Rosalba Lanciotti (F) is full professor of Food Microbiology at Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences (DISTAL); from 1st of October2021 she is the Director of DISTAL. From the first January 2022 she the President of the Italian Society of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Microbiology (SIMTREA).
Recently she was elected in the technical and scientific committee of the Italian Cl.uster A.grifood N.azionale CL.A.N. a multi-stakeholder association recognised by MIUR as the unique reference for the National and European Institutions on agriculture and food research and innovation issues.
Her Teaching courses are Wine Microbiology and Microbiology of Fermentations. She was the Director of Second Cycle Degree of Food Science and Technology for the academic years 2018-2021. On 12th February 2020 she was designed Vice Director of DISTAL and she was Deputy Director up to the end of September 2021.
She obtained the PhD in Food Biotechnology in 1995. From 1996 to 1999 she was researcher at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Bari University. From 1999 to 2007 she was researcher at the Bologna University. From 2007 to 8 December 2019, she was Associate professor at Bologna University. Her main research activities on both general and applied microbiology, are focused on: food microbiology and biotechnology; strategies able to improve safety, shelf-life, quality and functional properties of foods; selection and optimization of the performances of microorganisms of industrial and food interest including starter, co-starter, biocontrol and probiotic cultures; selection of microbial cultures and set up of bio-technological processes to valorize agro-industrial side-streams and by-products into added value compounds; non-thermal technologies, including high pressure homogenization, to improve food safety shelf-life and functionality; essential oils and natural compounds as preservatives in foods and beverages; microbial responses to stressful conditions and predictive microbiology.
She is co-author of about 300 research papers, over 200 of which published on international journals (Scopus h index 49 and more than 7000 total citations).
Rosalba Lanciotti has participated in regional, national, and international research projects. She served as the scientific coordinator for the H2020-BBI-JTI-2018-DEMO project, INGREEN, focused on the "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" (01/06/2019 - 31/12/2022). She was the national coordinator for the PRIN2005 project "Use of plant-origin aroma substances to improve the microbiological quality of food products." Additionally, she was part of the scientific committee for the European project HIGHQ RTE, coordinated by the University of Bologna, which focused on "Innovative non-thermal processing technologies to improve the quality and safety of ready-to-eat (RTE) meals," and AgriFoodResults (Grant Agreement: 226927), a "European initiative for a better use of the results of agri-food research." She also served as the scientific coordinator for the University of Bologna in the project "Innovative strategies to meet the needs of companies in the fresh-cut fruit and vegetable sector - STAYFRESH," funded by the Foundation Network for Agri-Food Research (AGER).
Other projects she has been involved in include: CO-FRESH (H2020-RUR06-2020-IA) "CO-creating sustainable and competitive FRuits and vEgetableS’ value cHains in Europe" (1/10/2020 – 31/03/2024); NewTechAqua (H2020) "New Technologies, Tools and Strategies for a Sustainable Resilient and Innovative European Aquaculture" (1/01/2020 – 31/12/2023); AMOCEAB (Priority Axis 2 - Sustainable Region) "Adrion Master On Circular Economy and BioEconomy" (2/01/2023 – 30/09/2023); FIT4REUSE (PRIMA) "SaFe and SustaInable SoluTions for the integrated use of non-conventional water sources in the Mediterranean Agricultural Sector" (01/07/2019- 30/06/2022); MIUR PON Industrial Research - "TARANTO Technologies and processes for the Abatement of pollutants and the remediation of contaminated sites with Recovery of raw materials and production of energy TOtally green" (01.11.2018; 30.05.2021); Society 2 (H2020) "in Search Of Certainty - Interactive Event To inspire Young people" (01/06/2018-30/11/2019); BIOWAYS (H2020-BBI.S2‐2015) "Increase public awareness of bio-based products and applications supporting the growth of the European bioeconomy" (01/10/2016 - 30/09/2018); Ecoberries ERA-Net CORE (FP7) "Ensuring quality and safety of organic food along the processing chain" (2015 - 2018); ECOPROLIVE (H2020) "Ecofriendly PROcessing System for the full exploitation of the OLIVE health potential in products of added value" (01/09/2015 - 31/08/2017); BAKE4FUN (FP7) "Innovative biotechnological solutions for the production of new bakery functional foods" (01/11/2013 - 31/10/2015); SUCCIPACK (FP7) "Development of active, intelligent and sustainable food PACKaging using Polybutylenesuccinate" (15/12/2011 - 14/12/2014).
Currently, she is involved in the following projects: PRIN2020 "PROACTIVE – Future-proof bioactive peptides from food by-products: an eco-sustainable bioprocessing for tailored multifunctional foods" as the head of the unit for the University of Bologna (08/05/2022 - 08/05/2025); PRIN2022 "FUNPRO-L – Functional fermented milk enriched with selected vaginal probiotic to promote female well-being" (14/10/2023 – 13/10/2025); INTAQT (H2020) " INnovative Tools for Assessment and Authentication of chicken meat, beef and dairy products’ QualiTies" (1/06/2021 – 31/04/2026); ReLeaf (H2020) "Recycling Locally Produced Bio-Waste to Ensure Affordability and Availability of Innovative Bio-Based Fertilisers"; ONE HEARTH (H2020) " Earth-to-marine-to-earth virtuous cycle: Harnessing residual biomass of animal origin for terrestrial-marine integrated circular economy".
Rosalba Lanciotti currently serves as the UNIBO coordinator for WP3.2 (Strategies for risk mitigation in food production: processing, storage, and retail) within the SPOKE3 of OnFoods, a partnership extended project which falls within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), which the Italian Government has prepared as part of the Next Generation EU program. Additionally, she is a UNIBO member of FOODER, a network of universities, firms and public institutions based in Emilia-Romagna (Italy) committed to promoting sustainable development and innovation in the agri-food sector.
Rosalba Lanciotti is also involved in the Interdepartmental Center for Agri-food Industrial Research (CIRI-AGRO) of the University of Bologna, which carries out and coordinates research and professional training activities, aimed at strengthening relations with industry and operating technology transfer to meet the needs of the productive world. As a member of CIRI-AGRO, she is currently involved in the project BIO4SUSPACK (PR-FESR 2021-2027) "Biomolecole della valorizzazione di sottoprodotti agroalimentari per un packaging primario sostenibile, sicuro e attivo."
Rosalba Lanciotti is co-inventor of the national (n. 102015000076561) and international (PCT/EP2016/078287) patent focused on "PACKAGING FOR FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTS TREATED WITH AN ANTIMICROBIAL SOLUTION" (2017).
