature Materials, 19, pp. 1012 - 1018, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0728-2
    Journal articles | 2020
    Plajer AJ; Rizzuto FJ; von Krbek LKS; Gisbert Y; Martínez-Agramunt V; Nitschke JR, 2020, 'Oxidation triggers guest dissociation during reorganization of an FeL6twisted parallelogram', Chemical Science, 11, pp. 10399 - 10404, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d0sc04352d
    Journal articles | 2020
    Plajer AJ; Zhu J; Pröhm P; Rizzuto FJ; Keyser UF; Wright DS, 2020, 'Conformational Control in Main Group Phosphazane Anion Receptors and Transporters', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142, pp. 1029 - 1037, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b11347
    Journal articles | 2020
    Platnich CM; Rizzuto FJ; Cosa G; Sleiman HF, 2020, 'Single-molecule methods in structural DNA nanotechnology', Chemical Society Reviews, 49, pp. 4220 - 4233, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9cs00776h
    Journal articles | 2020
    Rizzuto FJ; Nitschke JR, 2020, 'Narcissistic, integrative, and kinetic self-sorting within a system of coordination cages', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142, pp. 7749 - 7753, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c02444
    Journal articles | 2020
    Rizzuto FJ; Trinh T; Sleiman HF, 2020, 'Molecular Printing with DNA Nanotechnology', Chem, 6, pp. 1560 - 1574, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2020.06.012
    Journal articles | 2020
    Rousina-Webb A; Lachance-Brais C; Rizzuto FJ; Askari MS; Sleiman HF, 2020, 'Transition-Metal-Functionalized DNA Double-Crossover Tiles: Enhanced Stability and Chirality Transfer to Metal Centers', Advanced Materials, 132, pp. 4120 - 4127, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ANGE.201913956
    Journal articles | 2020
    Rousina-Webb A; Lachance-Brais C; Rizzuto FJ; Askari MS; Sleiman HF, 2020, 'Transition-Metal-Functionalized DNA Double-Crossover Tiles: Enhanced Stability and Chirality Transfer to Metal Centers', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 59, pp. 4091 - 4098, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201913956
    Journal articles | 2019
    Askari MS; Lachance-Brais C; Rizzuto FJ; Toader V; Sleiman H, 2019, 'Remote control of charge transport and chiral induction along a DNA-metallohelicate', Nanoscale, 11, pp. 11879 - 11884, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9nr03212f
    Journal articles | 2019
    Plajer AJ; Percástegui EG; Santella M; Rizzuto FJ; Gan Q; Laursen BW; Nitschke JR, 2019, 'Fluorometric Recognition of Nucleotides within a Water-Soluble Tetrahedral Capsule', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 58, pp. 4200 - 4204, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201814149
    Journal articles | 2019
    Plajer AJ; Percástegui EG; Santella M; Rizzuto FJ; Gan Q; Laursen BW; Nitschke JR, 2019, 'Fluorometric Recognition of Nucleotides within a Water‐Soluble Tetrahedral Capsule', Angewandte Chemie, 131, pp. 4244 - 4248, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ange.201814149
    Journal articles | 2019
    Plajer AJ; Percástegui EG; Santella M; Rizzuto FJ; Gan Q; Laursen BW; Nitschke JR, 2019, 'Innentitelbild: Fluorometric Recognition of Nucleotides within a Water‐Soluble Tetrahedral Capsule (Angew. Chem. 13/2019)', Angewandte Chemie, 131, pp. 4110 - 4110, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ange.201902025
    Journal articles | 2019
    Plajer AJ; Percástegui EG; Santella M; Rizzuto FJ; Gan Q; Laursen BW; Nitschke JR, 2019, 'Inside Cover: Fluorometric Recognition of Nucleotides within a Water‐Soluble Tetrahedral Capsule (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 13/2019)', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 58, pp. 4068 - 4068, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201902025
    Journal articles | 2019
    Plajer AJ; Rizzuto FJ; Niu HC; Lee S; Goodman JM; Wright DS, 2019, 'Guest Binding via N−H⋅⋅⋅π Bonding and Kinetic Entrapment by an Inorganic Macrocycle', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 58, pp. 10655 - 10659, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201905771
