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[Last updated: 12 JUNE 2020]
I graduated (summa cum laude) with a MSc in Natural Science in October 2006, and I completed my PhD in Biodiversity and Evolution (grade: excellent) in April 2010. Since 2007, year of my first publication, I authored 37 manuscripts in Journals with Impact Factor such as: Molecular Biology and Evolution, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Molecular Ecology, Trends in Genetics, Genome Biology and Evolution.
My scientific career started with the internship for my MSc, when I worked on the karyological and molecular characterization of an Iberian stick-insect species complex, focusing on subjects such as polyploidy, hybridization, parthenogenesis, and reticulate evolution. My MSc thesis work was published in Molecular Ecology (Ghiselli et al. 2007).
During the first year of PhD, mitochondrial biology became my main research topic, and I started focusing
on the evolutionary and functional genomics of nuclear-mitochondrial interactions, specifically, I most of my work concerned the Doubly Uniparental Inheritance (DUI) of mitochondria, an unusual biological system as yet identified in about 100 species of bivalve molluscs.
I developed a multiplex Real-Time qPCR assay to quantify simultaneously the copy number of F- and M-mtDNA in somatic tissues, gonads, gametes, and embryos of the Manila clam, Ruditapes philippinarum. During 2009, the last year of my PhD, I spent 5 months as Visiting Scholar in the Nuzhdin Lab (Molecular and Computational Biology Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA), where I was introduced to RNA-Seq and where I performed the first transcriptomic study of mitochondrial inheritance and sex determination in bivalves. The results of both the main topics of my PhD thesis (qPCR and RNA-Seq) were published in Molecular Biology and Evolution (Ghiselli et al. 2011, Ghiselli et al. 2012).
During my 4 years as a postdoc, following the experience of 2009, I spent 10 more months as Visiting Scientist in the Nuzhdin Lab, during which I became familiar with High-Throughput Sequencing technologies, learning how to obtain, handle and analyze ’big data’, and developing specific skills such as experimental design, library preparation, sequencing, and data analysis. I also learned R and UNIX shell scripting, and how to work with a high performance computing cluster.
In October 2013 I was awarded with a Futuro in Ricerca (FIR/FIRB) grant (EUR 233,087 direct), a highly competitive grant for young researchers funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research. The success rate of the "Starting" Line in 2013 was 1.7%. The project title was ”Mitochondrial Inheritance and Biogenesis: Functional and Evolutionary Aspects”, and its goal was to study mitochondrial biology using R. philippinarum as a model system. I was the Principal Investigator, the grant started in March 2014 and ended in March 2017.
I am involved in several projects in collaboration with Labs in Padova (Italy), USA, Canada, Russia, UK, and China. My research is integrated in a comparative framework to study evolutionary genomics of animals (mostly molluscs and insects). I am a member of the governing board of the Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA) as Communications Director, and I was one of the organizers of the last international Meeting that was held in Curaçao in October 2018.
I was organizer and co-chair of the Symposium "Linking the mitochondrial genotype to phenotype: a complex endeavour" at the 2018 SMBE Meeting in Yokohama (Japan).
I have been Guest Editor of an Issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (the oldest scientific journal in the Western World, founded in 1665) dedicated to mitochondrial evolutionary biology.
I teach Animal Biology for the BSc program in Natural Science, Genome Evolution and Molecular Evolution for the MSc program in Biodiversity and Evolution, and I am included in the Register of the Tutors of the Collegio Superiore (the school of Excellence of the University of Bologna) for the Academic Years 2019/20-2021/22.
Since April 2018 I am a member of the Research Committee of the BiGeA Department and I a delegate for the SUA-RD (the Annual Form for Departmental Research, the main focus of the Research and Third Mission Quality Assurance system). I am a member of the working group for the Research Quality Evaluation (VQR) 2015-2019, a project that evaluates the results of the scientific research carried out in 2015-2019.
BIBLIOMETRICS
- Time from 1st publication: 12 years (08/2007-Present)
- Years from the PhD defense: 10 years (04/2010-Present)
- Articles published in peer-reviewed International Journals with Impact Factor: 40
- Publications as Principal Contributor: 19
- Articles published in peer-reviewed International Journals without Impact Factor: 2
- Preprints: 3
- Oral presentations at professional International Meetings: 7 (2 as invited speaker)
- Abstracts presented at Conferences and Meetings: 50.
- Google Scholar
- Since 2007 (total)
- Citations:942
- h-index: 18
- i10-index: 24
- Since 2015 (last 5 years)
- Citations:740
- h-index: 17
- i10-index: 24
- Scopus
- Citations:784
- H-index: 17
- Web of Science ResearcherID
- Citations:764
- H-index: 17
- My scientific production was evaluated by the University Research Evaluation Committee (VRA) in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. I was included in the top class (AAA) in each evaluation.
