Prof. Andrea Franzetti obtained his Degree as an Environmental Scientist from the Faculty of Science, Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Milano Bicocca, Italy in 2000. He continued his Doctoral studies at the University of Milano Bicocca on microbiology applied to environmental remediation. He defended his Ph.D. thesis in 2007 entitled “Surface-active compounds produced by Gordonia spp. and their environmental applications”. During the Ph.D. period, he was visiting student at the School of Biomedical Sciences at Ulster University for one year working on the biogeography of thermophilic bacteria. After his doctoral studies, he was a research fellow and assistant professor at the University of Milano Bicocca from 2008 to 2017. In 2012-2013 was visiting scientist at the Sodertorn University (Stockholm, Sweden). In 2017 he was appointed as associate professor of Microbiology at the University of Milano Bicocca. Since 2019 he is co-founder and R&D manager of the spin-off company “Monitoring and Management of Microbial Resources” (M3R, Milano Italy), a consulting and service provider company in the field of biotechnologies for the remediation of contaminated sites. His main field of scientific interest is the development of biomolecular tools for monitoring microbial communities in the environment, the development of bioremediation technology, and microbial adaptation to contaminated and extreme environments. In the last five years, he was the principal investigator of many research projects funded by public and private entities and of research contracts from a private company.
Past Important Activities / Projects
▪ Project: “Circular economy of the olive and wine production chains. Enhancement of by-products and waste through innovative processes and new business models” Role: PI, Funder: CARIPLO Foundation from 01-07-2019 – now (30 months, 80.000 €);
▪ Project: “BioelEctrochemical Cube”, Role: co-PI, Funder: U4i Foundation from 01-03-2020 to now (12 months, 60,000 €);
▪ “Microbial fuel cells as biosensors for real-time monitoring of toxic and carcinogenic substances”, Role: Head of research units, Funder: INAIL from 1-11-2016 to 30-10-2018 (24 months, 142,000 €);
▪ Progetto: “Phyllobioremediation: use of plant-bacteria interactions as an Innovative Tool for the biological treatment of volatile pollutants for safety in production plants (SYNERGIA)", Funder: INAIL Role: PI, (12 months, € 211,500) from 30-11-2015 to 31-12-2016;
▪ Project: “BEvERAGE - BioElEctrochemical RemediAtion of Groundwater plumEs”; Role: Head of research Units, Funder: CARIPLO FOUNDATION (24 months, € 71,029) from 01-05-2016 to 30-04-2018
▪ Research contract: ENI Rewind 2021 - "Microbiological and bio-molecular studies and tests" -Framework contract (36 months, € 249,000 + VAT)
▪ Research contract: INSTM-ENI 2021 - "Benchmark and study for the identification of products for bioremediation and evaluation for "in house" production - 5 months (€ 23,000 + VAT)
▪ Research contract: INSTM 2017 - ENI - Study of the potential of aerobic biodegradation in sites contaminated by short-chain chlorinated solvents (24 months, € 90,000 + VAT)
▪ Research contract: ENI 2016 (Subcontract with POLITECNICO DI MILANO) - Scientific coordinator: MIAMI - Integrated methods of microbiological and isotope analysis (30 months, € 75,000 + VAT)
Prof. Franzetti has co-authored 107 referred Journal publications, with more than 3200 citations; H- index: 31. He has been an invited speaker and presented his research work to various International Conferences in Europe and overseas.