PhD Student: Luigi Bazzana (ORCID n. 0009-0001-5198-9176)
Supervisor: Prof. Eleonora Rolli, DeFENS
Co-tutor: Prof. Sara Borin, DeFENS
Dean: Prof. Diego Mora
Research area: Agri-Environment
Research topic
Environmental microbiomes: characterization and biotechnological exploitation
Project Synopsis
Exploiting plant-microbe dynamics to boost rhizoremediation of hydrocarbon-polluted soils
Environmental pollution is one of the main causes of soil degradation, and petroleum hydrocarbons (PHC), resulting from spills and industrial activities are toxic and persistent pollutants. For their removal, rhizoremediation represents a valuable and cheap nature-based solution compared to physico-chemical treatments, and it exploits the interactions between plants and PHC degrading microbiomes in the rhizosphere. This PhD project aims to elucidate plant-microbiome interactions under PHC-induced stress, exploring the “cry-for-help” hypothesis: the mechanism by which plants recruit a beneficial microbiome via specific root exudates, to alleviate a stressful condition. This research focus on i) the identification and characterization of root exudates and the associated rhizosphere microbiome in HC-polluted soil; ii) designing synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) composed of bacteria endowed with plant growth promotion traits and HC-degradation activities; iii) developing and inoculating biologics, comprised of SynComs and root exudate compounds as prebiotics, to enhance rhizoremediation efficacy in semi-field conditions.
Project keywords
Plant-microbe interactions; bioremediation; cry-for-help; root exudation
Contacts
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Via Mangiagalli 25, 3rd floor, 20133 Milan
luigi.bazzana@unimi.it
Collaborations
This PhD project is developed in the framework of the Horizon Europe NYMPHE project (Grant Agreement number 101060625), coordinated by the University of Bologna. For more information, please visit the project’s website: https://www.nympheproject.eu/
Sponsor
Fellowship sponsor: Università degli Studi di Milano
Publications
Publications:
Rusconi, C., Confalonieri, R., Bazzana, L., Fanchi, F., Zanotti, E., & Paleari, L. (2025). Estimating stomatal conductance in maize from 3D plant scans. Biosystems Engineering,254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2025.104161
Oral Communications:
Rolli, E., Ghitti, E., Vergani, L., Mapelli, F., Bazzana, L., & Borin, S. (2025). The plant “cry-for-help” under polychlorinated biphenyl stress shapes root chemistry and ecological interactions. 6th Plant Microbiome Symposium 2025, Antequera (Spain) 3rd – 7th November 2025.
Rolli, E., Ghitti, E., Vergani, L., Mapelli, F., Bazzana, L., & Borin, S. (2025). Non-flavonoid root exudates shape the plant ‘cry-for-help’ under polychlorinated biphenyl stress. FEMS MICRO, Milan (Italy) 14th-17th July 2025.
Mapelli, F., Eleonora Rolli, C., Capriglia, G., Bazzana, L., Ghitti, E., Leilei, Z., Lucini, L., & Borin, S. (2025). Ecological interactions drive the assembly of microbiomes exploitable for hydrocarbon bioremediation in polluted soil. FEMS MICRO, Milan (Italy) 14th-17th July 2025.
Mapelli, F., Rolli, E., Capriglia, G., Bazzana, L., Ghitti, E., Vergani, L., Musmeci, E., Biagi, E., Zanaroli, G., & Borin, S. (2025). Guild composition of rhizosphere bacteria exploitable for hydrocarbon bioremediation is driven by ecological interactions. 9th European Bioremediation Conference, Chania (Greece) 15th-19th June 2025.
Ghitti, E., Rolli, E., Mapelli, F., Capriglia, G., Bazzana, L., Zhang, L., Lucini, L., & Borin, S. (2025). Unravelling the petroleum hydrocarbon-triggered shift in root exudation of sunflower (Helianthus annuus). 9th European Bioremediation Conference, Chania (Greece) 15th-19th June 2025.
Posters:
Rolli, E., Mapelli, F., Capriglia, G., Bazzana, L., Ghitti, E., Vergani, L., Musmeci, E., Biagi, E., Zanaroli, G., & Borin, S. (2025). Response of rhizosphere microbiome to bioaugmentation with pollutant-degraders for petroleum hydrocarbon bioremediation. Biosolutions 2025, Perpignan (France) 23th-26th September 2025.
Capriglia G, Mapelli F, Rolli E, Ghitti E, Bazzana L, Zhang L, Lucini L, & Borin S. (2025). Multiomics approach untangled sunflower ability to recruit beneficial microbiome for hydrocarbon rhizoremediation of contaminated soil. Bageco, Graz (Austria) 1st-4th July 2025.
Others
Education:
Master Degree in “Scienze della produzione e protezione delle piante”, Università degli Studi di Milano – 2024.
Bachelor Degree in “Scienze e tecnologie agrarie”, Università degli Studi di Milano – 2022.