Conferences

• Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2022, Houston (USA), March 2022. Oral presentation: “First-results from the Perseverance SHERLOC investigation: Aqueous alteration processes and implications for organic geochemistry in Jezero crater, Mars”, E. L. Scheller, J. Razzell Hollis, E. L. Cardarelli, A. Steele, L. W. Beegle, R. Bhartia, P. Conrad, K. Uckert, S. Sharma, B. L. Ehlmann, S. Asher, E. L. Berger, A. S. Burton, S. Bykov, T. Fornaro, A. C. Fox, M. Fries, L. C. Kah, T. Kizovski, F. M. McCubbin, K. Moore, R. Roppel, S. O. Shkolyar, S. Siljeström, A. J. Williams, B. Wogsland, R. C. Wiens, and the SHERLOC team.

• AGU Fall Meeting 2021, New Orleans (USA), Dec 2021. Oral presentation: “Influence of Sedimentology and Mineralogy on the Potential for Organics Detection in the Rock Record at Jezero Crater, Mars”, A. J. Williams, W. Abbey, T. Bosak, A. J. Brown, A. Burton, T. Fornaro, A. Fox, S. Gupta, K. P. Hand, J. Razzell Hollis, C. Lee, K. Reed Moore, S. Neveu, R. C. Wiens, P. A. Willis, M.-P. Zorzano, K. A. Farley.

• Invited keynote talk at the General Assembly of the European Astrobiology Institute, Oct 2021, entitled: “Searching for life on Mars by rover missions”.

• European Planetary Science Congress 2021, virtual event, Sep 2021. Oral presentation: “Search for molecular biosignatures on Mars: laboratory simulations of UV irradiation of molecule-mineral complexes”, T. Fornaro, G. Poggiali, M. A. Corazzi, C. Garcia, G. Dimitri, J. R. Brucato.

• European Conference on Laboratory Astrophysics (ECLA) 2021, Anacapri (Italy), Sep 2021. Oral presentation: “Supporting Detection of Molecular Biosignatures on Mars through Laboratory Analog Studies”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, G. Poggiali.

• EANA 2021, virtual event, Sep 2021. Oral presentation: “Challenges to detect organics on Mars”, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro, G. Poggiali.

• Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2021, virtual event, March 2021. Oral presentation: “Taste Mission to Deimos: Terrain Analyzer and Sample Tester Explorer with Smallsat and Miniaturized Lander”, M. Lavagna, J. Brucato, F. Fiore, M. Bechini, A. Capannolo, T. Fornaro, A. Meneghin, D. Paglialunga, R. Piazzolla, G. Poggiali, J. Prinetto, G. Zanotti.

• European Lunar Symposium 2020, virtual event, May 2020. Oral presentation: “Laboratory studies of water sublimation from lunar sample analogues to support the scientific activities of PROSPECT space mission”, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro, M. A. Corazzi, G. Poggiali, S. Pirrotta.

• AGU Fall Meeting 2020, virtual event, Dec 2020. Oral presentation: “Deep-UV Raman Spectroscopy for Planetary Science: Searching for Signs of Life on Mars”, J. R. Hollis, H. M. Sapers, D. Rheingold, S. Ireland, T. Fornaro, P. Martin, W. Rapin, J. Wade, Á. Vicente-Retortillo, R. Bhartia, W. Abbey, L. W. Beegle.

• AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting, virtual event, Oct 2020. Oral presentation: “Mid-infrared (5─ 25 μm) reflectance spectroscopy of carbonaceous meteorites and minerals at cryogenic temperatures in support of remote sensing data interpretation”, G. Poggiali, J. Brucato, E. Dotto, S. Ieva, M. A. Barucci, M. Pajola, T. Fornaro, M. A. Corazzi, A. Meneghin, D. Paglialunga.

• AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting, virtual event, Oct 2020. Oral presentation: “Temperature-Programmed Desorption of prebiotic molecules from micrometric grains in simulated space conditions”, M. A. Corazzi, J. Brucato, G. Poggiali, D. Fedele, T. Fornaro.

• Invited seminar for undergraduate students in Chemistry at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Pisa (Italy), May 28, 2020, entitled: “Astrobiology: from Earth to Space”.

• AGU Fall Meeting 2019, San Francisco , California (USA), Dec 2019. Poster: “In-Situ Alteration of Organic Biosignatures in Perchlorate-Spiked Martian Regolith Analog”, J. R. Hollis, T. Fornaro, W. Rapin, J. Wade, A. Steele, R. Bhartia, L. Beegle.

