EDUCATION
2010 – 2014: PhD in Biochemical and Biotechnological Sciences at the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. Dissertation in: Metagenomic trajectory of gut microbiome in the human lifespan. Defense date: 11/04/2014. Evaluation: Excellent with academic commendation of Doctor Europaeus.
2010: Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (2 years), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
2007: Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology (3 years), Faculty of Science, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
POSITIONS
From 2020: Junior Assistant Professor (RTD-A - fixed term) at the Microbiome Science and Biotechnology Unit, Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy
PREVIOUS POSITIONS
2018 – 2020: Head of Bioinformatics at the Holobiont Microbiome and Microbiome Engineering Unit (Senior Post-Doctoral Research Fellow), Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy
2014 – 2018: Post-Doc Research Fellow on the EU FP7-KBBE Project MyNewGut (Microbiome influence on energy balance and brain development-function put into action to tackle diet-related diseases and behavior), Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy. Bioinformatician and biostatistician responsible for epidemiologic studies to identify the influence of lifestyle and other factors on the gut microbiome (WP4).
2015 – 2020: Co-founder and member of the board of directors of Wellmicro srl, Spin Off at the University of Bologna.
OTHER RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
03/2019: Visiting Researcher – QIAGEN bioinformatics division, Aarhus, Denmark. Group leader: Francesco Lescai. Aim of the stay: development of new bioinformatic tool for the study of longitudinal microbiome dataset (Focus on microbiome in extreme ageing individuals).
11-12/2016: Visiting Researcher - Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Bremen, Germania. Group leaders: Prof. Wolfgang Ahrens e Dr. Kathrin Gunther. Aim of the stay: Metagenomic, bioinformatics and biostatistics analysis of gut microbiome from children with or without obesity.
05-12/2012: Visiting Researcher – Bioinformatic Laboratory, Dept. Microbiology & Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Ireland. Group Leader: Prof. Paul W. O'toole. Aim of the stay: Bioinformatics and machine learning approaches applied to microbiome data of individuals at different age (i.e. from adulthood to extreme ageing).
CURRENT GRANT AND PARTICIPATION IN PAST PROJECTS
11/2023 - Today: Principal Investigator for the PRIN PNRR 2022 – InBloom (INterplay Between Lifestyle and blOod micrObiome in colon rectal cancer prevention: a new Metagenomic perspective).
01/2023 – Today: Member of the research team of the University of Bologna for the EU HORIZON EUROPE RIA – TRIBIOME (Advanced tools for integration and synergistic inTeRconnectIon of microBIOMEs in resilient food systems).
11/2018 – Today: Member of the research team of the University of Bologna for the EU H2020-SFS-2018-2020 - Sustainable Food Security project CIRCLES (Controlling microbiomes circulations for better food systems).
08/2019 – 08/2021: Member of the research team of the University of Bologna and responsible of bioinformatics and biostatistics analysis of microbiome data for the PRIN 2018 project “Microbiome-tailored food products based on typical Mediterranean Diet components”.
12/2013 – 11/2018: Member of the research team of the University of Bologna for the EU FP7-KBBE Project MyNewGut (Microbiome influence on energy balance and brain development-function put into action to tackle diet-related diseases and behavior).
FELLOSHIPS AND AWARDS
2021: Seal of Excellence holders under Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Actions 2020 for the project METATRACE (H2020-MSCA-IF - Global Fellowship - call 2020).
2021: most-citable microbiome paper in the Journal "Communications Biology" for the paper "Pre-obese children’s dysbiotic gut microbiome and unhealthy diets may predict the development of obesity" (ref).
2021: most-accessed microbiome paper in the Journal "Communications Biology" for the paper "Components of a Neanderthal gut microbiome recovered from fecal sediments from El Salt" (ref)
2020: Italian national qualification to be an Associate Professor in Chemistry and Biotechnology of Fermentation (03/D1), Italian Ministry of Education and University (competition notice DD2175/2018).
22/11/2019: Poster prize as best poster for “Enteral nutrition in pediatric patients undergoing hematopoietic SCT promotes recovery of gut microbiome homeostasis“. MIBIOC congress – the way of microbiota in cancer.
2018: Italian national qualification to be an Associate Professor in Microbiology (05/I2), Italian Ministry of Education and University (competition notice DD1532/2016).
2014: Academic commendation of “Doctor Europaeus” for the PhD thesis.
2010: Mobility Grant - Leonardo Unipharma Graduate VI project – Europass Mobility 2010 - University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France.
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
From 2023: Lecturer in Fermentation Biotechnology, Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy.
2022: Lecturer for the Winter school "Il microbioma nuovo target per la salute", University of Bologna, Italy.
From 2020: Lecturer in Nutrition, genomics and nutritional needs, Professional Master programme in Nutrition and Health Education, University of Bologna, Italy.
From 2019: Assistant Lecturer in Metagenomics, Bachelor’s degree in Genomics, University of Bologna, Italy.
2019 – 2021 Assistant Lecturer in Industrial Processes for Recombinant Drugs, Master degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy.
2018 – 2019: Assistant Lecturer in Biotechnologies of Industrial Microorganisms, Master degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy.
2013 – 2018: Assistant Lecturer in Fermentation Biotechnology, Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy.
PATENTS
2022: Patent nr. 102022000003479 (IT patent), Method for the treatment of intestinal disorders in pets and farm animals. Terragni R., Turroni S., Candela M., Rampelli S.
2017: Patent nr. WO2017118924A1 (EU patent), Method for evaluating the state of health of an individual. Inventors: Biagi E, Rampelli S, Turroni S, Castagnetti A, Candela M.
2016: Patent nr. IT102016000000558 (IT patent), Method for evaluating the state of health of an individual. Inventors: Biagi E, Rampelli S, Turroni S, Castagnetti A, Candela M.
