Curriculum Vitae Daniele Daffonchio

PROF. DANIELE DAFFONCHIOCURRICULUM VITAE

Dr. Daniele DaffonchioAssociate Professor of Microbial BiotechnologyDepartment of Food Science and Microbiology (DiSTAM),University of Milan,Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, ItalyTel. +39-0250319117; Fax +39-0250319238; E-mail: daniele.daffonchio@unimi.it; Web: http://users.unimi.it/DDLab/

EducationLaurea diploma (equiv. to M.Sc.) in Agricultural Sciences, University of Milan, July 1988Ph.D. in ‘Chemistry Biochemistry and Ecology of Pesticides’ University of Milan, June 1993

Professional ExperiencePost-Doctoral Fellow, DiSTAM, University of Milan, Nov 1992-Dec 1993.Post-Doctoral Scientist, Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, University of Gent, Belgium, Jan-July 1994.Post-Doctoral Fellow, DiSTAM, University of Milan, Aug 1994-June 1995.Lecturer (permanent position), DiSTAM, University of Milan, Jul 1995-Feb 2002.Adjunct Professor of Industrial Microbiology, University of Urbino, academic year 1998-1999.Associate Professor, DiSTAM, University of Milan, Mar 2002-present.

Scientific activitiesThe scientific and research activity covered several areas under the general field of microbial ecology and microbial biotechnology in complex environments. Major research lines were the following:1. Ecology and biotechnology of symbiosis in disease insect vectors for development of ‘Symbiotic Control’

approaches. Three models are under study: i) leafhopper vectors of phytoplasmas in grape; ii) Anopheles mosquitoes vectors of malaria. iii) Honeybees and the control of the American foulbrood disease

2. Biodiversity molecular markers and biotechnological properties of Bacillus thuringiensis and related bacteria. Two topics were under study: i) Biocontrol and plant growth promotion properties of Bacillus thuringiensis; ii) Development of molecular markers for the bioterrorist agent Bacillus anthracis.

3. Microbial biodiversity and system functioning in extreme environments. Four extreme environments are under study: i) the deep hypersaline anoxic lakes in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea; ii) the deglaciated moraines in the Svalbard, High Arctic; iii) the arid environments in the Sahara desert south Tunisia

4. Response of complex microbial communities to bioremediation treatments of contaminated matrices. Research work is ongoing on: i) reductive dehalogenation of PCB and chlorinated alkanes.

5. Anaerobic digestion of agro-industrial wastes for methane and hydrogen production.6. Genetically modified plants: effects on microbial diversity and horizontal gene transfer to bacteria.

Collaborators during the last two yearsAlberto Alma (Univ. Turin, Italy); Claudio Bandi (Univ. Milan, Italy); Luciano Sacchi (Univ. Pavia, Italy); Guido Favia (Univ. Camerino, Italy); Angray Kang (Univ Westminster, London, UK); Ingrid Faye (Univ. Stockholm, Sweden); Ameur Cherif (Univ. Tunis, Tunisia); Kostas Bourtzis (Univ. Ioannina, Greece); Einat Zchori-Fein (Israel); Thomas Miller (Univ. California, Riverside, USA); Jacques Mahillon (Univ. Lovain, Belgium); Philippe Normand (Univ. Lyon, France); Maher Gtari (Univ. Tunis, Tunisia); Kai-Uwe Hinrichs (Univ. Bremen, Germany); Costantino Vetriani (Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, USA); Mike Jetten (Univ. Nijmegen, The Netherlands); Kenneth N. Timmis (Helmholtz Center Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany); Willy Verstraete (Univ. Gent, Belgium); Massimo Marzorati (Univ. Gent, Belgium); Fabio Fava (Univ. Bologna, Italy).

Research Expeditions1. BioDesert I (2008): Expedition in the Sahara desert and Chott El Jerid (Tunisia). Microbiology of ants adapted to arid

and saline environments. Institute des Regions Arides, Medenine, Tunisia.2. Mesc I (2007): Oceanographic cruise, Sicily channel. Microbiology of mud volcanoes. R/V Universitatis.3. PrimCo III (2006): Expedition in the Midtre Lovenbréen glacier, Svalbard (Norway). Soil formation and primary

colonization of deglaciated moraines. Italian Research Council (CNR) base “Dirigibile Italia”.4. BioDeep I-III (2001, 2002, 2003): Three oceanographic cruises on the deep hypersaline anoxic basins (DHAB) of the

Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Microbiology of the DHAB. Research vessel (R/V) Urania.

