Enrica Bordignon

Enrica Bordignon (born 5 April 1975) is an Italian chemist and Chair of Electron Spin Resonance at the University of Geneva. Her research involves the development of electron paramagnetic resonance to study membrane potentials.

Early life and education
Bordignon was an undergraduate student and doctoral researcher at the University of Padua. Her doctoral research investigated the photo-physical properties of reaction centres in antenna complexes. During her doctorate she worked at Berlin's Max Volmer Laboratory. She completed her undergraduate studies summa cum laude in 1999. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Osnabrück University and ETH Zurich. At Osnabrück Bordignon studied bacterial photoaxis membrane protein complexes (including Neuropeptide S receptors) and ABC-transporters (including Escherichia coli) using spin labelling. At Zurich Bordignon continued to apply spin labelling to investigate the ATP-binding cassette transporters, including BtuCD-F vitamin B12 importer.

Research and career
In 2013 Bordignon was made a professor of biophysics at the Free University of Berlin. Her research uses site-directed spin labelling EPR to understand the dynamics and conformational changes of membrane proteins. Membrane proteins are the targets of many pharmaceuticals. Transporter membranes move substances in and out of the cellular environment. Bordignon has shown that EPR can be used to study membrane potentials in situ, i.e. in cells. She has particularly developed double electron–electron resonance (DEER), which can be used to monitor one system of spins while exciting another set of spins at a second microwave frequency. She was the first to use spin-labelled nanobodies to report cellular membrane potentials. She moved to the Ruhr University Bochum in 2016. She was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the University of Geneva in 2021, and made Vice Dean for Science in 2023.

Awards and honours

 * 2004 Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
 * 2011 IES Young Investigator Award
 * 2016 Ampere Prize for Young Investigator

Personal life
Bordignon has one child.