Heavy Metal Bio-recovery and Valorization
Heavy Metal Bio-recovery and Valorization
Associate Professor
Lucia Cavalca is P.I. of the Fondazione Cariplo project “Heavy Metal Bio-recovery and Valorization-HMBV” (grant num. 1069-2020). She is Associate Professor of Agricultural Microbiology at the University of Milan. She has been visiting researcher at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), at the University of Reading (UK) and at the Biotechnology Department at Delft-University of Technology (NL). Editor of the journal “Microbiology”. Her activities span from academic national and international collaborations to industrial consultancies, and comprise microbial processes involved in bioremediation of soil and water contaminated with hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, arsenic and heavy metal and in plant growth promotion. Further research comprises the application of metagenomic techniques to the analysis of microbial ecophysiology in the environment.
Associate Professor
Roberto De Philippis is Professor of Microbial Biotechnology at the University of Florence, Italy. He was Visiting Professor at the Wuhan University, China. He was President of the International Society for Applied Phycology; Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Phycology; member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Environmental Biotechnology (ISEB); member of the Experts group of the Section on Environmental Biotechnology of the European Federation of Biotechnology. He was President of the Master Course on Biotechnology for Environmental Management and Sustainable Agriculture (BIO-EMSA) at the University of Florence (2017-2021).
His research activity mainly concerns the physiology and the possible biotechnological exploitation of phototrophic microorganisms, in particular regarding the production of biopolymers and bioenergy.
Senior Researcher
Raffaella Zanchi is Senior Researcher at the University of Milan, Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences. Her expertise comprises microbic ecology of the rhizosphere in contaminated soils and intestinal ecosystems and health-related issues. She has worked on rizobacteria
community analysis and soil arsenic mobilization;
transformations, mobility and
bioavailability of heavy metals and metalloids in the soil-plant system. She is currently part of 2020/21 CARIPLO Research Contract “Ristec: effects of green manuring and conservation agriculture on
the root architecture and rhizospheric microorganisms of rice” and
2020/22 PRIN Project “Reduction Of Metal Contamination in Cereals: physical-chemical drivers of soil/plant/microorganism systems (ROMECC)”, alongside HMBV project.
Laboratory Technician
Milena Colombo is Laboratory Technician at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Milan. Her expertise focuses on isolation of bacteria resistant to heavy metals and bacteria able at degrading aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Her research focuses on adsorption processes of metals from industrial effluents through selected microorganisms; arsenic speciation and preparation of samples for inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analyses. She is working on isolation of plant growth promoting bacteria to perform bioaugmentation of agronomic and natural plants for the improvement of phytoremediation processe; quantification and characterization of bacterial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from soil samples; classical microbiology for the evaluation of biodiversity of natural bacterial communities for isolation and characterization of bacterial strains and for monitoring bacterial inoculants.
Research Fellow
Giorgio Facchetti (38 publications, h-index 13) is Researcher Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Organometallic Chemistry at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Milan. In 2015 he was awarded of the prestigious fellowship “Fondazione Confalonieri” soon after receiving his PhD in Chemical Sciences in 2014 at the University of Milan with a thesis entitled “New antiproliferative transition metal complexes: development and synthesis”. His research interests deal with the synthesis of hybrid catalysts (“artificial metallo-enzymes”), the design and synthesis of new chiral ligands for homogeneous catalysis and with antiproliferative platinum-based complexes.
Research Fellow
Sarah Zecchin is Research Fellow in Agricultural Microbiology at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Milan. Her research interests comprise microbial bio-geo-chemical cycles in environments contaminated by arsenic, heavy metals, and petroleum-derived hydrocarbons; ecology of the microbiota in relation to the cultivation of rice roots and related agronomic practices; extra-cellular transfer of electrons within microbial communities related to microbial electro-chemical systems. She was PostDoc at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, and at the Department of Biology, University of Konstanz. She teaches Soil Microbiology at the University of Milan and she was awarded the FEMS-Jensen Award by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies in 2019.