Memberships and scientific reviewing activitiesMemberships: ASM, American Society of Microbiology; SIMGBM, Società Italiana di Microbiologia Generale e Biotecnologie Microbiche; Società Italiana di Microbiologia Agraria Alimentare Ambientale.

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Curriculum Vitae Daniele Daffonchio

Editorial Boards and scientific reviewing activities : Editorial Board Member of Annals of Microbiology (2006-present). Reviewer for scientific journals: Ann. Microbiol.; Appl. Environ. Microbiol.; Biotechnol. Bioeng.; BMC Microbiol; BMC Genomics; Curr. Microbiol.; Emerg. Infect. Dis.; Environ.; Microbiol.; Eur. J. Soil Biol.; FEMS Microbiol. Ecol.; FEMS Microbiol. Lett.; J. Appl. Microbiol.; J. Bacteriol; J. Dairy Res.; Lett. Appl. Microbiol.; Microbiology; Mol. Microbiol.; PLoS ONE; Res. Microbiol.Reviewing activity for scientific funding agencies: Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy (1 project); NSF, National Science Foundation, USA (2 projects); APVV, Slovak Research and Development Agency, Slovak Republic (1 project); FWF, Austrian Science Fund, Austria (1 project); ANR, French National Research Agency, France (1 project); CNRS, National Centre of Scientific Research, France (1 project).Evaluation of Research Teams : Participation as expert in a Visiting Committee of Research Units for AERES, the French Agency for the Evaluation of Research, Paris, France.

Project coordination and direction of research activitiesBesides several national projects, participated and/or coordinated the following scientific projects:− EU project BIODEEP ‘Biotechnologies from the Deep’ EVK3-2000-22057, (2001-2004), Coordinator C. Corselli,

Italy. Coordination of a Microbiology research teams.− EU project TRANSBAC ‘Gene Flow from Transgenic Plants: Evaluation and Biotechnology’, QLK3-

CT-2001-02242, (2002-2005), Coordinator T. Vogel, France. Coordination of the Italian research team.− INTAS project ‘An epidemiological study of outbreaks of Bacillus anthracis in Georgia’, INTAS-0725,

(2002-2005), Coordinator R. Sharp, UK. Coordination of the Italian research team.− GENOSCOPE project AP07/08-14 ‘Genome analysis of the species of the stone-dwelling Geodermatophilaceae’

(2007-2009). Coordinator of the project.− EU COST Action FA0701 ‘Arthropod symbiosis: from fundamental studies to pest and disease management’

(2008-2012). Coordinator of Working group 1 ‘Biodiversity of symbiotic bacteria’− REG. LOMBARDIA – Anochi. ‘Anoplophora chinensis: acquisizioni di biologia, fisiologia, diffusione e possibilità

di contenimento’. 2007-2009, 2 years. Coord. M. Colombo. Co-invest. D. Daffonchio.− REG. LOMBARDIA – AgrIdEn. ‘Produzione di bio-idrogeno da residui agro-zootecnici’. 2008-2009, 1.5 y. Tot.

budget 227,049 €. Coord. L. Bodria. Co-invest. D. Daffonchio.− ENI S.p.A. – Contratto N. 4800040841. ‘Caratterizzazione microbiologica e molecolare di siti contaminati da

idrocarburi clorurati’. 2008-2009, 1 year. Coordinator D. Daffonchio.− GENOSCOPE project AP07/08-14. ‘Genome analysis of the species of the stone-dwelling Geodermatophilaceae’.

2007-2009. The sequencing of two genomes for 180,000 reads was funded.− EU COST Action FA0701. ‘Arthropod symbiosis: from fundamental studies to pest and disease management’

2008-2012.− MINISTRY OF UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH – Prin. ‘The symbiotic control, a new strategy against insect

vectors of phytoplasmas harmful to grapevine’. 2008-2010, 2 years. Coordinator, A. Alma. Co-investigator D. Daffonchio.

Scientific publicationsThe PI is author of more that 70 paper in peer reviewed journals. Major publications include, among others: 3 papers in multidisciplinary journals, one each in Nature, Science and PNAS; 13 papers in Appl. Environ. Microbiol.; 2 papers in Environ. Microbiol. The PI has contributed scientific 5 chapters in 4 international scientific books. A list of the 10 major publications is reported in the 10-year-track record paragraph.

