PhD student profile, Francesco Riva

PhD Student: Francesco Riva

Tutor: Elena Sara Crotti – Defens

Dean: Prof. Ella Pagliarini

Research area: Agri-Environment

PhD title achieved on: 2^nd March 2022

Research topic

Tracking of bacteria and genes of relevance for the agri-food system

Project Synopsis

The aim of my PhD project is to describe the dimension of antibiotic resistance (AR) in the agri-food system. Due to the use of treated wastewater and manure, in which the presence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB)is known, there is the possibility of the spread of ARGS and ARB through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in the agri-food system. The perspective is to develop bacterial tools to monitor the spread of AR through conjugation and natural competence, and the characterization of AR spread in different environments related to the agri-food system such as rhizosphere and lake waters.

Project keywords

Horizontal gene transfer, Antibiotic Resistance, environmental biotechnology, environmental microbiology

Contacts

Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS)

via Mangiagalli 25 (Milano), 3^rd floor, Office 3011, tel. 02 503 19115

francesco.riva@unimi.it

Sponsor

Fellowship sponsor: Università degli Studi di Milano

Publications

Francesco Riva, Elena Crotti, Zahraa Zeaiter, Francesca Mapelli, Sara Borin “Genetic manipulation of marine bacteria: set up of a method for insertional mutagenesis in Halomonas aquamarina 9B” ISME17 Leipzig 12-17 August 2018.