Say hi to our team

Graziano Pesole is full professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Bari "A. Moro", Director of the "Consorzio Interuniversitario Biotecnologie (Trieste), Director of the Italian Node of ELIXIR, the European Research Infrastructure for Life Sciences. Graziano Pesole, author of over 400 publications (Scopus h-index:70), was among the pioneers in Italy in the development of Bioinformatics, Comparative Genomics and Molecular Evolution. His current research interests are focused on the development and application of bioinformatics approaches for the management and analysis of massive sequencing data, even at single-cell resolution.

Francesca De Leo is Technology Director at CNR and Deputy Head of the ELIXIR‑IT Node, based at the Institute of Biomembrane, Bioenergetics and Molecular Biotechnologies. She coordinates the ELIXIRxNextGenIT project funded by MUR and leads the Industry & Impact and Communication Offices within ELIXIR-IT. She holds a degree in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with expertise in innovation, technology transfer, and research infrastructure management.

Rita Casadio obtained her degree in Physics and, in 1987, became Assistant Professor of Biophysics at the University of Bologna (Italy), where she served as Full Professor of Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, and Biophysics from October 2000 to October 2019. She is currently Alma Mater Professor and, since 2025, Associate Senior Researcher at IBIOM-CNR in Bari. Her research focuses on the development of computational methods for problem solving, including shallow and deep neural networks, embedding approaches, and protein language models. She is the author of approximately 370 scientific publications. IDs: ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7462-7039; Scopus Author ID: 7004943169; ResearcherID: K-4814-2015

Alessandro is the Infrastructure Manager and Node Coordinator of ELIXIR-IT. He holds a PhD in Computational Biology (2005) from the University of Padua, where he focused on genome sequencing and annotation of the deep-sea bacterium Photobacterium profundum. Over the years, he has specialised in genome data analysis and management, contributing to major projects such as the gene prediction and functional annotation of the Pinot Noir, Golden Delicious, strawberry, pear, and citrus genomes. His research interests include genomics, transcriptomics, and biological data management.

Nadina is Technologist at CNR IBIOM Bari and Elsi Officer of Elixir-IT. She Holds a degree in Law, a Master’s degree in EU and Transnational Law (University of Trento), and advanced training in Data Protection and Data Governance, as well as in Coding for Lawyers and Legal Tech (University of Milan). PhD in International and European Union Law from the University of Bari “A. Moro”. Lawyer and certified mediator. Member of the Italian Society of International Law (SIDI). Since 2005, has collaborated on major national and international research projects in the fields of cybercrime, cybersecurity, data protection, IT law, and cloud computing. Lecturer in International Law and Cybersecurity Law in the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Linguistic Mediation Sciences.

Chiara Bruno is part of the ELIXIR Italy Communication, Impact, and Industry & Innovation teams. She graduated in Biomedical Sciences from Royal Holloway, University of London, and later specialized in Science Communication with a Master’s degree. With experience in managing social media, creating digital content, and coordinating outreach activities, she combines scientific knowledge with strategic communication skills.

Daniela is a Senior Researcher at IBSBC-CNR, where she leads the ISBE Metabolomics Infrastructure within the ELIXIR network. Her work bridges multi-omics innovation with translational science, uncovering how environmental and dietary exposures rewire metabolism and shape cancer risk. She applies a One Health perspective to connect biology, environment, lifestyle and prevention in an integrated vision of sustainable health.

Full Professor of Industrial Microbiology and Chemistry of Fermentation. The main scientific activity aims to the understanding of the basic knowledge required to project industrial processes involving microorganisms. These studies include the genetic improvement of microbial strains of industrial interest, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, control and validation of fermentation processes in use in the pharmaceutical, food and environmental industry. The research group has developed, patented and licensed the technology for production and secretion of heterologous proteins, lactic acid, ascorbic acid, PLA and for the selection of mutant strains over producing organic acids.

Dr. Flaviana Marzano is a Researcher at the Institute of Biomembranes, Bioenergetics and Molecular Biotechnologies of the National Research Council (IBIOM-CNR). Her scientific work focuses on molecular and cellular biology, with particular emphasis on the regulation of gene expression under physiological and pathological conditions. Over the years, she has developed extensive expertise in Genomics and Transcriptomics, contributing to the development and implementation of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) protocols. She has taken part in numerous national and international research projects and is co-author of publications in indexed, peer-reviewed journals, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.

Master degree in Computer Science. Bioinformatician from 2001 in CNR-ITB, Bari. Expertise in Research Data Management; design and development of biological database and data integration tools; application of FAIR principles for data and metadata standardization. Expert in DataCenter management for the storage and processing of Life Science-oriented data. Competences in development of pipelines for the analysis of omics data. In ELIXIR-IT RDM Community co-leader and Interoperbility plaform deputy in ELIXIR-IT.

Currently Researcher at CNR-IBIOM. He obtained a PhD in Physics at the University of Bari (Bari, Italy) in 2015, working within the ALICE experiment at the LHC (CERN, Geneva) for 4 years. Since 2015 he has been involved in the ELIXIR-IT community, developing Cloud services for bioinformatics and integrating new tools within the Galaxy workflow manager. In particular, he leads the development of the Laniakea platform, which allows the creation of on-demand Galaxy instances on the Cloud, and the UseGalaxy.it national Galaxy server. He is involved in several European Horizon projects ELIXIR-STEERS, GDI and GoE, and led the WP3 of the EuroScienceGateway project (2022-2025).

Marinella Marzano, phD, is a biologist specialized in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics, with extensive experience in genomic analyses, particularly metagenomics, and molecular biodiversity. She is a researcher at the Institute of Biomembranes, Bioenergetics and Molecular Biotechnologies (IBIOM) of the National Research Council (CNR) in Bari, where she focuses on the development, optimization, and application of genomic methodologies based on Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies, as well as on the bioinformatic analysis of biological sequences. Her research interests include the taxonomic and functional characterization of microorganisms from environmental and clinical samples, with the aim of exploring the impact of the microbiome on living systems. She is the author of publications in international peer-reviewed journals and actively contributes to numerous regional, national, and international research projects, taking on various responsibilities and maintaining a strong focus on innovation and applied research. In addition to her research activities, she is involved in the design and implementation of Quality Management Systems (QMS) inspired by Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and participates in the development of innovative biotechnology projects, fostering collaboration between research and industry.