Rosalba Lanciotti is currently Full Professor in disciplinary group AGRI-08/A at the University of Bologna, where she carries out teaching and research activities. From 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2024, she served as Head of the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL), contributing to the Department being awarded, for the second time, the ministerial recognition as a Department of Excellence for the 2023-2027 period.
From 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025, she served as President of SIMTREA, the Italian Society of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Microbiology. From 1 January 2026, she serves on the SIMTREA Executive Board as Past President for the 2026-2029 term.
She was elected as a member of the Technical and Scientific Committee of the Italian National Agrifood Cluster (CL.A.N.) for the 2024-2026 term. CL.A.N. is a multistakeholder association bringing together companies, trade associations, universities, research organisations, education and training bodies, and regional representatives, and is recognised by the Italian Ministry of University and Research as the principal interlocutor in relations with national and European institutions on research and innovation in the agri-food sector. Since 2023, she has been a member of the Research Committee and the Management Team of ICOFF, the International Centre of Food Fermentations at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Trento and of the Scientific Committee of the Casa Artusi Foundation.
She served as a member of the Academic Senate of Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, representing the Technological Area, from 30 April to 30 September 2024. From 26 June to 30 September 2024, she was also a member of the Preliminary Committee on Tuition Fees and Students.
From 1 October 2018 to October 2021, she was Director of the Degree Programme in Food Science and Technology at DISTAL. From 12 February 2020 to the end of September 2021, she served as Deputy Head of DISTAL. She currently teaches Fermentation Microbiology, as part of the integrated course in Advanced and Predictive Microbiology; Wine Microbiology; and Module 1 of the integrated course on the Valorisation of Food Industry By-products.
Education and Academic Career
In 1991, Rosalba Lanciotti was admitted to the PhD programme in Food Biotechnology at the University of Bologna. She obtained her PhD in Food Biotechnology in 1995, defending a thesis focused on the application of high-pressure homogenisation to improve the stability and safety of fluid or fluidisable food products. In the same year, she was awarded a research fellowship by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) to investigate the fermentative activity of different Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains.
During the 1990-1991 academic year, she attended and passed all the examinations of the first year of the Postgraduate School in Food Chemistry and Technology at the Faculty of Industrial Chemistry of the University of Bologna.
On 10 July 1990, Rosalba Lanciotti graduated in Agricultural Sciences with the highest honours, receiving a final mark of 110/110 cum laude. Her thesis investigated the use of volatile metabolites produced by Rhizopus arrhizus to inhibit the growth of the toxigenic mould Aspergillus flavus in bakery products. For this thesis, she received the "Cesare Zucchini" Graduation Award, while her academic record earned her the "Guido Paolucci" Award as the best graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture in the 1989-1990 academic year.
From 1996 to 2007, she carried out teaching and research activities as a university researcher, first at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Bari, Foggia campus, and subsequently, from 1 November 1999, at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Bologna.
In 2000, she was elected as the researchers' representative on the Teaching and Right to Education Committee of the Cesena Scientific and Teaching Campus for the 2000-2003 term. During the same period, she served on the Internship Committee of the Degree Programme in Viticulture and Oenology at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Bologna.
In 2003, she took part in a comparative evaluation procedure for a position as Associate Professor in scientific disciplinary sector AGR/16 at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Molise. In the same year, following verification of the formal regularity of the proceedings, she was declared qualified by Rectoral Decree No. 1645.
In 2007, she was appointed Associate Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Bologna, a position she held until 8 December 2019. From 2015 to 2018, she served as Research Delegate of DISTAL, contributing to the Department obtaining ministerial recognition as a Department of Excellence for the 2018-2022 period.
From 2018 to 2022, she was a member of the Management and Evaluation Board (MEB) of the DISTAL Department of Excellence, funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research for the 2018-2022 period.
International Activities
Throughout her career, Rosalba Lanciotti has placed particular emphasis on international relations and cooperation. Her activities in this field include appointments as Visiting Professor at the following institutions:
- ADA University, Baku, Azerbaijan, including activities within the Joint Certificate Programmes in "Food System Management" and "Next-Gen Microbial Fermentation: Advancing Sustainable Agriculture and Healthy Food" (2023, 2024 and 2026).
- Université Laval, Department of Food Science, headed by Professor Ismail Fliss, within the Italy-Canada exchange project "Potential of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts as bioprotective cultures for soft cheeses" (Project code QU17MO02), and in collaboration with the Canadian Irradiation Centre, directed by Monique Lacroix (2018).
- Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL), Santa Fe, Argentina, within the framework of the international non-EU cooperation agreement between the University of Bologna and the University of Santa Fe (2015).
- Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, at the invitation of the Italian Embassy, as part of a joint event focused on traditional fermented foods (2014).
Scientific and Organising Committees of International Events
She has served as a member of scientific boards (SB) and organising committees (OC) for numerous international scientific events, including:
- Workshop "Instrumental Methods for Data Capture for Advanced Predictive Microbiology", held within COST Action 914 - Validation of Predictive Models of Microbiological Growth and Survival in Food Matrices and throughout the Food Chain, Bologna, May 2003 (OC).
- FoodMicro 2006, Bologna, 29 August-2 September 2006.
- 27th EFFoST Annual Meeting, Bologna, 13-15 November 2013 (SB).
- Food Innova, 4th International Conference on Food Innovation, 31 January-3 February 2017 (SB).
- European Researchers' Night, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 (SB and OC).
- INSECTA 2019 International Conference, Potsdam, 5-6 September 2019 (SB).
- Microbial Diversity Conferences: Turin 2013 (OC); Perugia 2015 (OC); Parma 2023 (SB and OC); Rome 2025 (SB).
- 2nd International Conference on Mediterranean Biodiversity, Perugia, 3-6 June 2025.
- FEMS Micro 2025, Milan, 14-17 June 2025 (SB).
- 1st International Conference on Fermented Foods, Bozen-Bolzano, 27-30 October 2025 (SB).
Research Activities
During her research career, Rosalba Lanciotti has addressed topics in both general and applied microbiology, with particular reference to food and industrial microbiology. Her work has included the lipid composition of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria, the mechanisms of action of antimicrobial compounds on microbial cells, and microbial responses to chemical, physical and process-related stresses.
She has extensively investigated alternative sanitisation and preservation treatments, including high-pressure homogenisation and natural antimicrobial compounds, as alternatives to thermal processing. These approaches were aimed at reducing heat damage while improving food safety, shelf life, sensory properties and functional characteristics. Her expertise in these areas has been developed through participation in numerous national and international research projects.
Over the course of her career, she has also investigated microbial growth dynamics and metabolic activity, as well as the development of predictive models in relation to physicochemical and environmental variables. Mathematical models capable of explaining and quantifying interactions among pathogenic microorganisms, spoilage microorganisms and the surrounding environment were developed within several European projects, including COST 914, Concerted Action FAIR No. 5 and FAIR CT98-4083.
Rosalba Lanciotti has also contributed to the development of instrumental methods, including gas chromatographic and spectrophotometric techniques, for the study of microbial metabolic activity and the characterisation of food systems in relation to their microbiota. In particular, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry and solid-phase microextraction has been successfully used to identify microbial signalling molecules, study microbial interactions in complex food systems, evaluate stress-induced changes in the microbial volatilome, and characterise the volatile profiles of foods and beverages in relation to their associated microbiota.
A further major area of her research concerns the selection and optimisation of microorganisms of industrial and food relevance, together with the development of biotechnological processes for the valorisation of agro-industrial waste and by-products.
Scientific Publications and Bibliometric Indicators
Rosalba Lanciotti is co-author of more than 300 publications, including over 220 papers published in international peer-reviewed journals and 10 invited book chapters. Her overall Scopus H-index is 53, with more than 8,600 citations.
Recent International Scientific Committees and Chairing Activities
Throughout her career, Rosalba Lanciotti has served on numerous national and international scientific committees. In 2024 and 2025, she was a member of the scientific committees of the following international conferences: IUFOST 2024 - 22nd World Congress of Food Science and Technology, Rimini, 8-12 September 2024; the 2nd International Conference on Mediterranean Biodiversity, Perugia, 3-6 June 2025; the 8th International Conference on Microbial Diversity, Rome, 23-26 September 2025; FEMS Micro 2025, Milan, 14-17 June 2025; and the 1st International Conference on Fermented Foods, Bozen-Bolzano, 27-30 October 2025.
At the last three conferences listed above, she served as chairperson, respectively, for the following sessions: "Session 2: Microbial Interactions, Food Processing and Future Foods"; the symposium "Food Safety, Sensory, Nutritional and Functional Properties"; and "Session 5: Alternative Fermented Foods".
Regional, National and International Research Projects
Rosalba Lanciotti has participated in numerous regional, national and international research projects. She was Scientific Coordinator of the H2020-BBI-JTI-2018-DEMO project INGREEN, "Production of functional innovative ingredients from paper and agro-food side-streams through sustainable and efficient tailor-made biotechnological processes for food, feed, pharma and cosmetics" (1 June 2019-31 December 2022).
