Dr. Maria Antonietta Ciardiello

Dr. Maria Antonietta Ciardiello is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, (IBBR), CNR, Naples, Italy. She received a degree in Biological Sciences from the University “Federico II” of Naples in 1985. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemical Sciences from the Universities of Naples and Bari in 1991. She has been working as a researcher at CNR since 1992. In 1997, she had an EMBO grant and a fellowship in the framework of the CNR Programme “Short-term Mobility”, both to visit the Laboratoire de Biochimie, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. Her research interests include the study of the structural and functional properties of food and environmental proteins and peptides, their physiological role and their impact on human health. Her preferred topics involve proteins purified from their natural source by classical biochemical methods and identified by direct amino acid sequencing. More recently, she has focused her attention on the features of allergenic proteins, especially those derived from plant-based foods. Her research group identified, characterized and obtained the registration of several allergens by the WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Sub-committee. She participated in the implementation of a new allergy diagnostic test, namely the FABER® test, responsible for the allergen quality included in the biochip. Her interests in protein biochemistry have since expanded to additional biological properties beyond allergenicity.