Full Professor, Coordinator of the unit


Massimo Maffei is Professor of Plant Physiology, Dept. Life Sciences, at the University of Turin, Italy. His research activity is focussed on plant interactions with the surrounding biotic and abiotic environment, with particular reference to signal transduction pathways, gene expression and metabolomics. He has been the Coordinator of the Ministerial Centre of Excellence for Biosensing, Head of Department of Plant Biology and Deputy Dean of Faculty of Sciences. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the international Journal of Plant Interactions (Taylor&Francis, London) and member of the advisory board of the Journal of Essential Oil Research. He is a reviewer for several international journals dealing with Plant Physiology, Phytochemistry, Natural Products Chemistry and Plant Biology.
Massimo E. Maffei on ResearchGate

Gianpiero Vigani, PhD - Full Professor


Prof Gianpiero Vigani is a associate professor of Plant Physiology at Department of Life Science and System Biology of University of Turin. He achieved the PhD in Agricultural Ecology (2008) at Università degli Studi di Milano. His research interests are mainly focused on the characterization of the plant's responses to abiotic stresses (nutrient deficiencies, water deficiency and salt stress). In particular, he studied the role of mitochondria in the modulation of Fe-deficiency induced metabolic responses in plants. He is also exploring the interaction among nutrients in plants and the impact of multiple nutrient stresses on plant growth and metabolism.  He is author and co-author of several scientific articles published in international journal and he regularly performed peer-reviewing activities of both scientific paper and international scientific projects. He is associate editor in Frontiers Journals (Plant Science and Frontiers for Young minds sections). He carried out several oral presentations (selected or Invited keynotes) at both national and international conferences.

Cinzia M. Bertea, PhD - Associate Professor


Cinzia M. Bertea is Associate Professor of Plant Physiology at the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Italy. Her scientific research is mainly focused on basic and applied research related to physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology of plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress and on molecular biology and biochemistry of secondary metabolites with particular regard to terpenoids and phenolic compounds in medicinal and food plants. Her current research lines include: i) search for new plant biostimulants, innovative products employed in agriculture for enhancing plant growth, development, tolerance to abiotic stress and crop yield; ii) isolation of natural herbicides and/or pesticides based on plant products or allelochemicals for a sustainable use in agriculture; iii) isolation, analysis and biological activity evaluation of primary and secondary metabolites from plants and other organisms to be employed in food and pharmaceutical industries; iv) DNA fingerprinting of medicinal and food plants. She is currently involved in several national and international projects. She is member of the tutor board of the Doctoral School of “Sciences and Innovative Technologies” Ph.D. Program in “Pharmaceutical and Biomolecular Sciences” and President of the Master Degree Program in “Food Sciences and Human Nutrition”.

Stefano D’Alessandro, PhD – Assistant Professor (RTDB)


Stefano D’Alessandro is Assistant Professor of Plant Physiology at the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology of the University of Turin, Italy. His scientific interests are focused on Hormones and Volatile Molecules signaling. More in general his scientific expertise include: Chloroplast signaling, Regulation of Photosynthesis, Photooxidative stress, Response to environmental stress, Phytohormones, Root development, CK2 and TOR phosphorylation.

Giuseppe Mannino, PhD - Assistant Professor (RTDB)


He got the master degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at the University of Palermo in 2015; he decided to continue his studies starting a PhD course in Pharmaceutical and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Torino. During his Masters Thesis, he experienced various techniques on cell coltures and he spent a year at the University of Granada where he refined his skills in analytical techniques. Main field of his research is currently chemical analyses and extraction techniques for quality control of food and dietary supplements, carried out with gas and liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. 

Van Cong Doan, PhD - Research Fellows (RTDA)


Since his early research, he is interested in the impact of global climate change on plant-insect-natural enemy interactions. He uses plant chemicals, plant traits, ecological phenomenon, and biological responses of the plant, insect, and natural enemies to unravel the mechanisms of climate change on the tri-trophic interactions. He also learns to master several techniques, including plant and insect behavioral and performance experiments, sugar and starch analyses, protein analyses, amino acid measurements, targeted and untargeted metabolomics (HPLC-qDA-MS and qTOF-MS), volatile analyses (GC-MS) and q-RT-PCRs. Currently, his research aims to invest how the impact of the Rare Earth Elements on the eCOsystem (RECO) by assessing the impact of the Rare Earth Element on multitrophic interactions among plants, herbivores (below and above ground herbivore), and their natural enemies (below and aboveground).

