Professional Experiences, Grants & Trainings

Nov 2020-present: NASA Mars 2020 Participating Scientist, involved in development of tools to assist the analysis of data collected by the SuperCam and SHERLOC instruments on board the Perseverance rover for detecting vibrational features of molecular biosignatures and high preservation potential minerals.

Apr 2020: Visiting Investigator at the Carnegie Institution of Washington - Geophysical Laboratory, Washington DC (USA).

Nov 2019: Collaborator of the ESA lunar mission PROSPECT, involved in studies of water sublimation from lunar samples.

Nov 2019: Review Editor in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences – Astrobiology and member of the Reviewer Board of Life.

Aug 2019: NASA Mars 2020/ESA ExoMars field trip in Pilbara (Australia) to study terrestrial morphological biosignatures, specifically a range of stromatolites in rocks 3.48-2.72 billion years old, along with stratigraphic and contextual features, a diversity of inhabited environments, alteration mineralogy associated with hydrothermal activity, and sites with meteorite impact deposits. Measurements of sections across a single outcrop containing signs of life, and realization of extended 2-D maps.

2018-2019: Collaborator with the science team of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on board the Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) Curiosity rover,

Sept 2017-Sept 2019: Postdoctoral Research Fellow and manager of the Mineral Organic Interaction Lab at Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC (USA). Project: Study of interactions of biomarkers with minerals under Martian-like conditions: hints for life detection on Mars. Mentors: Prof. Robert Hazen, Prof. Andrew Steele, Prof. George Cody.

Mar-Apr 2017: COST Action TD1308-Origins grant for Short Term Scientific Mission at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). Project: UV irradiation of biomarkers adsorbed on minerals under simulated Martian conditions. Supervisors: Prof. Inge Loes ten Kate, Prof. John Robert Brucato.

Feb 2017: Traineeship at the SMIS beamline of SOLEIL synchrotron (France), about micro-infrared imaging of biomarkers adsorbed on minerals. Mentor: Rosario Brunetto.

2016-2017: Postdoctoral Fellowship at INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Florence (Italy), under grant agreement n. ASI/INAF n. 2013-046-R.O. category A/Post-Doc - Ob.Fu. : 1.05.04.99.01 ASI – OSIRIS-REX. Project: Properties of surface materials of primitive carbon-rich asteroids to support OSIRIS-REX mission. Supervisor: Prof. John Robert Brucato.

Since 2015: Co-Investigator of Mars Organics Molecule Analyser (MOMA) instrument on board the ESA ExoMars 2022 space mission.

Feb-Jun 2015: Predoctoral Associate at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC (USA), under J-1 Short-term Scholar category grant. Project: Studies of molecular binding mechanisms, stability and reactivity of nucleobases, nucleosides and nucleotides on serpentinite-hosted hydrothermal minerals like brucite. Supervisors: Prof. Robert M. Hazen, Prof. Dimitri Sverjensky.

2014-2017: Student Councillor of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life and Astrobiology Society (ISSOL).

July 2014: NASA Astrobiology Institute travel grant for NASA proposal writing training - Astrobiology Research Focus Group Workshop 2014, Bolton’s Landing, New York (USA). Development of a proposal entitled "Stability and reactivity of tholins under environmental conditions found on Titan’s atmosphere".

Aug 2013: CODECS Summer School 2013 - Theoretical Spectroscopy, Geneva (Switzerland).

2012-2016: Ph.D. scholarship in the Dedicated Research Environment for Advanced Modeling and Simulations (DREAMS) research group at Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa (Italy). Project: Spectroscopic Studies of Molecular Systems relevant in Astrobiology. Advisors: Prof. Vincenzo Barone, Prof. Malgorzata Biczysko.

2012: ESA/NASA Planetary Protection Course at ESA CENTRE Research Complex at Harwell Oxford (UK).

2012: Postgraduate Scholarship at INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Florence (Italy), under the Italian Space Agency (ASI) - MarcoPolo Cross Scale grant. Project: Studies of organic compounds and minerals from sample return space missions. Supervisor: Prof. John Robert Brucato.

Aug 2011: Summer school “Evolution of the Biosphere: Origins of Life – Life in Space”, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls sur Mer (France). Development of an international student group project, entitled "Searching for Life in Europa".

2011: Traineeship at Dafne Luce Laboratory of the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF – INFN), Rome (Italy), about UV irradiation and Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) analysis of biomolecules adsorbed on minerals. Mentor: Mariangela Cestelli-Guidi.

2011-2012: Undergraduate internship at INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Florence (Italy), about the study of the adsorption properties of biomarkers on Mars soil analogs, and the development of extraction protocols for the Life Marker Chip (LMC) experiment of the ESA ExoMars space mission. Supervisor: Prof. John Robert Brucato.