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Laurea cum Laude in Biology (1990), at the II University of Rome. From 2001 to 2019, he was recruited as permanent position scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Ancona.
Currently, he works at the Institute of Polar Sciences of CNR in Bologna. His fields of interest include age determination through otolith analysis, reproductive biology and feeding habits of fishes from both Mediterranean and Antarctic waters. He participated to several research projects funded by EC, MIUR and PNRA.
He was involved for a long time with foreign scientists on Antarctic topics and participated to several international scientific cruises in the Southern Ocean (mainly Germany and USA). Currently, he is author/co-author of about 100 papers published on peer-reviewed journals (JCR).
Scopus - Author ID: 6701474004 
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3716-0054 Research Gate Google Scholar
She has a degree in Biological Sciences (University of Messina) and a doctorate in Marine Science and Engineering (University Federico II of Naples). She is currently a CNR Researcher at the Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR-ISP), Messina, and was previously a research fellow at the Institute of Coastal Marine Environment (IAMC-Messina).
Her research activity is focused on the study of microbial communities present in deep and/or extreme marine environments, such as Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basins (DHAB), Hydrothermal vents, as well as in polar environments, with particular interest in biodiversity, mapping of genes of biotechnological interest and bioinformatics analysis. She spent a period of training at the Oklahoma University (USA), at the Institute of Environmental Genomics. She has participated in ten oceanographic expeditions in the Mediterranean Sea aboard R/V Urania. She is co-author of publications in scientific journals. She has collaborated in national and international research projects (KILL SPILL- ULIXES- INMARE- RITMARE- DEEP_C - PON S.A.B.I.E. - COMMODE - MICROB3 - MAMBA - MIDDLE) and has been head of units (IAMC) for the Simply (Structures and IMmunologic Properties of LipopolYsaccharides from Antarctic psychrophilic bacteria) project.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4768-182X Scopus - Author ID: 35620623600 Scholar
Research activities are not only based on the observatories, there is a network of laboratories, located at the various branches of the Institute, which allow researchers to develop ISP research topics. In the laboratories, samples taken in polar areas are analysed. These samples, given the difficult environmental conditions in which we operate during the field campaigns, as well as the considerable logistical effort involved in their collection, are always precious and often unrepeatable. Therefore, the availability of equipment that allows the researcher to obtain the maximum possible information from each sample becomes fundamental so we can advance knowledge of these extreme environments.
The laboratories also perform services on behalf of third parties and in the context of contracts, agreements and research collaborations with companies, universities and national and international institutions. For more information, contact the representatives of the laboratories / instruments.
Brief description
The experimental activities carried out at the MicroChem Lab in Rome focus on the analytical determination of legacy and emerging organic micropollutants and their metabolites, in order to understand their diffusion, distribution, persistence dynamics and fate in the environment. The studies performed at the MicroChem Lab aim also to study the relationships between the climate change and the spread of contaminants at global and local scale. For these purposes, the development and optimization of highly specific and sensitive analytical methodologies for the detection of chemicals at trace and sub-trace concentration levels in the environmental matrices, is required.
Environmental compartments
The experimental activities focus on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, therefore the environmental matrices of interest are: Surface waters and sediments (seas, rivers, lakes), snow/ice, soils, aquatic and terrestrial vegetation, biota.
Analytical techniques
The analytical determination of the organic micropollutants is performed by the combination of:
- Pre-treatment methods (e.g. freeze-drying, filtration, etc.);
- Extraction/Clean up methods (solid-phase extraction-SPE, pressurized liquid extraction-PLE, liquid-liquid extraction-LL);
- Sensitive and selective analytical methods based on the coupling of chromatographic techniques (HPLC or GC) with fluorescence, FID-ECD and mass spectrometry detection.
Equipment
The MicroChem Lab is equipped with the following analytical tools:
Benchtop lyophilizer (freeze-dryer LABCONCO) 2.5 L capacity, equipped with a touchscreen display, for the pre-treatment of solid matrices subsequently extracted with PLE.
