Members
Marco Passamonti (Associate Professor)
Associate professor at the University of Bologna since 2014, he conducts his researches in Zoology and Evolutionary Biology. His research interests are directed in particular to mitochondria in animal models, their structure, inheritance, biogenesis and role in the evolution of eukaryotic life. Author of more than 70 scientific publications on international journals. He is Coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Biodiversity and Evolution, responsible for the didactics at the Departiment of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences, and member of the board of the PhD Course in “Earth, Life and Environmental Sciences”. He was President of the Italian Society of Evolutionary Biology (SIBE), and Director of the Degree in Natural Sciences of the University of Bologna.
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Federico Plazzi (RTD-B)
Federico Plazzi is Senior assistant professor (fixed-term) at the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences since 2022. Previously, he was Adjunct Professor of General Biology, Applied Statistics and Evolutionary Zoology at the University of Bologna since 2015. While coping above all with bivalve molluscs, he also worked and still works on other groups, such as hexapods and bony fishes. His research interests focus on the impact of small noncoding RNAs on eukaryotic genomes and nucleus-mitochondrion crosstalk, as well as phylogenetics, phylogenomics, and mitogenomics. To this extent, he also aims to develop statistical and computational methods and tools.
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Iuri Icaro (PostDoc)
Iuri is Research Fellow at the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences of the Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna dealing with nucleus-mitochondrion crosstalk, as well as phylogenetics, phylogenomics, and mitogenomics. From 2019 to 2022 he attended the Doctorate program in Forensic Medicine, Physical and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Granada. In 2018 he obtained the National qualification to the profession of Biologist section A. From 2018 he took part in the research group in Physical Anthropology of the University of Chieti-Pescara, from 2019 to 2021 with a research grant in BIO/08 -Reconstruction of eating habits through the use of stable isotopes and aDNA of the ancient Abruzzo populations. Member of the scientific committee of the University Museum of the “G. D’Annunzio” University from 2018 to 2021. In 2020 he participated as Anthropologist in the Anthropological Mission in Egypt, Luxor: Valley of the Kings – Neferhotep Complex Project. Since 2018 scientific technical consultant for the Italian Public Prosecutor’s Office.
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Alex Cussigh (PostDoc)
Alex is Research Fellow at the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences of the University of Bologna focusing on the metabarcoding of marine eDNA. During 2022 he was a Research Fellow at the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences of the University of Milan working on soil eDNA and biological quality of soil. From 2018 to 2022 he attended the Phd program in in Earth, Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Bologna with a thesis on freshwater eDNA in anthropic canals. In 2018 he graduated the Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Evolution at the University of Bologna with a thesis on the phylogeny of Phasmida.
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Alessandro Formaggioni (PhD Student)
Alessandro is a PhD student in Earth, Life and Environmental Sciences. He is currently studying possible maturational pathways of mitochondrially encoded small RNAs, called smithRNAs. But he is also interested in other topics related to mito-nuclear interactions and RNA interference. During his master internship supervised by prof. Passamonti, he evaluated how the coevolution between nuclear and mitochondrial OXPHOS subunits can bias the phylogenetic signal in bivalves. In 2019, he graduated the Bachelor’s degree in Biology. In 2021, he graduated the Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Evolution.
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Diego Carli (PhD Student)
Diego is a PhD student in Earth, Life and Environmental Sciences. He is proving effects of mitochondrially encoded small RNAs through functional essays, looking for different patterns of ubiquitination. He is studying the presence of smithRNAs in model and non-model species as well, as he did for his master thesis. In 2019, he graduated the Bachelor’s degree in Natural Science. In 2022, he graduated the Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Evolution.
Oscar Wallnoefer (PhD Student)
Oscar is currently pursuing a PhD in Earth, Life, and Environmental Sciences. His primary research focuses on investigating mito-nuclear interactions and coevolution. Currently, his research delves into probing the in vivo functionality of smithRNAs, a class of small RNAs encoded in mitochondria that appear to affect nuclear transcription through RNA interference. Additionally, he is working on obtaining quantitative estimates of tissue-specific levels of smithRNA expression using the model organism Ruditapes philippinarum. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Bologna in 2021, followed by a degree in Biodiversity and Evolution in 2023.