    Journal articles | 2019
    Rizzuto FJ; Carpenter JP; Nitschke JR, 2019, 'Multisite Binding of Drugs and Natural Products in an Entropically Favorable, Heteroleptic Receptor', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141, pp. 9087 - 9095, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b03776
    Journal articles | 2019
    Rizzuto FJ; Pröhm P; Plajer AJ; Greenfield JL; Nitschke JR, 2019, 'Hydrogen-Bond-Assisted Symmetry Breaking in a Network of Chiral Metal-Organic Assemblies', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141, pp. 1707 - 1715, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b12323
    Journal articles | 2019
    Rizzuto FJ; von Krbek LKS; Nitschke JR, 2019, 'Strategies for binding multiple guests in metal–organic cages', Nature Reviews Chemistry, 3, pp. 204 - 222, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41570-019-0085-3
    Journal articles | 2018
    Plajer AJ; Colebatch AL; Rizzuto FJ; Pröhm P; Bond AD; García-Rodríguez R; Wright DS, 2018, 'How Changing the Bridgehead Can Affect the Properties of Tripodal Ligands', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 57, pp. 6648 - 6652, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201802350
    Journal articles | 2018
    Plajer AJ; Garcia-Rodriguez R; Rizzuto FJ; Wright DS, 2018, 'Flexible Bonding of the Phosph(V)azane Dianions [S(E)P(μ-NtBu)]2 2−', Chemistry A European Journal, 24, pp. 2013 - 2019, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201705413
    Journal articles | 2018
    Plajer AJ; Niu HC; Rizzuto FJ; Wright DS, 2018, 'Formation and selection of the macrocycle [{(: TBuN)P(μ-NtBu)}2(μ-Se)2{P(μ-NtBu)}2]3', Dalton Transactions, 47, pp. 6675 - 6678, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c8dt01143e
    Journal articles | 2018
    Rizzuto FJ; Kieffer M; Nitschke JR, 2018, 'Quantified structural speciation in self-sorted Co II 6 L4 cage systems', Chemical Science, 9, pp. 1925 - 1930, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c7sc04927g
    Journal articles | 2018
    Rizzuto FJ; Ramsay WJ; Nitschke JR, 2018, 'Otherwise Unstable Structures Self-Assemble in the Cavities of Cuboctahedral Coordination Cages', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 140, pp. 11502 - 11509, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b07494
    Journal articles | 2017
    Greenfield JL; Rizzuto FJ; Goldberga I; Nitschke JR, 2017, 'Self-Assembly of Conjugated Metallopolymers with Tunable Length and Controlled Regiochemistry', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 56, pp. 7541 - 7545, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201702320
    Journal articles | 2017
    Greenfield JL; Rizzuto FJ; Goldberga I; Nitschke JR, 2017, 'Self‐Assembly of Conjugated Metallopolymers with Tunable Length and Controlled Regiochemistry', Angewandte Chemie, 129, pp. 7649 - 7653, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ange.201702320
    Journal articles | 2017
    Plajer AJ; Bold K; Rizzuto FJ; García-Rodríguez R; Ronson TK; Wright DS, 2017, 'Isomerisation, reactivity and coordination chemistry of a new hybrid, multi-functional phosphazane', Dalton Transactions, 46, pp. 12775 - 12779, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c7dt03074f
    Journal articles | 2017
    Rizzuto FJ; Nitschke JR, 2017, 'Stereochemical plasticity modulates cooperative binding in a CoII12L6 cuboctahedron', Nature Chemistry, 9, pp. 903 - 908, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2758
    Journal articles | 2017
    Rizzuto FJ; Wood DM; Ronson TK; Nitschke JR, 2017, 'Tuning the Redox Properties of Fullerene Clusters within a Metal-Organic Capsule', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139, pp. 11008 - 11011, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b05788
    Journal articles | 2016
    Hua C; Rizzuto FJ; Zhang X; Tuna F; Collison D; D'Alessandro DM, 2016, 'Spectroelectrochemical properties of a Ru(ii) complex with a thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole triarylamine ligand', New Journal of Chemistry, 41, pp. 108 - 114, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C6NJ02802K