Solid Phase Extraction (SPE): 12 inlets solid phase extractor connected to cartridges packed with specific adsorbents for the extraction of target compounds from liquid matrices through a vacuum system.
Sonicator (Branson, mod. 2510) for the extraction of chemical compounds from solid matrices by using suitable solvents.
ASE 150 (Dionex, Thermo Scientific) to perform pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) of organic pollutants from solid matrices.
Speed Extractor E-916 (Buchi) to perform simultaneous pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) of 6 samples, operating in different modes.
Rotavapor R 100 (Buchi), equipped with an electronic interface to control the vacuum system and the recirculating chiller.
Gas chromatograph (Thermo Fisher, Trace 3000) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) detector (Thermo Fisher, ISQ7000). The device is connected to an autosampler (Thermo Fisher. AI 1310) and is controlled by a Chromeleon software.
HPLC (quaternary pump, column Oven mod. LC-100 and Micro Pump Series 200, Perkin Elmer, USA) coupled to a fluorescence detector (Perkin Elmer Series 200a). The device is controlled by a Chromeleon Software.
HPLC (binary pump, Vanquish TM Core HPLC system, Thermo Scientific TM, Italy) coupled to a high-resolution mass spectrometer (Orbitrap Exploris 120, Thermo Scientific TM, Italy). The device is controlled by XcaliburSoftware (version 5.1).
Contact person: Dr.Luisa Patrolecco – luisa.patrolecco AT cnr.it
Marine biologist and oceanographer, Serena got three degrees from different universities: the undergraduate in Biological Sciences at the University of Genova, the master in marine biology at the University Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona, another master in 'Applied Physical Oceanography' at the University of Malta. She studied in detail the algae reproduction as well as the anchovies reproduction, while her specialisation as a marine biologist was about the study of the Sperm whales' acoustic. She wanted to protect the oceans and who lives in them, therefore in Malta she specialised into the study of the plastic pollution, with the use of a drone, deriving from an oceanic input as well as from humans, as a definition of a non education about the environment. Furthermore, her desire to know more in detail about other cetaceans species brought her for different summer seasons to Husavik, Iceland, working as a whale watching guide. From the humpback whales and the blue whales to the curiosity of knowing more about the ice, while looking at the glaciers in Iceland. Since then, she became a PhD student at the University of Ca' Foscari of Venice, in collaboration with the University of Milan-Bicocca, where she is studying the RICE ice core, in particular the fossils that she is finding into the core and the reason why they are there.
He is interested in determining rates of aquatic processes involving sediment particles, using radioactive tracers and time-series sediment traps. Particle dynamics is then applied to the study of the effects of climate change on the marine and polar environment, such as: a) biogeochemical cycles of organic C and biogenic silica in the Southern Ocean, Fram Strait and Mediterranean Sea; b) Late Quaternary paleoceanographic reconstructions using biogenic and radionuclide components; c) estimates of atmospheric CO2 growth rate in remote and polar ocean; c) particle transport by dense water cascading down to the deep marine realm; e) historical reconstruction of the sediment pollution of lacustrine and coastal environments in highly populated and remote polar areas.
Participation at EC and national projects. PI of projects funded by industry and ONR. PI or WP leader in Antarctica and Arctic projects. CNR scientific contact in EU-ARICE and EU-INTERACT III. Experience >30 years of oceanographic campaigns with 90 participations (18 as Chief Scientist) in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Southern Ocean and Arctic ocean. Scientific coordinator of marine activities during 2 Italian expeditions in Antarctica. He is the pro-tempore Director of the Institute of Polar Sciences of the Italian CNR (CNR-ISP).
He is author or co-author of ca. 100 scientific papers published on ISI journals with Impact Factor, ca. 60 scientific papers published on no-ISI journals, 7 chapters of book, 30 technical reports and cruise reports. Citation number amounts to about 2500, with a Hirsch factor (h-factor) of 27 (font Scopus).