• The Ninth International Conference on Mars, Caltech, Pasadena, California (USA), July 2019. Poster: “Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Detection of Diagnostic Features of Molecular Bioindicators Adsorbed on Minerals Relevant to ExoMars’s MOMA Instrument”, M. Guzman, C. Szopa, C. Freissinet, A. Buch, T. Fornaro, F. Goesmann.

• Astrobiology Science Conference 2019 – Understanding and Enabling the Search for Life on Worlds Near and Far, Bellevue, Washington (USA), June 2019. Oral presentation: “Laboratory Analog Studies for Detection of Molecular Biomarkers on Mars”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, I. L. ten Kate, A. Steele and R. Hazen.

• EGU General Assembly 2019, Vienna (Austria), Apr 2019. Poster: “Preservation of Organics in Martian Clays”, A. Fairén, E. Mateo, C. Robas, V. Muñoz-Iglesias, D. Carrizo, M. Fernández-Sampedro, O. Prieto-Ballesteros, L. Gago-Duport, E. Losa-Adams, N. Lanza, P. Gasda, V. Fox, T. Fornaro, T. Bristow, J. Bishop, and C. Gil-Lozano.

• XV Congresso Nazionale di Scienze Planetarie, Firenze (Italy), Feb 2019. Oral presentation: “Laboratory study in support of OSIRIS-REx mission. Mineral and organics reflectance spectra in space simulated environment as hint for a deep investigation of Bennu surface”, G. Poggiali, J. R. Brucato, M. A. Corazzi, A. Meneghin, S. Ieva, E. Dotto, E. Mazzotta Epifani and T. Fornaro.

• AGU Fall Meeting 2018, Washington DC (USA), Dec 2018. Oral presentation: “Multi-Technique Analysis of “Synthetic” Extraterrestrial Analogs as Test-bed for Detection of Molecular Biomarkers in Planetary Contexts”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, I. L. ten Kate, S. Siljeström, A. Steele, G. D. Cody and R. M. Hazen. Poster: “Laboratory Reflectance Measurements of Hydrated, Anhydrous and Oxide Minerals at Cryogenic Temperatures in support of OSIRIS-REx Spectroscopic Data Analysis”, J. R. Brucato, G. Poggiali, S. Ieva, E. Dotto, D. Perna, T. Fornaro, E. Mazzotta Epifani, M. Pajola and M. A. Barucci.

• Invited seminar at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California (USA), December 3, 2018, entitled: “Inspecting the role of minerals in the origin and evolution of life and relevance for life detection investigations on Mars”.

• 6th Workshop of the Italian Astrobiology Society (SIAW), Napoli (Italy), Oct 2018. Oral presentation 1: “Preservation of molecular biomarkers on Mars and their detectability”, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro, I. L. ten Kate, S. Siljeström, A. Steele and R. M. Hazen. Oral presentation 2: “Ultraviolet photoprocessing of glycine and other amino acids adsorbed on various space relevant minerals”, G. Poggiali, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro and S. Potenti.

• EANA 2018, Berlin (Germany), Sep 2018. Oral presentation: “Laboratory simulations for supporting life detection on Mars: preservation of molecular biomarkers and their detectability with different techniques”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, I. L. ten Kate, S. Siljeström, A. Steele, G. D. Cody and R. M. Hazen.

• European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2018, Berlin (Germany), Sep 2018. Oral presentation: “Laboratory studies on thermal modification of mineral reflectance spectra in support of OSIRIS-Rex mission”, G. Poggiali, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro, M. A. Corazzi.

• XIII GeoRaman Conference, Catania (Italy), June 2018. Oral presentation: “Detection of biomarkers in mineral substrates using RLS automatic operation”, G. Lopez-Reyes, J. A. Manrique, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, F. Rull.

• 2nd International Mars Sample Return Conference, Berlin (Germany), Apr 2018. Oral presentation 1: “Preparation, characterization and UV irradiation of Mars soil analogues under Martian conditions to support detection of molecular biomarkers”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, I. L. ten Kate, S. Siljeström, A. Steele, G. D. Cody and R. M. Hazen. Oral presentation 2: “Spatial mapping of organic carbon in returned samples from Mars”, S. Siljeström, T. Fornaro, D. Greenwalt, A. Steele.

• EGU General Assembly 2018, Vienna (Austria), Apr 2018. PICO presentation: “Laboratory simulations of Martian conditions: hints for detection of molecular biomarkers on Mars”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, I. L. ten Kate, A. Steele, G. D. Cody and R. M. Hazen.

