Ph. D. Student
Department of Ecosustainable Marine Biotechnologies (BLUEBIO)
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
80121 Napoli - Italia
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Director of Studies: Gerardo della Sala (SZN)
Internal Supervisor: Donatella de Pascale (SZN)
External Supervisor: Prof. Jose Jimenez (Imperial College London)
Program: Open University, XXVII cycle
Research Interests
My primary research interests focus on the discovery, structural elucidation, and sustainable production of novel antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from extremophilic marine bacteria, to counteract the global emergency of antibiotic resistance. My research activity employs a highly multidisciplinary approach, integrating (meta)genomics, metabolomics, and genetic engineering to harness AMPs assembled through the ribosomal route (RiPPs, ribosomally-synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides) and the nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) pathway.
My mining bacterial genomes in silico to decipher AMPs biosynthetic genes and in vitro biological screening, the investigation aspires to identify lead compounds from a collection of marine bacterial isolates from extreme environments (cold and tropical regions, deep sea, highly polluted areas).
In parallel, my project aims to explore uncultured microorganisms, which represent a precious source of cryptic biochemical pathways for unprecedented molecules. Bioinformatic analysis of metagenomic data from marine samples may give access to these biosynthetic tools to create heterologous expression systems for AMPs in culturable hosts, such as E. coli and P. putida.
The idea behind this research is the production of AMPs active against multidrug resistant pathogens by a sustainable and eco-friendly fermentation process in native or heterologous hosts as well as the characterization of their antimicrobial effects.
Publications
Palma Esposito, F.; López-Mobilia, A.; Tangherlini, M.; Casella, V.; Coppola, A.; Varola, G.; Vitale, L.; Della Sala, G.; Tedesco, P.; Montano, S.; et al. (2025). Novel Insights and Genomic Characterization of Coral-Associated Microorganisms from Maldives Displaying Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, and UV-Protectant Activities. Biology, 14, 401, doi.10.3390/biology14040401
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Vitale, L.; Tedesco, P.; Galasso, C.; Vitale, G.A.; Varola, G.; Della Sala, G.; Palma Esposito, F.; Balzano, S.; Ghani, J.; De Pascale, D.; et al. (2025). Biotechnological Valorisation of Spent Automotive Catalytic Converters: Marine Microorganisms in PGE Leaching and Recovery. J. Environ. Chem. Eng., 13, 118729, doi:10.1016/j.jece.2025.118729.
