Research
The main research activities deal with viral infectious diseases of domestic animals, with particular regards to pets and ruminants. The viruses object of the main research are the viruses of carnivore (parvoviruses, coronaviruses, herpesvirus) and of ruminants (pestiviruses, herpesvirus, rotaviruses, respiratory pathogens). The development of innovative diagnostic techniques, of vaccines and of inactivating agents are the main objectives of the research activity.
Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is one of the most important health problems in the beef industry. Cattle are most likely to be affected after entrance into feedlot because they are exposed to a wide range of pathogens, due to commingling, concurrent with various stressors such as transportation, that can suppress their immune system. Important pathogenic bacteria associated with BRD are Pasteurella multocida, Mannheimia haemolytica, Micoplasma bovis that can reside in the upper respiratory tract of healthy cattle as commensals. But under specific conditions such as stress, and/or viral infections (IBR, BRSV, BPI3, BVDV, and so on) they can proliferate. In view of the important role of the nasopharyngeal population in respiratory health, recent studies have demonstrated that the normal microbial community was affected during stress period and an association between transport and health status of beef calves was observed.
SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis with molecular test on pooled nasal samples was the object of preliminary studies carried out on an animal model (BCoV in cattle) and then applied on samples collected from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.
Collaborations with scientific journals
-Component of the Editorial Board del “The Scientific World Journal”, section Microbiology.
-Component of the Editorial Board of the “The Open Veterinary Science Journal”, Bentham OPEN.
-Component of the Editorial Board of the scientific journal “ISRN Veterinary Science" the International Scholarly Research Network (ISRN) series of journals, Hindawi Publishing Corporation.
Collaborations with research institutions
-Reviewer for the Technology Foundation STW, Dutch funding agency for university research.
-Component of the list of Reviewers and Rapporteur of the MIUR, Italy.
-Component of the list of the Official Referees for VQR 2011-2014 named by ANVUR.
-Reviewers and Rapporteur for the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research and its Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) for the 3rd National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation for the period 2015-2020 (PNCDI III), the main instrument for the implementation of the National Research, Development and Innovation Strategy 2014-2020.