• Invited Geochemistry seminar at the Department of Geology of University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland (USA), March 28, 2018, entitled: “Inspecting the Role of Minerals in the Origin and Evolution of Life and Relevance for Life Detection Investigations on Mars”.

• XIV Congresso Nazionale di Scienze Planetarie, Bormio (Italy), Feb 2018. Oral presentation: “Laboratory reflectance measurements in support of OSIRIS-REx spectroscopic data analysis”, J. R. Brucato, G. Poggiali, E. Dotto, D. Perna, T. Fornaro, E. Mazzotta Epifani, S. Ieva.

• Gordon Research Seminar and Conference 2018 Origins of Life, Galveston (TX, USA), Jan 2018. Poster: “Study of interactions of molecular biomarkers with minerals under Martian-like conditions: hints for life detection on Mars”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, I. L. ten Kate, S. Siljeström, A. Steele, R. M. Hazen, G. D. Cody.

• OSIRIS-REx Science Team Meeting 2017, Tucson (Arizona, USA), Nov 2017. Poster: “Thermal modification of mineral spectra”, J. R. Brucato , G. Poggiali, T. Fornaro, E. Dotto, E. Mazzotta-Epifani.

• Invited seminar for the Planetary Environments Laboratory at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland (USA), October 24, 2017, entitled: “Study of interactions of molecular biomarkers with minerals under Martian-like conditions: hints for life detection on Mars”.

• European Planetary Science Congress 2017, Riga (Latvia), Sep 2017. Oral presentation: “Photodegradation of selected organics on Mars”, I. L. ten Kate, A. Boosman, T. Fornaro, H. E King, K. A. Kopacz, M. Wolthers.

• From Star and Planet Formation to Early Life Conference, Vilnius (Lithuania), Apr 2016. Oral presentation: “Inspecting the Role of Serpentinite-hosted Hydrothermal Minerals in Prebiotic Processes: Binding of Nucleic Acids Components to Brucite”, T. Fornaro, J.R. Brucato, C. Feuillie, D. A. Sverjensky, R. M. Hazen.

• 1st Italian Workshop on Astrochemistry – Prebiotic Chemistry in Space, Florence (Italy), Mar 2016. Oral presentation: “Inspecting the role of minerals in prebiotic processes and space-like conditions”, T. Fornaro, J.R. Brucato, C. Feuillie, D. A. Sverjensky, R. M. Hazen, M. Biczysko, V. Barone.

• Invited general seminar at the INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Florence (Italy), March 3, 2016, entitled: “Inspecting the role of minerals in prebiotic processes and space-like conditions”.

• XIII Congresso Nazionale di Scienze Planetarie, Bormio (Italy), Feb 2016. Oral presentation: “Inspecting the Role of Serpentinite-hosted Hydrothermal Minerals in Prebiotic Processes: Binding of Nucleic Acids Components to Brucite”, T. Fornaro, J.R. Brucato, C. Feuillie, D. A. Sverjensky, R. M. Hazen.

• Pacifichem 2015 ACS, Honolulu, Hawaii (USA), Dec 2015. Oral presentation: “Spectroscopic features of molecular aggregates from anharmonic computations”, M. Biczysko, T. Fornaro, J. Bloino.

• 15th European Astrobiology Conference 2015, Noordwijk (Netherlands), Oct 2015. Oral presentation: “Studies of nucleobases binding mechanisms to minerals, their stability and reactivity under prebiotic and space-like conditions”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, M. Biczysko, V. Barone.

• V Workshop of the Italian Astrobiology Society – Life in a Cosmic Context, Trieste (Italy), Sep 2015. Oral presentation: “Nucleic Acid Components adsorbed on mineral surfaces: A test bed for searching signs of life on Mars”, T. Fornaro, J.R. Brucato, M. Biczysko, V. Barone.

• Astrobiology Science Conference 2015 – Habitability, Habitable Worlds, and Life, Chicago, Illinois (USA), June 2015. Oral presentation: “Studies of nucleobases binding mechanisms to minerals, their stability and reactivity under prebiotic and space-like conditions”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, M. Biczysko, V. Barone, C. Feuillie, D. A. Sverjensky and R. M. Hazen.

• Invited seminar for the MOMA science team at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland (USA), March 3, 2015, entitled: “Infrared spectral investigations of nucleobases adsorbed on mineral surfaces under space-like conditions”.

