My education focused on agricultural sciences and technology. I started with a high school diploma with technical specialization in agriculture (five years), followed by a Bachelor degree in Agricultural Sciences at University of Bologna (five years), major in Plant Breeding, and Doctorate program in Seed Science and Technology at University of Tourin (three years), thesis on biotechnology applied to varietal development in cereal and industrial crops (wheat).
My post-doctorate activity has been targeted to genetic improvement of cereal and industrial crops, in particular maize and pasta-wheat.
I’ve been engaged in research activities and post-doctoral training at University of Bologna, University of California (UC Davis), CIMMYT (CGIAR center, Mexico). At University of Bologna, we managed a five-years collaboration with a private seed company (Produttori Sementi Bologna) for wheat genetic improvement.
My research areas includes: plant genetic adaptation to environment (genetics of flowering and maturity, plant architecture, drought response), agronomic performance, response to diseases. I've been using molecular genetics/genomics to develop new plant populations, mapping genes of agronomic interest, investigating their presence in seed-bank collections germplasm and transferring favourable alleles to breeding materials (pre-breeding).
Focus: screening of germplasm collections, genomics applied to linkage mapping and association mapping, germplasm characterization, development of molecular markers, candidate gene identification and re-sequencing of allelic variants, RTqPCR, phenotyping under field and greenhouse conditions. Statistical analysis. Specific experience in polyploid species such as tetraploid and hexaploid wheat.
Teaching experience: I assisted in teaching the following modules: genetics, plant breeding, biotechnology applied to plant breeding, seed production science and technology: preparing targeted lessons and student-training sessions in laboratory and experimental fields. I also was co-supervisor of several Fellow, PhD and post-doctoral students.