    Journal articles | 2016
    Ramsay WJ; Rizzuto FJ; Ronson TK; Caprice K; Nitschke JR, 2016, 'Subtle Ligand Modification Inverts Guest Binding Hierarchy in MII8L6 Supramolecular Cubes', Journal of the American Chemical Society, 138, pp. 7264 - 7267, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b03858
    Journal articles | 2016
    Rizzuto FJ; Wu WY; Ronson TK; Nitschke JR, 2016, 'Inside Cover: Peripheral Templation Generates an MII6L4Guest-Binding Capsule (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 28/2016)', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55, pp. 7866, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201604252
    Journal articles | 2016
    Rizzuto FJ; Wu WY; Ronson TK; Nitschke JR, 2016, 'Peripheral Templation Generates an MII6L4Guest-Binding Capsule', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 55, pp. 7958 - 7962, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201602135
    Journal articles | 2015
    Rizzuto FJ; Hua C; Chan B; Faust TB; Rawal A; Leong CF; Hook JM; Kepert CJ; D'Alessandro DM, 2015, 'The electronic, optical and magnetic consequences of delocalization in multifunctional donor-acceptor organic polymers', Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 17, pp. 11252 - 11259, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c5cp00081e
    Journal articles | 2014
    Murphy MJ; Usov PM; Rizzuto FJ; Kepert CJ; D'Alessandro DM, 2014, 'Magnetic, electrochemical and optical properties of a sulfate-bridged Co(ii) imidazole dimer', New Journal of Chemistry, 38, pp. 5856 - 5860, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4nj01401d
    Journal articles | 2014
    Rizzuto FJ; Faust TB; Chan B; Hua C; D'Alessandro DM; Kepert CJ, 2014, 'Experimental and computational studies of a multi-electron donor-acceptor ligand containing the thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole core and its incorporation into a metal-organic framework', Chemistry A European Journal, 20, pp. 17597 - 17605, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201405089
  • Preprints | 2026
    Cox L; Thordarson P; Rizzuto F, 2026, Peptide-Directed Folding of the Elusive RNA i-Motif, http://dx.doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2026-csscs
    Preprints | 2025
    Cox L; Mattick J; Middleton I; Rizzuto F; Thordarson P, 2025, Specificity of the stabilising interaction between intrinsically disordered protein sequences and G-quadruplexes in RNA, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.19.683336
    Preprints | 2022
    Luo X; Zhu J; Rizzuto F; Lennox RB; Sleiman H, 2022, Programmed ripening of nanoparticles using a DNA template, http://dx.doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-cpg6j
    Preprints | 2022
    Luo X; Zhu J; Rizzuto F; Lennox RB; Sleiman H, 2022, Programmed ripening of nanoparticles using a DNA template, http://dx.doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-cpg6j-v2
    Preprints | 2022
    Rizzuto F; Dore M; Rafique MG; Luo X; Sleiman H, 2022, DNA Sequence and Length Dictate the Assembly of Nucleic Acid Block Copolymers, http://dx.doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-1r7rm

Discovery Project (2025-2028) - F. Rizzuto, J. Beves, P. Wich, Lights, DNA, action! Photo-controlled machinery for nanorobotics.

Discovery Project (2025-2028) - F. Rizzuto, A. Wang, L. Lee, P. Thordarson, Modular nanopores as conduits for nanoreactors.

Moderna Australia Fellowship (2025-2027) - F. Rizzuto, Pulling a Houdini with DNA origami.

Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) (2022-2025), F. Rizzuto, Biomimetic catalysis for sustainable polymer syntheses.

2025 - Early Career Researcher of the Year (Physical Sciences): Premier's Prize for Science and Engineering
2025 - NSW Young Tall Poppy
2025 - UNSW Scientia Fellowship
2021 - Relève étoile Louis-Berlinguet du Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies
2019 - 'Gadolinium' on IUPAC Periodic Table of Younger Chemists 
2018 - Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
2015 - Scifinder Future Leaders in Chemistry Program