Education and training
Jun 2022 - present: Senior Researcher at FEM
Dec 2010 - May 2022: Recognised Researcher at FEM
Dec 2007 - Nov 2010: Post-doctoral Fellow at FEM-IASMA
Jun 2006 - Nov 2007: Collaborator at FEM-IASMA - visiting scientist at Myriad Genetics, Salt Lake City (UT-USA) for 2 months
Jan 2006 - May 2006: Collaborator at INRA, Montpellier (FR)
Apr 2005 - Dec 2005: Collaborator at FEM-IASMA
Nov 2001 - Nov 2004: Ph.D. in Molecular Biotechnologies, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza (IT) - trainee at University of California, Davis (CA-USA) for 10 months
Oct 1996 - Oct 2001: Degree in Agricultural Sciences, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza (IT).

Research activity
During her PhD she studied the genetic factors responsible for stilbene production in different grapevine organs. During her post-doctoral activities, she was focussed on molecular marker development, linkage analysis and association studies. Involved in the Grapevine Genome Sequencing project, she studied the grape genome structure with special emphasis to transposable elements. She was then focussed on the molecular characterization of grapevine somatic variants and clones. She co-authored several papers with IF, book chapters and popular press as well as she is co-inventor of the NoPv1 patent. She is a reviewer of various scientific journals and a supervisor of bachelor, master, and PhD students. She holds two national teaching qualifications (ASN): Full and Associate professor in “07/E1 Chimica Agraria, Genetica Agraria e Pedologia” (2021-2030). Finally, she coordinated relevant projects i.e. GrAptaResistance (co-PI, national), Vitisana (PI, international), and currently she is the FEM scientific referee for the PNRR Agritech project (national).

Research interests
Currently, she is studying the genetics of disease resistances to support marker-assisted breeding in grapevine, with emphasis to downy and powdery mildew as well as black rot. Given her interest in new genetic material - wild species, she is adopting innovative strategies from both the genotyping and the phenotyping point of view. Her research interests can be resumed as follows: breeding and genetics, structural genomics, molecular biology, plant-pathogen interaction, and botany. Applicability, networking, and foresight are the pillars on which her research activity is based.