Dr. Domenico Franco

Domenico Franco obtained a Ph.D. in applied biology and experimental medicine from the University of Messina. Now, he is a researcher (SC05/I2 SSDBIO/19 (Microbiology)) at the University of Messina's Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences. He is the author of 47 publications, including articles in peer-reviewed international journals (https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=56179877500), and the coinventor of three patents. He is also a member of the University Research Center for the Study of Extreme Environments and Extremophiles, the Italian Society of Photobiology (SIFB), and the Italian Society of General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnologies (SIMGBM) FEMS Society. His primary research interests are as follows: (1) interaction of microorganisms with specific micro-environments; (2) nutritional stress of microorganisms for biotechnological applications; (3) the use of bacteriophages as simple models for the study and understanding of biological processes; (4) phage display coupled to conventional and unconventional methods for the typing of pathogenic bacteria; and (5) conformational mimotopes for detecting specific antibodies (Alzheimer's disease). In the field of technology transfer, his research activity aims at the development of new antimicrobial, antiadhesive, and antibiofilm systems based on antibacterial agents as alternatives to common antibiotics and selective targeting of pathogens and neoplastic cells.