Senior Scientist at CNR, Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari (ISPA), Lecce. Education: Degree in Biological Science (summa cum laude, University of Pisa, 1985). Since 1990 at CNR, mainly involved in research projects dealing with plant biology and biotechnology for the production of bioactive molecules of agro-industrial interest and investigation on related plant metabolism. 2008-2024: Professor in charge of Plant Biology (BIO/01) for the degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition at Università Campus Bio-Medico in Rome. 2008: CNR Short-term mobility program at Centre For Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP), University of York (UK); 2002, CNR-NATO Senior fellow at Institute for Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Germany; 1991, visiting research assistant in Plant Biotechnology at Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. 1988-90, AIRC fellow at University of Pisa. Membership of Italian Society of Plant Biology (SIBV), Italian Society of Agriculture Genetics (SIGA), International Association for Plant Biotechnology (IAPB).