I am a microbiologist who joined in June 2025 the Arcetri Astrobiology Laboratory of INAF OAA as a TD Researcher. After graduating in Industrial Biotechnology in 2016, I got in 2021 a doctorate in Space Sciences, Technologies and Measurements in Padova, getting close to the Astrobiology field of research. During my PhD and Postdocs, I studied the survival, growth and acclimation responses of oxygenic photosynthetic microorganisms under astrobiologically relevant far-red light enhanced environments such as M-dwarf exoplanets' surfaces. 

In the Arcetri Astrobiology Laboratory I'm currently studying the survivability and detectability under Martian simulated conditions of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic anoxic microorganisms, in the context of a possible past or present biosphere on Mars and in support of the upcoming ExoMars mission. 

With my unusual (for the Observatory) Biology background, I hope to bring new expertise and new points of view to the laboratory and the whole INAF OAA.

I am an astrobiologist and organic geochemist looking for extraterrestrial life in the Solar System. My research focuses on how traces of life (biosignatures) are preserved in the Solar System and how to detect them with mission instruments. 

I completed my PhD at Georgetown University (Washington, DC), in close collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD). I studied how galactic cosmic radiation degrade chemical biosignatures on Mars, and how to increase our chances of detecting conclusive proof of ancient Martian life with current and future NASA and ESA rover missions (Curiosity, Perseverance, Rosalind Franklin). In parallel, I worked on a prototype mission instrument to detect biosignatures on the Icy Moons of Jupiter and Saturn. During a one-year postdoc at Georgetown University, I modified a commercial instrument to be analogous to the MOMA mission instrument that will explore Mars aboard the ESA/NASA Rosalind Franklin rover.

I joined the Arcetri Astrobiology laboratory this Fall as a researcher, expending my knowledge to new instrumentation and radiation sources. 

I recently joined INAF OAA where, for the next two years, I will be working on the development of the survey plan for the Wide Field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) project, a leading candidate for the post-ELT ESO flagship facility.

Beyond survey planning, my primary scientific interests lie in the fields of Galactic archaeology and dust evolution in galaxies. During my PhD studies at the University of Trieste and in my subsequent postdoctoral positions at Ghent University and the University of Bologna, I primarily focused on the development and analysis of chemical and dust evolution models. These models have been applied to a variety of contexts, ranging from high-redshift systems to the Milky Way and the solar vicinity.

In recognition of my research results, in 2025 I was awarded the 'Antonio Garbasso' prize for young talents in Physics by the Italian Physical Society.