She was National Coordinator of the PRIN 2005 project "Use of plant-derived aroma compounds to improve the microbiological quality of food products". She served on the Scientific Committee of the European project HIGHQ-RTE, coordinated by the University of Bologna, "Innovative non-thermal processing technologies to improve the quality and safety of ready-to-eat meals", and of AgriFoodResults (Grant Agreement No. 226927), "European initiative for a better use of the results of agri-food research".
She was Scientific Coordinator for the University of Bologna of the project STAYFRESH, "Innovative strategies responding to the needs of companies in the fresh-cut fruit and vegetable sector", funded by the Fondazione in Rete per la Ricerca Agroalimentare (AGER). Other European and International Projects:
Rosalba Lanciotti has recently been involved in the following projects of national interest: PRIN 2020 PROACTIVE, "Future-proof bioactive peptides from food by-products: an eco-sustainable bioprocessing for tailored multifunctional foods", as Head of the University of Bologna Research Unit (8 May 2022-8 May 2025); and PRIN 2022 FUNPRO-L, "Functional fermented milk enriched with selected vaginal probiotic to promote female well-being" (14 October 2023-13 October 2025).
Rosalba Lanciotti has been the University of Bologna leader of WP3.2, "Strategies for risk mitigation in food production: processing, storage and retail", within Spoke 3 of the OnFoods Extended Partnership. OnFoods is part of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), developed by the Italian Government within the NextGenerationEU programme.
She also represented (2022-2024) the University of Bologna within FOODER, a distributed infrastructure for advanced education and research in the agri-food sector, designed to enhance the attractiveness and internationalisation of the Emilia-Romagna Food Valley.
She is currently involved in the EU projects ReLeaf (H2020), "Recycling Locally Produced Bio-Waste to Ensure Affordability and Availability of Innovative Bio-Based Fertilisers", and ONE HEARTH (H2020), "Earth-to-marine-to-earth virtuous cycle: Harnessing residual biomass of animal origin for terrestrial-marine integrated circular economy".
Technology Transfer and Industrial Research
Since 2011, Rosalba Lanciotti has been a member of the Interdepartmental Centre for Industrial Agri-Food Research (CIRI Agroalimentare), established within the framework of the agreement between the University of Bologna and the Emilia-Romagna Region through the Tecnopoli project and also supported by European Regional Development Funds (POR-FESR). The Centre is specifically dedicated to technology transfer.
As a CIRI member, she is currently involved in the BIO4SUSPACK project (PR-FESR 2021-2027), "Biomolecules from the valorisation of agri-food by-products for sustainable, safe and active primary packaging".
She has served as Scientific Coordinator of more than 40 technology-transfer projects with SMEs and major companies in the agri-food sector, including GEA Mechanical Equipment Italia S.p.A.; Barilla S.p.A. (Italy); Bestack (Italy); FEFCO (the Netherlands); Agrosistemi (Italy); AEB (Italy); Orogel (Italy); Molini Pivetti (Italy); Macè (Italy); Novelbread (Italy); and Mambelli (Italy).
Rosalba Lanciotti is the inventor/co-inventor of the following national and international patents:
- Italian Patent No. 102015000076561 and PCT/EP2016/078287, "Packaging for Fruit and Vegetable Products Treated with an Antimicrobial Solution" (WO2017089292A1, EP3380413A1, ITUB20155878A1, IL259511D0).
Owners: Bestack; Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna.
The patent has been commercialized and is currently applied at the industrial level. It was filed nationally on 25 November 2015, granted in Italy on 25 May 2017, and granted internationally on 1 June 2017.
- Italian Patent No. 102023000017907, "Sanitizing Composition for the Treatment of Food-Contact Surfaces and Cleaning Method Using the Sanitizing Composition."
Owners: AEB S.p.A.; Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna.
The patent was filed nationally on 31 August 2023 and granted on 17 September 2025. It is currently applied at the industrial level.
- Italian Patent No. 102024000013267, "A Process to Produce a Dairy Product."
Owners: Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna; Caseificio Mambelli; INEUVO Limited.
The patent was filed nationally on 11 June 2024 and granted on 3 June 2026.
- Italian Patent Application No. 102025000008871, "Levilactobacillus brevis with Enhanced GABA Production and Probiotic Properties."
Owners: Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna; DEPO PHARMA.
The patent application was filed in Italy in 2025.