Senior Researcher
Leonardo Scaglioni is Senior Researcher at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Milan. His work comprises the isolation and determination of the chemical structure of natural compounds through NMR spectroscopic analysis; the study of metal distribution in contaminated river waters; determination, speciation and recovery of phosphorous content in animal manure to prevent water eutrophisation; use of NMR Imaging to study the absorption of water in stone material of artistic works for restoration purposes; use of NMR to study the drug/DNA interaction and in food analysis. He teaches Organic Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry.
PhD Fellow
Matilde Ciani is Junior Researcher at the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies (DAGRI) at the University of Florence. She is PhD Candidate in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. She graduated in Biotechnology for Envorinmental Management and Sustainable Agriculture with a thesis on the cultivation of microalgae in urban wastewaters and biomass valorisation. She has worked as a Junior Researcher on microalgae and cyanobacteriae as biostimulants in agriculture. Her research interests comprise cyanobacteriae and microalgae for agro-environmental purposes; inoculation of cyanobacteriae for the restoration of degraded soils; cultivation of microalgae in wastewaters for the removal of nutrients in laboratory and industrial photobioreactors; use of cyanobacteriae producing exopolysaccharides for the removal of heavy metals.
Research Fellow
Alessandra Adessi currently works as Research Fellow in Agricultural Microbiology at Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies (DAGRI) at the University of Florence. She was awarded the first prize for Best Doctoral Thesis in 2012 at the University of Florence (Technological Area) by Firenze University Press, and received an Award of Honour at the 2nd ABIS (Application of Biotechnology in Industry and Society), at the National Institute of Technology, India (2019). She is member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for Applied Phycology and of the Editorial Board of BMC Microbiology and BMC Biotechnology, Section Editor for Advances in Horticultural Sciences, and Guest Associate Editor for Frontiers in Microbiology and Frontiers in Marine Sciences. Alessandra has a 14-year-long research experience in the use of agri-food by-products, of wastes and residues for the cultivation phototrophic microorganisms, and for biotechnologically relevant processes as hydrogen production, biopolymer accumulation and other added value products synthesis. She currently also studies metabolic interactions between phototrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms. She is the Coordinator and PI of a competitive project titled BIOMIC – funded by the Ministry of Economical Development in Italy (2021) and the Coordinator and PI of the research project CO2MFIT funded by the private enterprise LOMAS srl (2020).
Senior Researcher
Isabella Rimoldi is Senior Research at University of Milan, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She is co-author of more than 54 publications with H-index = 17 (source: Scopus) and two patents. She has participated in several research projects including Italian PRIN and EU Pathfinder projects. She has co-tutor of 4 PhD thesis and supervised 1 Post-doc and more than 30 Master students. Her experience focuses on organometallic chemistry, in particular on the use of transition metal complexes, their characterization and study of the coordination properties according to the different coordinated ligands (amines, phosphines, peptides, proteins, bioactive molecules…). In particular, she studies the applications of metal complexes both in catalysis and in diagnostics by exploiting their optical properties and as possible drugs for various pathologies.
Associate Professor
Raffaella Gandolfi is Associate Professor at University of Milan, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Her teaching experience comprises Bioprocesses, Fermentation Chemistry, Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology. Her main scientific activity focuses on the biocatalysis and targets the following fields: isolation and selection of new biocatalysts; chemo and regioselective modification of glycopeptides with antibiotic activity by biotransformation; enantioselective reduction of ketones by isolate or cells bound dehydrogenases; preparation of chiral synthons of pharmaceutical interest; study of cascade reactions that combine chemo and bio-catalysis in eco-friendly systems; study of artificial metallo-enzyme; set-up condition for biotransformation processes in flow chemistry; cells immobilization. She is co-author of 57 publications with H-index = 21 (source: Scopus). She provides consultancy and research consultancy for industrial partners in the biotransformation sector. Regarding technology transfer, she co-invented three patents.