Scopus - Author ID: 6603776561 Research Gate Google Scholar
She got her Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences at the University of Messina in 2006. Actually, she is member of the Committee for the Collection and Management of Antarctic samples of the PNRA-MIUR, and of the Executive Committee of the CUR for the study of Extreme Environments and Extremophiles Francesco Maria Faranda (University of Messina).
She collaborated with the University of Messina for the scientific management of the Italian Collection of Antarctic Bacteria of the National Antarctic Museum (CIBAN-MNA).
She participated to sampling campaigns in Antarctic and Arctic areas, as well as to oceanographic cruises in the Mediterranean. She is actively involved in national and international research projects in the fields of microbial ecology (diversity and function of prokaryotes) of polar environments, biotechnology of cold-adapted bacteria (e.g.,. search for xenobiotic degraders and biomolecule producers) and bacterial interactions. She is particularly interested in the bacterial association with benthic filter-feeders, and in the relationships between prokaryotes and chemical contamination.
She is author or co-author of more than 70 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, among which Physics of Life Reviews, Scientific Reports, Biotechnology Advances, Science of the Total Environment, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, PLOS One, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Microbial Ecology, and several book chapters. She is peer-reviewer for international journals on ecology and microbiology, and scientific reviewer for project proposals for international polar agencies. She is member of the open-access journals Microorganisms (Section Microbial Biotechnology) and Diversity (Section Microbial Diversity), and Review Editor for “Frontiers in Marine Sciences: Marine Biotechnology”.
Scopus - Author ID: 57202031230 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8842-083X Research Gate: Angelina Lo Giudice
She attained the master’s degree with honours in Applied and Environmental Geology at the University of Turin in 2010, with a thesis entitled Distribution, origin and consequences of fluoride content in groundwater in an area of the central sector of the Ethiopian Rift. She specialized in the collection, analysis and dissemination of data in developing countries and in geological and hydrogeological mapping and modelling through GIS data management. The working experience in the Alpine environment allowed the deepening into pedological and geochemical subjects. She worked as study grant holder on the Nunataryuk EU-funded Horizon 2020 project, coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, that aims to assess arctic permafrost thaw and study how it contributes to climate change.
Present position: PhD Student at University Ca' Foscari Venezia, PhD in Polar Sciences; title of proposal: Modelling the fate of POPs distribution in permafrost: combine large scale to local perspective.
His main activities are focused in the study of the optical properties of the atmosphere, the interactions between ultraviolet radiation, visible and infrared with atmospheric constituents; his research interests have turned to the impact that aerosols, trace gases and clouds exert on the radiation balance of the Earth-atmosphere system, focusing in particular on the assessment of the direct radiative effects produced by the aerosol, on the assessment of the radiation balance in the polar areas and the role that gas trace, aerosols and clouds in these regions have particularly sensitive.
The scientific activity has been divided among the experimental research (mainly solar photometry, measurements of downwelling and upwelling radiative fluxes in the visible and near-and far-infrared, aerosol optical and physical properties), and modelling using radiative transport codes for the evaluation of the radiative fluxes in the atmosphere. Over the past years he has participated at multiple Antarctic polar campaigns, gaining experience in instrumentation and data analysis. He is co-author of more than 50 articles in international journals.
Scopus - Author ID: 7005284903 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5009-9876
He received his master degree in nuclear and particle physics from Milano-Bicocca University in 2014. His background ranges from applied particle physics to environmental radioactivity and high-energy physics. His work at the nuclear fission reactor in Pavia (Italy) introduced him to the ice core science field. He did his PhD (2014-2017) at the Niels Bohr Institute (Copenhagen, Denmark), working on ice core continuous flow analysis systems and past sea ice reconstructions. He continued his research on climate reconstructions at the Niels Bohr Institute, at the Italian National Research Council and at the University of Venice in 2018 and 2019. Between 2020 and 2022 he was Marie Curie fellow at the University of Venice with a project on computer vision and Artificial Intelligence techniques applied to ice core analyses. Since September 2022 he works on glacier modeling via deep neural networks in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine. He is particularly interested in exploring AI and Machine Learning approaches to Earth System Science problems.
