Scientific training
F. Francia, born in Ravenna on 21/03/1967, graduated in Biological Sciences, with honors, at the University of Bologna (11/03/1991). In 1993 he was admitted to the PhD in "Cellular Biology and Physiology" (Department of Experimental Evolutionary Biology, University of Bologna), obtaining the title of Doctor of Philosophy in 1997. From 1997 to 2000 he worked as a post-doctorate fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Martinsried (Munich, Germany), in the Membrane Biochemistry Department. From 2001 to 2005 he received a research grant from the Department of Experimental Evolutionary Biology, University of Bologna. In 2006 he became a researcher at the University of Bologna (BIO / 10). The research activity during the PhD program concerned the redox interactions between the reaction center and the ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxide-reductase complex in photosynthetic procaryotes. The research activity continued at the Max Planck institute, with particular regard to the biochemistry of the photosynthetic complex reaction center-internal antenna (CR-LH1) of Rhodobacter (Rb) sphaeroides. During the research grant, F. Francia dealt with the supramolecular structure of bacterial photosynthetic complexes and with the conformational dynamics associated with the reactions of electron transfer in the photosynthetic reaction center.
Current research activity
Currently the research activity concerns the following topics:
1) biochemistry of purified photosynthetic complexes
2) effect of the external matrix on the conformational dynamics of photo-activatable proteins and protein complexes, with particular regard to the effects of trehalose, a disaccharide with exceptional biopreserving properties
3) kinetics of electron transfer in the bc1 complex (ubiquinol: cytochrome c oxide: reductase)
Academic and institutional profile
In 2006 he became a permanent researcher in the field BIO10 (Biochemistry) at the Department of Experimental Evolutionary Biology of the University of Bologna.
In 2012 he was called as associate professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology of the University of Bologna.
He is currently a member of the national board of the Italian Biomembrane and Bioenergetics Group (GIBB).
