Martina Bordini

CURRENT POSITION

• Feb 2024 – present: Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), University of Bologna (Advisor: Prof. Francesca Soglia).

EDUCATION

• 2020 – 2024: Ph.D. in “Agricultural, Environmental, and Food Science and Technology”, Department of Agricultural and Food Science (DISTAL), University of Bologna (Advisor: Prof. Francesca Soglia; Co-advisors: Prof. Massimiliano Petracci, Prof. Federico Sirri), defending the dissertation “Evaluation of genetic factors involved in the onset of breast muscle abnormalities affecting fast-growing chickens”.

• 2017 – 2019: Master’s degree in “Safety and Quality of Animal Production”, University of Bologna, discussing a thesis aimed at investigating gene expression levels of potential biomarkers for chicken muscles affected by growth-related myopathies (Supervision: Prof. Roberta Davoli). Final grade: 110/110 cum laude.

• 2014 – 2017: Bachelor’s degree in “Animal Science”, University of Bologna, discussing a thesis on the Elongases 6 gene expression level in heavy pigs divergent for the backfat fatty acid content (Supervision: Prof. Roberta Davoli). Final grade: 110/110 cum laude.

EXPERIENCE

• Sep 2024 - Nov 2024: Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher at the Food Science Department, University of Guelph (Guelph, ON, Canada). Supervisor: Prof. Shai Barbut
  

• Sep 2022 – Dec 2022: Visiting PhD Student at the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware (Newark, DE, United States) as part of the PhD program. Supervisor: Prof. Behnam Abasht.

• Nov 2019 – Oct 2020: Research assistant - “Study of the molecular and biological processes associated with the onset of emerging muscle abnormalities in modern chickens”, Department of Agricultural and Food Science (DISTAL), University of Bologna. Tutor: Prof. Adele Meluzzi.

• Dec 2018 – Jul 2019: Laboratory assistant at the Center for Artificial Insemination “Suiseme S.r.l.”, Modena. 

OTHER COURSES

• Attendance at the PhD School “Sustainable Production and Consumption of Meat, Poultry and Seafood”, organized by ER-PhooD (Emilia-Romagna Food Science Advanced Doctoral Programme), and held in Bertinoro, Italy, October 23^rd – 27^th, 2023.
• Attendance at the course “Multivariate Statistics for Animal Science” organized by the Animal Science and Production Association (ASPA), Sassari, Italy, September 18^th to 22^nd, 2023.
• Attendance at the course “Advanced Statistics for Animal Science” organized by the Animal Science and Production Association (ASPA), Pisa, Italy, June 20^th to 22^nd, 2022.
• Attendance at the course “Basic Statistics for Animal Science” organized by the Animal Science and Production Association (ASPA), Zoom platform (30 h), April 7^th to June 4^th, 2021.
• Seminar in “Statistical Methodology and Experimental Design” organized by the Animal Science and Production Association (ASPA), Zoom platform, March 11^th, 2021.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

• Teaching tutor to support teaching activities in "Poultry Science" teaching course held by Prof. Adele Meluzzi as part of the Bachelor course “Animal Science”, University of Bologna (A.Y. 2021/2022, 2022/2023, and 2023/2024).

SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY

• May 2025 – present: Affiliated to Associazione per la Scienza e le Produzioni Animali (ASPA)

• May 2023 – present: Affiliated to Associazione Scientifica Italiana di Coniglicoltura (ASIC)

• Jan 2023 – present: Affiliated to Poultry Science Association (PSA)

• Jan 2021 – present: Affiliated to the Italian branch of the World’s Poultry Science Association (WPSA)

• Nov 2018 – present: Affiliated to Federazione Italiana Dottori in Scienze della Produzione Animale (FIDSPA) and Vice-coordinator of the Emilia Romagna region Coordinating Group

AWARDS

• ASPA Young Researchers Competition - Best oral communication. The oral communication entitled “Gene expression analysis of Collagen type III coding gene in chicken breast muscles affected by wooden breast condition” has been selected as the best oral presentation at the 26th ASPA Congress, June 17-20, 2025, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.
• Best PhD thesis. The PhD thesis entitled “– Evaluation of genetic factors involved in the onset of breast muscle abnormalities affecting fast-growing chickens” has been awarded as the best PhD thesis in “Animal Science” at the XXII AISSA (Italian Association of the Agricultural Science Societies) Conference (Matera, Italy, February 14^th, 2025).
• Winner of the selection for “EPC2024 Youth Program” at the XVI European Poultry Conference 2024, Valencia, Spain.
• Winner of the selection for “Travel Grant for young WPSA members and students” as support to attend the 2023 PSA Annual Meeting (July 10^th - 13^th , 2023, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
• “Top award in genetics and genomics” at the Fall 2022 College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) Research Symposium, University of Delaware, Newark (DE), USA.
• Winner of the selection for “Youth Program – Young Researcher Program” at the World’s Poultry Congress 2022, Paris, France.
• Best oral communication. The oral communication entitled “Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis identifies the main gene networks and biological pathways associated to chicken Pectoralis major myopathies” has been selected as the best oral presentation concerning the Second Edition of the “ASPA Young Researcher Competition – Oral Presentation” at the 24^th Association for Science and Animal Production Congress (Padova, September 21^st to 24^th 2021).