Top 10 publications, as senior authors1. Rizzi A., Pontiroli A., Brusetti L., Borin S., Sorlini C., Abruzzese A., Sacchi G.A., Vogel T.M., Simonet P.,

Bazzicalupo M., Nielsen K.M., Monier J.-M., Daffonchio D. 2008. Strategy for in situ detection of natural transformation-based horizontal gene transfer events. APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. 74:1250-1254. Corresponding Author. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 0

2. Favia G., Ricci I., Damiani C., Raddadi N., Crotti E., Marzorati M., Rizzi A., Urso R., Brusetti L., Borin S., Mora D., Scuppa P., Pasqualini L., Clementi E., Genchi M., Corona S., Negri I., Grandi G., Alma A., Kramer L., Esposito F., Bandi C., Sacchi L., Daffonchio D. 2007. Bacteria of the genus Asaia stably associate with Anopheles stephensi, an Asian malarial mosquito vector. PROC. NATL. ACAD. SCI. USA 104:9047-9051. Corresponding Author. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 4

3. Marzorati M., de Ferra F., Van Raemdonck H., Borin S., Allifranchini E., Carpani G., Serbolisca L., Verstraete W., Boon N., Daffonchio D. 2007. A novel reductive dehalogenase, identified in a contaminated groundwater enrichment culture and in Desulfitobacterium dichloroeliminans strain DCA1, is linked to dehalogenation of 1,2-dichloroethane. APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. 73:2990-2999. Corresponding Author. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 0

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Curriculum Vitae Daniele Daffonchio

4. Daffonchio D. , Borin S., Brusa T., Brusetti L., Van der Wielen P.W.J.J., Bolhuis H., Yakimov M.M., D’Auria G., Giuliano L., Marty D., Tamburini C., McGenity T.J., Hallsworth J.E, Sass A.M., Timmis K.N., Tselepides A., de Lange G.J., Huebner A., Thomson J., Varnavas S.P., Gasparoni F., Gerber H. W., Malinverno E., Corselli C., BioDeep Scientific Party. 2006. Stratified prokaryote network in the oxic-anoxic transition of a deep sea halocline. NATURE 440:203-207. Corresponding Author. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 11

5. Marzorati M., Alma A., Sacchi L., Pajoro M., Palermo S., Brusetti L., Raddadi N., Balloi A., Tedeschi R., Clementi E., Corona S., Quaglino F., Bianco P.A., Beninati T., Bandi C., Daffonchio D. 2006. A novel Bacteroidetes symbiont is localized in Scaphoideus titanus, the insect vector of Flavescence Dorée in Vitis vinifera. APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. 72:1467-1475. Corresponding Author. N° cit excl. self-citation: 2

6. Van der Wielen P.W.J.J., Bolhuis H., Borin S., Daffonchio D., Corselli C., Giuliano L., D’Auria G., de Lange G.J., Huebner A., Varnavas S.P., Thomson J., Tamburini C., Marty D., McGenity T.J., Timmis K.N., BioDeep Scientific Party. 2005. The enigma of prokaryotic life in deep hypersaline anoxic basins. SCIENCE 307:121-123. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 24

7. Cardinale M., Brusetti L., Quatrini P., Borin S., Puglia A.M., Rizzi A., Zanardini E., Sorlini C., Corselli C., Daffonchio D. 2004. Comparison of different primer sets for the automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) of complex bacterial communities. APPL, ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. 70:6147-6156. Corresponding Author. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 22

8. Cherif A., Borin S., Rizzi A., Ouzari H., Boudabous A., Daffonchio D. 2003. Bacillus anthracis diverges from related clades of the Bacillus cereus group in 16S-23S rDNA internal transcribed spacers containing tRNA genes. APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. 69:33-40. Corresponding Author. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 22

9. Daffonchio D. , Cherif. A., Borin S. 2000. Homoduplex and heteroduplex polymorphisms of the amplified ribosomal 16S-23S internal transcribed spacers describe genetic relationships in the “Bacillus cereus group”. APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. 66:5460-5468. Corresponding Author. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 42

10.Daffonchio D. , Borin S., Frova G., Gallo R., Gallo R., Mori E., Fani R., Sorlini C. 1999. A randomly amplified polymorphic DNA marker specific for the Bacillus cereus group is diagnostic for Bacillus anthracis. APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. 65:1298-1303. Corresponding Author. N° cit. excl. self-citation: 35

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