• Winter Modeling 2014, Pisa (Italy), Dec 2014. Oral presentation: “The Anharmonic Infrared Spectrum of Uracil in the Solid State by Reduced Dimensionality/Hybrid VPT2 approach”, T. Fornaro, I. Carnimeo.

• 14th European Astrobiology Conference 2014, Edinburgh (UK), Oct 2014. Oral presentation: “Infrared spectral investigations of UV irradiated nucleobases adsorbed on mineral surfaces”, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro, M. Biczysko, V. Barone.

• European Planetary Science Conference 2014, Lisbon (Portugal), Sep 2014. Oral presentation: “Infrared spectral investigations of UV irradiated nucleobases adsorbed on mineral surfaces”, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro.

• 40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Moscow (Russia), Aug 2014. Oral presentation: “Infrared spectral investigations of UV irradiated nucleobases adsorbed on mineral surfaces”, J. R. Brucato, E. Pace, A. Pucci, S. Branciamore, M. Cestelli Guidi, T. Fornaro.

• Astrobiology Graduate Conference 2014, Troy, New York (USA), July 2014. Oral presentation: “Infrared spectral investigations of UV irradiated nucleobases adsorbed on mineral surfaces”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, M. Biczysko, V. Barone.

• NASA Astrobiology Research Focus Group Workshop 2014, Bolton’s Landing, New York (USA), July 2014. Project: Stability and reactivity of tholins under environmental conditions found on Titan’s atmosphere.

• Seminar at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington DC (USA), July 24, 2014, entitled: “Infrared spectral investigations of UV irradiated nucleobases adsorbed on mineral surfaces”.

• Origins 2014 International Conference (ISSOL), Nara (Japan), July 2014. Oral presentation: “Role of mineral surfaces on prebiotic evolution of organics in space”, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro, E. Pace, M. Cestelli Guidi, S. Branciamore, A. Pucci.

• International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy 2014, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (USA), June 2014. Oral presentation: “Anharmonic IR Spectra of Biomolecules: Nucleobases and their Oligomers”, V. Barone, M. Biczysko, J. Bloino, I. Carnimeo, T. Fornaro.

• Joint Meeting of the Nordic Network of Astrobiology and the centre of Geobiology - Biosignatures across space and time, Bergen (Norway), May 2014. Poster: “Infrared spectral investigations of UV irradiated nucleobases adsorbed on mineral surfaces”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, M. Biczysko, V. Barone.

• AstroBigné seminar at the INAF-Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, Florence (Italy), December 10, 2013, entitled: “Infrared spectral investigations of UV irradiated nucleobases adsorbed on mineral surfaces”.

• Avogadro Colloquia II edition, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Italy), Sep 2013. Oral presentation: “Computational spectroscopy studies of nucleobases and their complexes”, T. Fornaro, M. Biczysko, S. Monti, V. Barone.

• CODECS Summer School 2013 – Theoretical Spectroscopy, Geneva (Switzerland), Aug 2013. Poster: “Computational spectroscopy studies of nucleobases and their complexes”, T. Fornaro, M. Biczysko, S. Monti, V. Barone.

• EGU General Assembly 2013, Vienna (Austria), Apr 2013. Oral presentation: “Extraction Protocols for Life Marker Chip-Style instruments”, J. R. Brucato, T. Fornaro, A. Pucci, S. Branciamore.

• XI Congresso Nazionale di Scienze Planetarie, Bormio (Italy), Feb 2013. Oral presentation: “Adsorption of Nucleic Acid Bases on Magnesium Oxide: hints of Life Detection on Mars”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, S. Branciamore, A. Pucci.

• IV Workshop of the Italian Astrobiology Society - From Astrophysics to Astrochemistry towards Astrobiology, Perugia (Italy), Sep 2012. Oral presentation: “Adsorption of Nucleic Acid Bases on Magnesium Oxide: hints of Life Detection on Mars”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, S. Branciamore, A. Pucci.

• 39th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Mysore (India), July 2012. Oral presentation: “Biomarkers: how detect life on mineral matrix”, T. Fornaro, J. R. Brucato, A. Pucci, G. Baratta, S. Branciamore.

• Summer school “Evolution of the Biosphere: Origins of Life – Life in Space”, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls sur Mer (France), Aug-Sep 2011. Oral presentation: "Searching for Life in Europa", M. J. Collantes, K. Djaout, B. Doreste, T. Fornaro, J. Jagodnik and J. Marsian.