Simone Bossi, PhD - Technician


In 2000 he won a public competition for a permanent position in the Life Sciences and Systems Biology Department at the University of Turin and now he works as Manager Laboratory Technician in the GC-MS and HPLC chromatography laboratory at the ”Innovation Centre” in Turin, a branch of the same department. He is involved in educational activities regarding plant physiology, plant biochemistry and secondary plant metabolites classes. During his career he gained experiences in several techniques such as gas‐chromatography, mass spectrometry, high performance liquid chromatography, confocal laser scanning microscopy, membrane potential measurement techniques and black lipid membrane techniques.

Moez Maghrebi, PhD - Research fellow

Moez Maghrebi is a research fellow at the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Italy. Graduated from the University of Milan with a PhD degree in Plant Biology and Productivity of Cultivated Plants. His scientific research activity focused on the physiological and molecular characterization of plant responses to abiotic stresses (salt stress, sulfur deficiency, and heavy metal stress). His research experience included studying the nutritional and photosynthetic responses to salinity, the development of a specific plant molecular bioindicator of sulfur deficiency, analyzing root system architecture, studying the different mechanisms of Cadmium distribution, and the determination of the content in compounds with a nutritional interest.
Noemi Gatti - Research Fellow
Noemi got her Master Degree in Plant Biotechnology at University of Turin in 2021. Her scientific interests were concentrated on plant bioactive compounds and plant nutrition, with a master degree thesis concerning evaluation of biostimulants effects on nutraceutical properties of fruits cultivated under salt stress. She experienced various techniques of quantification of secondary metabolites, evaluation of antioxidant activity and GC-MS.  Actually, she is a Research Fellow at the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology. In particular, she focused her scientific research on the role of mineral nutrients in root-soil relationships in urban contexts.

Chiara Dellapiana - Research Fellow


Chiara got the Master Degree in Plant Biotechnology at University of Turin, Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Science (DISAFA), in April 2023, with a master thesis concerning the biostimulants effects on plant responses under hypoxia stress. During her thesis work she focused on spectrophotometric and molecular assays for biochemical and genetic hypoxia markers investigation and on capillary electrophoresis for leaf ions content quantification. Since November 2023, she has been a Research Fellow for the Department of Life Science and System Biology (DBIOS). In particular, she focused her activities and scientific work on unravel the mineral nutrients role in the mechanism of acclimatization to stress conditions, studying plant responses modulation through physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches.

Maurizio Carnà - Scholarship


Maurizio holds a master's degree in Plant Biotechnology at University of Turin in April 2023. His scientific research activities concern the study of plant bioactive compounds and plant molecular biology, but he also worked with fungi and insects. During his thesis work he focused on phytochemical profile, DNA fingerprinting, and evaluation of functional properties of plants by spectrophotometric measurements and gas and liquid chromatographic techniques combined with mass spectrometry. Since June 2023 he has been a Research Fellow for the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS) and his studies concern chemical and molecular analysis of plant origin matrices and plants treated with biostimulants.


Ambra got the bachelor degree in Biological Sciences in 2017 at the University of Milano-Bicocca and the master degree in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology in 2020 at the University of Milan with a master thesis concerning the study of the in vivo imaging calcium dynamics in plants. At the present time she is a PhD student in Pharmaceutical and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Turin focusing on the effects of the geomagnetic field on plants. In particular, the project aims to study the geomagnetic field effects at molecular and biochemical level, investigating different molecular pathways including ROS and calcium signaling.

Francesco Caldo - PhD student


Francesco obtained a master's degree in Environmental Biology in October 2022, sparking his interest in plant physiology. Thanks to a fellowship, he was able to delve deeper into this topic at the University of Turin. During this period, he acquired new techniques and learned how to use GC-MS and CE. Currently, he is a PhD student in Pharmaceutical and Biomolecular Science, exploring the effects of the interaction between plants and mVOCs and their impact on plant development.