Francesca Soglia

Academic Appointments

Senior assistant professor (fixed term) Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna (since September 1st 2021)

SSD: AGR/20 “Zoocolture”; SC: 07/G1: “Scienze e Tecnologie Animali”

Post-doctoral researcher, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna (January 2017 - August 2021).

Education

• PhD in Food Science and Biotechnology, 2013 – 2017. University of Bologna - School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine - Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (Title: Meat quality for further processing; Tutor: Prof. Claudio Cavani; Co-tutor: Prof. Massimiliano Petracci).

• Bachelor degree, 2011, 110 cum laude. Food Consumption and Catering Sciences - University of Bologna - School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine - Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences. Cesena, Italy. (Title: Quality evaluation of extravergin olive oils by determining the triglycerides profile; Tutor: Prof. Alessandra Bendini).

• Master degree, 2013, 110 cum laude. Food Science and Technology - University of Bologna - School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine - Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences. Cesena, Italy. (Title: Development of low-sodium marinated rabbit meat; Tutor: prof.Massimiliano Petracci).

Other experiences

• 03/2015 – 06/2015 research activity at the Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, under the supervision of Prof. Per Ertbjerg and Prof. Eero Puolanne as part of Ph.D program.

• Summer school “Writing and publishing the literature review in food science: a practical workshop” (4 CFU), 2014, University of Bologna.

• Participation to the course “Statistica di base per le scienze zootecniche” organized by the Animal Science and Production Association (ASPA), Pisa, September 14^th to 18^th, 2015.

• Participation to the course "ERC basics" organized by Enspire Science Academy, November 9th to 22nd 2021.

• Participation to the course "ERC Beyond" organized by Enspire Science Academy, November 22nd to December 8th 2021.

Research activity:

• Evaluation of quality traits of meat affected by muscle abnormalities (white-striping, wooden breast, Spaghetti meat, PSE-like and Oregon disease): technological properties, chemical composition and protein profile.

• Technologies and functional ingredients for improving quality traits and sensory properties of processed meat products.

• Quality traits and technological properties of poultry and rabbit meat as affected by genetics and rearing factors.

• Development and optimization of analytical methods to assess the oxidative stability of the protein and the lipid fraction in meat and evaluate their interaction.

Collaboration with numerous national research groups in the development of several research projects supported by the Italian Ministry of University (PRIN 2017t), Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Emilia-Romagna region and EU (FutureEUAqua, NextGenProteins).

Invited lectures

• Soglia F., Petracci M. (2021) Opportunities and challenges for added-value chicken meat. Proceedings of the 2021 Spring Meeting (The Challenge of Change) of the WPSA UK Branch, April 15^th, 2021.

• Soglia F., Zappaterra M., Davoli R., Petracci M. (2019) Broiler breast myopathies: possible underlying mechanisms involved in the occurrence. Proceedings of the XI^th European Symposium on Poultry Genetics, October 23^rd to 25^th, Prague.

Technical seminar

• “Muscular abnormalities affecting broilers’ Pectoralis major” taken during the “Seminar on locomotory disorders in poultry”, Bruges, Belgium, 26 September 2018.
• “Poultry meat quality as affected by peri-mortem factors” taken during the “III Pan-European Poultry Seminar”, Warsaw, Moscow and Belgorod, 1-3 April 2018.
• “Slaughtering factors affecting carcass and meat quality” at the live webinar entitled “Conventional and fermented dietary protein ingredients; impact of pigs growth performance, meat and carcass quality”, Broadcasted from Bucharest, Romania, December 9^th,2020.
• “Pork meat quality variations during refrigerated and frozen storage” at the live webinar entitled “Conventional and fermented dietary protein ingredients; impact of pigs growth performance, meat and carcass quality”, Broadcasted from Bucharest, Romania, December 10^th,2020.
• "Poultry meat quality traits" at the event entitled "Sustainable soy ingredients and poultry carcass quality" held in Cesena, July 19th to 21st 2022.
• "Growth-related abnormalities in poultry" at the event entitled "Sustainable soy ingredients and poultry carcass quality" held in Cesena, July 19th to 21st 2022.

Teaching activity

Supplementary teaching activity (starting from the A.Y. 2013-2014) at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna. The supplementary lessons are mainly related to:

- Quality of the products of animal origin (milk, meat and egg) in the teaching course of “Special Zootechny” held by Prof. Massimiliano Petracci and Prof. Federico Sirri.

- New trends in the meat industry in the teaching course of “Meat and Egg Processing Innovations” held by Prof. Massimiliano Petracci.

- Lab practices in the teaching course of “Meat and Egg Processing Innovations” held by Prof. Massimiliano Petracci.

Awards

• Best poster. The contribute entitled “Is white striping occurrence a quality issue even for turkey breast meat? " presented as poster at the XXIII European Symposium on the Quality of Poultry Meat (Edinburgh September 3^rd to 5^th 2017, UK) has been awarded as best poster.
• Best PhD thesis. The PhD thesis entitled “Meat quality for further processing” has been awarded as the best PhD thesis in Animal Production (SSD AGR/17, 18, 19, 20) at the XV AISSA (Associazione Italiana Società Scientifiche Agrarie) Congress (Bozen, Februrary 22^nd to 23^rd 2018).
• Best oral communication. The contribute entitled “1H-NMR metabolite profiling of broiler breast meat affected by muscular abnormalities”, presented as an oral communication at the 23^rd ASPA Congress (Sorrento June 11^th to 14^th 2019), has been selected as the best oral presentation concerning the topic of Animal Products (1^st Edition of the ASPA Young Researcher Competition).
• The paper entitled “Wooden-Breast, White Striping, and Spaghetti Meat: Causes, Consequences and Consumer Perception of Emerging Broiler Meat Abnormalities”, has won a Tanner Award for being the 2^nd most-cited paper published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety in 2019.

Scientific Societies

Affiliated to Animal Science and Production Association (ASPA), European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), World Rabbit Science Association (WRSA) and World’s Poultry Science Association (WPSA).

Reviewer for Poultry Science, LWT – Food Science & Technology, Journal of Food Science and Technology, Food Research International, Frontiers in Physiology, Foods, Animals, Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, British Poultry Science, Italian Journal of Animal Science, Journal of Food Science.