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She is currently CTER - IV level at the Institute of Polar Sciences in Messina.
She has participated to numerous oceanographic cruises in the Mediterranean Sea with particular regard to the collection, treatment and analysis of samples. She actively participates at national and international research projects on polar issues.
Her research activities are mainly devoted to the study of the ecology of bacterial populations in aquatic samples (seawater and brines) and permafrost. In particular: to the study of the biomass of prokaryotes by counting and morphometric and morphological analyses, through the application of microscopic techniques in epifluoresence and image analysis; the estimation of physiological profiles at community level of prokaryotes through BIOLOG Ecoplate; the quantification of viable cells through the use of biomarkers (LIVE/DEAD and CTC). She also performs graphic and statistical processing of experimental data and collaborates in the drafting of scientific papers.
Scopus - Author ID: 7801432695
Mario Zucchelli Station (MZS) is located at 74° 41′ S, 164° 6′ E, sitting on a granite promontory in Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea - Antarctica) at 15 m above sea level.
The station was named in memory of Eng. Mario Zucchelli who coordinated the ENEA Unit for Antarctica (ENEA-UTA) for sixteen years. MZS has been operating since 1985 during the austral summer and supports all the research activities planned by the National Research Program in Antarctica (PNRA).
For more information refer to the www.pnra.aq website.
Graduated in Experimental and Applied Biology, Environmental Biology and Biodiversity curriculum at the University of Pavia with the thesis Biodegradation of polyethylene (PET ) and polylactic acid (PLA) using Fusarium sp. and evaluation of enzymatic activity. During the bachelor degree, she carried out a short period of study and research at the Marine Research and High Education (MaRHE) center, on the island of Magoodhoo, in the Maldivian Archipelago, where she focused on marine ecology and safeguard of biological systems, related to the coral reef. During the master degree, she took part in the monitoring of alien species project, in the Marine Protection Area of the Porto Venere Regional Park at ENEA, implementing the previous knowledge and techniques of sampling, treatment, and analysis of marine samples. Thanks to internships in microbiology and mycology, experienced during bachelor and master career respectively, she was able to learn techniques of microbiological analysis associated with recalcitrant materials, deepening associated with plastics. Currently, she caries out research activities for the identification and characterization of antibiotic resistant and virulent environmental vectors in coastal marine areas and deep environments at the Institute of Polar Sciences (CNR-ISP) of Messina.
Graduated in Communication Strategies at the University of Padua, during her studies she could experimented different formats of scientific communication, being part of the Planet Book photobook project (Contrasto editor) and participating several times at the public presentations of the book. She wrote as a volunteer for the CICAP online magazine, Query, deepening the theme of the relations between science, pseudoscience and society.
She graduated at the Master’s in Science Communication “Franco Prattico” at SISSA (Scuola Internazionale di Studi Superiori Avanzati) in Trieste. During the Master experience, she had the opportunity to test her skills trying different medium and formats for scientific communication and to learn the theorical basis. During her traineeship, she carried out support activities for the institutional communication of the Institute of Polar Sciences of CNR, managing and creating the contents and the strategy for the social media channels.
Currently, she is handling the presence of the Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice Core project on social media and she is also involved on outreach and disseminations activities related to the project. She is also taking care of the development of Beyond EPICA communications strategy with partners and the relations with them.
Ministero dell'Universita e Ricerca
Programma Ricerche Artico
Programma Nazionale di Ricerca in Antartide
Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale
L'Italia e l’Artico
L’Italia e l’Antartide
CNR-ISP
National Research Council
Institute of Polar Sciences
c/o Scientific Campus - Ca' Foscari University Venice - Via Torino, 155 - 30172 VENEZIA MESTRE (VE)
Phone: +39 041 2348547 - E-mail: protocollo.isp AT pec.cnr.it
Fax: +39 041 2348 549 - Codice Fiscale: 80054330586 - P.I.:02118311006
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