Francesca Negrini

Post-Doctoral Researcher. Agricultural and Food Department (DISTAL), Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna.

The aim of my research is to find innovative solutions to protect crops from fungal pathogens by exploiting the natural regulatory mechanism of RNA interference. In particular, the objective is to design and produce small RNA molecules targeting fungal and oomycetes genes that are strategic for pre- and post-harvest disease development, such as Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum spp., Podosphaera aphanis, Stemphylium vesicarium, Plasmopara viticola and Erysiphe necator.

Skills that have been implemented throughout the research projects:

• -Isolations of fungal pathogens from infected fruits and leaves
• -Molecular characterization and species identification usingPCR, qRTPCR and ddPCR.
• -Evolutional studies by comparative genomics analyses.
• -Study of the pathogen mechanism of action using genetically modified organism
• -Designing and production (small and large scale) of natural RNA molecules silencing pathogenic genes aimed to disease management.
• -Efficacy assays test of new formulations using different tools.