PhD 2023-2026 - 39th Cycle | Industrial Biotechnologies

The 39th PhD cycle in Biotechnology has started on Nov 1, 2023 and will end on Oct 31, 2026.

Board of teachers:

Marco Moracci (Coordinator)
Discovery, characterisation and engineering of carbohydrate-active enzymes from hyper(thermophilic) microorganisms for biocatalysis and biotransformation

Members of the Federico II University

Angela Arciello Characterization of antimicrobial peptides to be applied in food and cosmeceutical fields		Eugenio Notomista Identification, production and characterization of Host Defence Peptides (HDP)
Viola Calabrò Natural metabolites from plants and fungi: characterization of their biological activities for nutraceutical, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical industry		Giorgia Oliviero Design and synthesis of oligonucleotides and analogues to be used for the obtainment of new biomaterials and the development of bioprobes for theranostics applications (read more)
Pasquale Chiaiese Plant and microalgae biotechnology for environmental remediation and food biofortification		Ermenegilda Parrilli Biofilm of Antarctic marine Bacteria as a tool for biotechnologies
Gabriella Fiorentino (Hyper)Thermophiles-inspired molecular strategies to address environmental pollution with biotechnological approaches		Francesco Pennacchio Understanding the mechanisms that underlie the impact of environmental stress factors on honey bee immunocompetence, to set the ground for developing targeted biotechnologies to reduce colony losses
C. Valeria L. Giosafatto Production and characterization of environmentally friendly bioplastiscs from renewable sources		Cinzia Pezzella Integrated biorefineries for the valorization of wastes and designing of microbial cell-factories for their conversion in bio-based products
Rachele Isticato Biotechnological applications of halophilic microbes and their functionalization for sustainable agriculture		Alessandra Piscitelli Isolation, characterization and engineering of fungal self-assembling protein biosurfactants, exploitable in (nano)materials functionalization
Loredana Mariniello Biopolimers from wastes as components of edible films to be applied in the food industry for a sustainable development		David Turrà Comprehension of how environmental signals (chemical/physical) are transduced in fungal cells and impact the physiology, infectivity and interaction of soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi with the plant host and/or the associated microbiome
Antonio Marzocchella Development of bioprocesses - see webpage (link) for details		Piero Salatino Development of advanced bioconversion units - see webpage (link) for details
Daria Maria Monti Use of microalgae as a source of high added value molecules. A biorefinery approach will be used and the isolated molecules biologically characterized		Maria Luisa Tutino Exploiting the industrial use of unconventional Antarctic bacteria as host for recombinant production of difficult proteins
		Raffaele Velotta Electrochemical and optical biosensors for environmental monitoring, food safety, and medical diagnostics

Foreign members
Cesar De La Fuente Nunez		Adam Macierzanka
Carlos Fontes		Reynaldo Villalonga Santana
Angharad M. R. Gatehouse		Thierry Tron
Lars Rehmann

Educational Offer reserved to PhD students of the 39th cycle (last update: May 28 2025). (Courses provided to PhD students of the 39th cycle over three years)

Notices and communications from teachers will be published on the dedicated page (Notices)

Borse di Ateneo

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	Student	Project	Tutor
	Andrea Coletti	Towards the industrial use of Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 as cell factory of difficult-to-express proteins: development of novel genetic tools, improved strains, and more effective production processes	M. L. Tutino, C. Lauro, M. Calvanese

	*This PhD scholarship is dedicated to the memory of Giulio Regeni*
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	Marina Tanga	Development of sustainable bioprocess for destructurization and valorization of biomass	P. Salatino, A. Marzocchella


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Borse PNRR

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	Studente	Project	Tutor
	Alessia Di Fraia	Thermophilic bioprocesses for the sustainable production of molecules with high added value	G. Fiorentino


	Giulia Fichera	Fungal biomolecules: from nature to biotechnological products across protein engineering	A. Piscitelli, P. Cicatiello


	Talayeh Kodjazi	Waste biopolymers as components of edible films	L. Mariniello, O. F. Restaino


	Diana Olimpo	Innovative strategies for prevention and treatment of microbial biofilms in the industrial and medical fieldsof optical biosensors for the detection of environmental DNA	E. Parrilli C. D'Angelo

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	Ida Palumbo	Innovative strategies for the biotechnological exploitation of "Host defense peptides" (HDP)	E. Notomista


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Borse PNRR Pubblica Amministrazione

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	Student	Project	Tutor
	Sefora Esposito	Novel bio-pesticides for crop protection	C.V.L. Giosafatto, V. Scala

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	Alfonso Ferrara	Use of carbon anhydrases to promote carbon capture by microalgae and the production of high value-added molecules from microalgal biomass	M.D. Monti


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Borse PNRR Transizioni digitali ed ambientali

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	Student	Project	Tutor
	Maria Rosaria Chianese	Biopesticides from natural antagonists of insect	F. Pennacchio

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	Esther Pirozzi	Discovery and characterisation of carbohydrate-active enzymes from hyper(thermophilic) microorganisms for biotransformations	M. Moracci, G. Perugino


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Borse Marie-Curie 'Shine'

	Student	Project	Tutor
	Guillermo Gargallo Climent	Impact of subsurface microbiology on hydrogen storage and reservoir storage efficiency	M. Moracci, D. Giovannelli

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Papers published by students of cycle XXXIX

Avitabile M, Mirpoor SF, Esposito S, Merola G, Mariniello L, Tancredi Patané G, Barreca D, Giosafatto CVL.

Manufacture of Bioplastics Prepared from Chitosan Functionalized with Callistemon citrinus Extract.

2024, Polymers, Vol. 16: 2693.

https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16192693

Carbonaro M, Aulitto M, Mazurkewich S, Di Fraia A, Contursi P, Limauro D, Larsbrink J, Fiorentino G.

Genomic mining of Geobacillus stearothermophilus GF16 for xylose production from hemicellulose-rich biomasses using secreted enzymes.

2024, New Biotechnol, Vol. 82: 14-24.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2024.04.002

Imbimbo P, Ferrara A, Giustino E, Liberti D, Monti DM.

Microalgae Flocculation: Assessment of Extraction Yields and Biological Activity.

2024, Int J Mol sci, Vol. 25: 19.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms251910238

Imbimbo P, Giustino E, Ferrara A, Alvarez-Rivera G, Annaz H, Ibáñez E, Di Meo M C, Zarrelli A, Monti DM.

Unveiling the potential of Pseudococcomyxa simplex: a stepwise extraction for cosmetic applications.

2024, Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, Vol. 108: 390.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-024-13229-9

PhD 2023-2026 - 39th Cycle