Post-Graduate Research Assistant
Giulia Coffetti is a Post-Graduate Research Assistant at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Milan. She graduated in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies at the University of Milan with a thesis entitled “Light-breakable mesoporous organosilica particles as natural staining”. Her experience is based on the synthesis and the characterization of organic compounds and organosilica particles and on the use of different instruments like UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fluorolog as spectrofluorimetry, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), NMR spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and FTIR spectroscopy.
Master Student
Chiara Capelli is a Master student at the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies (DAGRI) at the University of Florence. She attends the Master course in Biotechnologies for the Enviornmental Management and Sustainable Agriculture. She graduated at the University of Genoa in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies, researching nickel hyperaccumulator plants for the biorecovery of contaminated soils. She is currently doing an internship at the DAGRI labs on HMBV-related researches, which will be the main topics of her Master thesis.
Senior Researcher
Gigliola Borgonovo is Senior Researcher at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, University of Milan. She teaches Chemistry of Natural and Organic Substances at the University of Milan in the Bachelor’s degree “Herbal Sciences and Technologies” and Organic Chemistry in the Bachelor’s degree “Valorization and Protection of Mountain Environment and Territory” (Edolo, Brescia). Her expertise comprises isolation and synthesis of natural, organic, and biologically active substances, with a specialization on substances related to taste and physical stimuli and on agrochemicals. Her research focuses on stereoselective syntesis of biologically active substances, substances active on taste and on chemical sensing, especially from natural sources and traditional food, isolation of secondary metabolites from plants through the “taste guided analysis” method and their structural determination through NMR, study of active substances on ionic channels TRP (and its application on the pharmaceutical, agri-food and environmental fields).
Senior Researcher
Stefania Mazzini is Senior Researcher at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, University of Milan. She has been collaboating for long with CSIC Institute of Barcelona (Spain). She teaches Organic Chemistry in the Bachelor’s degree “Viticulture and Enology” and Inorganic Chemistry in the Bachelor’s degree “Valorization and Protection of Mountain Environment and Territory” (Edolo, Brescia). Her expertise comprises the study of the mechanism of interaction between DNA and natural substances with potential biological activity through spectroscopy of NMR, structural determination of natural products through NMR, determination of 3D structure of oligopeptides and study of reactivity of metal-proteins through NMR, reuse of phosphate-based fertilizers from zootechnical effluents to prevent eutrphization of waters, phosphorus speciation through NMR after anaerobic digestion, and role of biofilm in the conservation of cultural heritage.
PhD student
Alice Melzi is a PhD student in Food Systems at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS) at the University of Milan. She graduated in Agroenvironmental sciences with a thesis conducted at CIIMAR – Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, located in Porto (Portugal), with a thesis on the selection and optimization of autochthonous bacterial strains for bioremediation of crude oil and maritime fuels. She has worked as a post-graduate research assistant at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS) at the University of Milan. Her research interests comprise bioremediation processes of soil and water contaminated by heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons; microbial degradation of environmental contaminants; ecology of the microbiota associated with plant roots in relation to phytoremediation processes.
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Giulia Daly is currently working as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) at the University of Florence. She has a PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences with a project entitled: “Reconstruction of molecular interactions between microalgae and associated bacteria using a simplified model”. During her PhD she worked at Ghent University. In 2021 she was awarded winner of FEMS Grant for the participation in the 6th International Conference on Microbial Diversity (MD).
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Subhoshmita Mondal is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Agricultural Microbiology at the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milan. Her research experience focuses on recovery and modulations of bioactive molecules including regulatory pathways. She has also contributed in the area of microbial cell-communication. She has her PhD in microbial enzymology in application to biocontrol & crop protection from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata (INDIA). She has worked as a Visiting researcher at the Department of Microbiology & Food Engineering, Corvinus University of Budapest (HUNGARY).