Current Positions:
- Head, Unit of Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Immunological Diagnostics, IRCCS Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital and Research Center, Rome
- Head, Human Microbiome Research Unit, Multimodal Laboratory Medicine Area, San Paolo Research Center, IRCCS Bambino Gesù, Rome Education and Training
- Degree in Chemistry (summa cum laude), Sapienza University of Rome
- Specialization in Clinical Pathology (summa cum laude), Sapienza University of Rome
- PhD in Microbiology and Epidemiology, Sapienza University of Rome
- Post-doctoral training in Molecular and Cellular Parasitology, University of Glasgow (UK)
- National Scientific Qualification (Full Professor level), SC 07/H3 Infectious and parasitic diseases of animals
- National Scientific Qualification (Associate Professor level), SC 07/H3 Infectious and parasitic diseases of animals - National Scientific Qualification (Associate Professor level), SC 06/A3 Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology
Professional Background:
- Development and coordination of Parasitology Unit at IRCCS Bambino Gesù
- Creation and management of Human Microbiome Research Unit
- Scientific direction of national and international projects on pediatric microbiota
- Coordination of clinical trials on microbiota modulation (probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, FMT)
- Management of Human Microbiome Biobank (BBMRI, Italian node)
Clinical and Diagnostic Skills:
- Clinical and molecular parasitology, advanced diagnosis of pediatric parasitic infections
- MALDI-TOF MS in clinical microbiology (bacteria, fungi, parasites)
- Molecular diagnostics and Point-of-Care (POC) for emerging pathogens
- Management of specialized clinical microbiology laboratories
Scientific Skills:
- Study of human microbiota/microbiome (children and neonates) with meta-omic approaches:
· Metagenomics
· Metaproteomics
· Metabolomics
· Metametabolomics
- Development of bioinformatics pipelines and systems biology / systems medicine platforms
- Microbiota and pediatric diseases:
IBD, NAFLD/NASH, cystic fibrosis, allergies, autism spectrum disorders, metabolic and multifactorial diseases
- Molecular and cellular parasitology
Teaching and Coordination Skills:
- Lecturer in Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology (MED/07), PhD Program "Network Oncology and Precision Medicine", Sapienza University of Rome (2020-2023)
- Lecturer in Parasitology (VET/06), Saint Camillus International University of Health Sciences, Rome
- Visiting Professor (e.g., WebValley - Bruno Kessler Foundation; Sapienza University)
- Supervisor of PhD students, residents and thesis students in microbiology, parasitology, chemistry and experimental medicine
Research Activities
Main Research Areas:
1. Pediatric Human Microbiome:
- Meta-omic characterization of intestinal microbiota in neonates and children
- Study of neonatal programming and Italian Baby Trial
- Correlation between microbiota and pediatric diseases
2. Microbiota and Diseases:
- IBD/IBS and DYSBIOTRACK project (microbiome and parasitome)
- Pediatric NAFLD/NASH
- Cystic fibrosis
- Autism spectrum disorders
- Allergies and metabolic diseases
3. Advanced Diagnostic Technologies:
- Integrated meta-omic platforms
- Bioinformatics pipelines for systems medicine
- MALDI-TOF MS for rapid pathogen identification
4. Clinical Trials on Microbiota Modulation:
- Studies with probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics - Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) - Evaluation of nutritional intervention efficacy
Funded Projects (Principal Investigator or Co-PI):
- Ricerca Corrente e Ricerca Finalizzata, Ministry of Health
- PRIN (Projects of Relevant National Interest)
- European COST projects
- FP7 projects: MD-Paedigree (coordination of WP7 on data integration in pediatrics)
- Foundation and industry projects
- Projects on POC diagnostics for emerging pathogens Scientific Coordination: - DYSBIOTRACK (microbiome and parasitome in IBD/IBS)
- Italian Baby Trial (neonatal programming)
- MD-Paedigree (FP7, WP7 coordination)
- Italian node of BBMRI for human microbiome biobank International
Experiences:
- Post-doc, University of Glasgow (UK)
- Molecular and Cellular Parasitology
- Visiting Professor, Bruno Kessler Foundation (WebValley), Trento - International collaborations** in European projects:
- FP7 MD-Paedigree (coordination of Work Package 7)
- COST Actions
- European networks on microbiota and parasitology
International Roles:
- Member, EANM Dosimetry Committee (European Association of Nuclear Medicine), expert in radiobiology - Member, EANM Radiobiology Working Group - Member, ICRU Report Committee 31 - "Treatment Planning for Radiopharmaceutical Therapy" (International Commission on Radiation Units & Measurements) - Contributor, CryptoDB (international public database) - Italian node BBMRI (Biobanking and BioMolecular resources Research Infrastructure) Patents: 1. Operational algorithm for metaproteomic analysis of intestinal microbiota (co-inventor) 2. Dysbiosis index
- metagenomic profile of intestinal microbiome, Italian patent - European patent
- Extension ongoing in USA and China Clinical Trials:
- Principal Investigator in clinical trials on microbiota modulation with:
- Probiotics and prebiotics
- Synbiotics - Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) - Trials on nutritional interventions in pediatric diseases - Phase II clinical studies on efficacy of microbiota modulation in pediatric IBD - Italian Baby Trial (neonatal programming)
Scientific Output Bibliometric Indicators
- Scopus: - H-index: 356 - ~11,290 citations - 235 indexed articles
Editorial Activities:
- Editorial Board Member:
- Frontiers in Molecular and Infection Microbiology
- BMC Infectious Diseases
- European Journal of Medical Research
- Microorganisms
- Referee for numerous international journals:
- Parasitology
- Journal of Proteome Research
---Journal of Proteomics
- PLOS One
- Frontiers in Microbiology
- Medical Mycology
- Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD)
- Evaluator for international competitive programs:
- ERC Advanced Grants
- Medical Research Foundation (MRF)
Public Datasets and Scientific Contributions:
- Contribution to CryptoDB definition (international parasitology database) - Deposition of metagenomic sequences in public repositories (NCBI, ENA)
– Management of human microbiome biobank (Italian node BBMRI)