Story

Since I was a kid the environment and nature around fascinated me strongly. During my Master of Science in Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Perugia (Italy), I developed particular interests in Entomology, Microbiology, Genetics, and Bioinformatics. My Master of Science culminated in my thesis, which was focused on the defenses induced by Halyomorpha halys (a really nice and “fragrant” insect) and that was the Spell that Entomology put on me. After my master’s, I flew to Versailles for an Erasmus+ Traineeship at INRA Versailles-Grignon. Here I worked and learned to use different Bioinformatic programs for transcriptome analysis.

My PhD project is part of the MSCA Innovative Training Network H2020 “Insect Doctors”. The title of my PhD is “Impact of bacterial symbionts on host growth and mating competitiveness in mass-reared mosquitoes”, and I am focused on understanding the dynamics and the effect of culturable symbiotic gut bacteria on mosquito fitness.

Collaborators

My PhD is a collaboration between the University of Exeter, UK, and the University of Wageningen, NL. In addition, IAEA-FAO (Austria), a non-academic organization is involved in my Project.