Prof. Gabriele Andrea Lugli

Qualifications:
• 2010: Bachelor’s degree in biotechnology achieved on 14 July 2010 at the University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
• 2013: Master’s degree in Industrial Biotechnology achieved on 18 April 2013 at the University of Parma, Parma, Italy. Final results: 110/110 with laude.
• 2014-2017: Ph.D. XXIX cycle in Biotechnology achieved on 10 March 2017 at the University of Parma, with the thesis: “A glimpse on the genomic evolution of bifidobacteria”.
• 2017-2023: Research Fellow (art. 22 legge n 240 del 2010) at the Probiogenomics Lab, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
• 2021: Obtains national scientific qualification as Associate Professor for the SSD BIO/19 Microbiology (BIOS15/A).
• 2023-2026: Assistant Professor (art. 24 legge n 240 del 2010) at the Probiogenomics Lab, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.

Academic career:
• 2026 to date: Associate Professor at the Probiogenomics Lab, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
• 2025 to date: Member of the Teaching Committee of the second cycle degree course in Genomic, molecular and industrial biotechnologies at the University of Parma.
• 2024 to date: Member of the doctoral school in “Microbiota and Health” of the University of Parma.
• 2023 to date: Member of the Interdepartmental Research Center “Microbiome Research Hub, MRH” of the University of Parma.
• 2023 to date: Career guidance delegate of the degree course in Biotechnology at the University of Parma.

Didactic activities (active):
• 2024 to date: Lecturer in the Ph.D. course in Microbiota and Health, University of Parma, of the course “Metagenomic analyses applied to the study of the microbiota” (1 CFU) XL-XLI-XLII doctoral cycle.
• 2023 to date: Professor of the course “Genomics of Microbial Ecosystems” (6 CFU) at the Probiogenomics Lab, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
• 2023 to date: Professor of the course “Microbiology Applied to Materials Science” (6 CFU) at the Probiogenomics Lab, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
• 2023 to date: Professor of the course “Methods of analysis of the intestinal microbiota (c.u. Applied Microbiology and Probiogenomics)” (3 CFU) at the Probiogenomics Lab, Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.

Affiliation to scientific societies:
• From 2013 Member of Società Italiana di Microbiologia Generale e Biotecnologie Microbiche (SIMGBM).

Scientific activity:
Dr. Lugli’s research focuses on using omics techniques, mainly genomics, metagenomics, and transcriptomics, to study the intestinal microbiota in health and disease conditions of humans, farm animals, and other mammals. Furthermore, the research activity includes the study of the biology of bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria. During his scientific career, Dr. Lugli developed new metagenomic tools, now exploited by various research groups, for the species-level profiling of bacterial communities and the functional characterization of microbial communities. These studies, which often have involved international collaborations with some of the most prestigious research groups active in the field of bacterial genomics, concerning:
• Comparative and functional genomics applied to probiotic bacteria (probiogenomics).
• Evolution of bifidobacteria.
• Characterization of the biodiversity of microbial communities (microbiota) in complex host-related ecosystems (such as humans, farm animals, and other mammals).
• Bacteriophage typing and their interaction with bacterial cells.
• Development of metagenomic tools for the profiling of bacterial communities.

Participation in scientific editorial and review activities:
Member of the Editorial Board of the following scientific journals:
• Microbiome Research Reports (Senior Editor).
• BMC Microbiology (Editorial Board Member).
• Microorganisms (Section Board Member).
• Frontiers in Microbiology (Review Editor).

Coordination of Special Issues in scientific journals:
• 2022-2024: 8 articles in Microbiome Research Reports. Research topic: “Bioinformatics Applied to Microbiota-based Science”.
• 2020-2021: 12 articles in Frontiers in Microbiology. Research topic: “Role of Bifidobacteria in Human and Animal Health and Biotechnological Applications”.

Involvement in Project Evaluations:
• 2025: Project reviewer of “SONATINA-9 call for research projects” of the National Science Centre (Poland).
• 2022-2025: Member of the Expert Panel of the evaluation commission of the Estonian Research Council (ETAg) (Estonia).
• 2021: Project reviewer of “research funding application” submitted to the Estonian Research Council (ETAg) application 2021 (Estonia).
• 2020: Project reviewer of “OPUS 18 call for research projects” of the National Science Centre (Poland).

Ad hoc reviewer of various scientific journals, such as Nature Communications, Microbiome, Genome Biology, Environmental Microbiology, Applied Environmental Microbiology, Frontiers in Microbiology, FEMS microbiology ecology, Bioinformatics, BMC Genomics, Scientific Reports, Microbial Biotechnology, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Viruses, Microbial Genomics, BMC Microbiology, Future Microbiology, Molecular Genomics, Molecular Biology Reports, Microbiological Research, International Journal Systematic Evolutionary Microbiology.

Congresses and workshops:
2026: member of the local organizer committee and chair of the “2nd International Symposium on Bifidobacterial Biology ISBB” conference. Parma, Italy. September 17-19, 2026.
2025: Organizer and chair of the special session “Computational Methods for Microbiological Research” at the conference CIBB2025 (Computational Intelligence methods for Bioinformatics and Biostatistics). Milano, Italy. September 10-12, 2025.

Reports and seminars at national and international congresses:
• 35th Meeting of SIMGBM (Italian Society of General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology). Roma, Italy. September 17-20, 2025. Invited speaker. “Bifidobacteria as a model microbial group of the human gut microbiome”.
• 52nd Meeting of SIMFAR (Società Italiana di Medicina Fisica e Riabilitativa). Padova, Italy. October 6-9, 2024. Talk. “Il microbiota intestinale dell’uomo come regolatore della salute”.
• 34th Meeting of SIMGBM (Italian Society of General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology). Cagliari, Italy. September 21-24, 2023. Short Talk. “The infant gut microbiota atlas: detailed insights from composition to functional microbe-based biodiversity”.
• Parma Microbiota Day First edition. Parma, Italy. April 27, 2023. Short Talk. “Microbiota delle acque potabili di Parma”.
• 14th International Symposium on the Genetics of Industrial Microorganisms (GIM). Pisa, Italy. September 8-11, 2019. Short Talk. “Beyond the tip of the iceberg: illuminating bacterial dark matter through a combination of metagenomics and culturomic approaches”.
• 33rd Meeting of SIMGBM (Italian Society of General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology). Florence, Italy. June 19-22, 2019. Short Talk. “Beyond the tip of the iceberg: illuminating bacterial dark matter through a combination of metagenomics and culturomic approaches”.
• SIMGBM National Meeting “Cortona prokaryotes” 2018, Cortona, Italy, 17-19 May 2018. Short Talk. “Compositional assessment of bacterial communities in probiotic supplements by means of metagenomic techniques”.
• Illumina User Group Meeting, Malaga, Spain, 2-3 March 2017. Invited Speaker. “Illumina sequencing technology: a glimpse on the genomic evolution of human gut commensals”.
• SIMGBM National Meeting “Cortona prokaryotes” 2016, Cortona, Italy, 12-14 May 2016. Short Talk. “Prophages of the genus Bifidobacterium as modulating agents of the infant gut microbiota”

Post-graduate courses and workshops:
• 2024 to date: Lecturer within the PhD Course in Microbiota and Health, University of Parma, for the course “Metagenomic analyses applied to the study of the microbiota”, PhD cycles XL–XLI–XLII.
• 2020–2021: Lecturer within the PhD Course in Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Pavia, teaching “Viromes and microbiomes” as part of the advanced course “Host–virus interactions: from pathogenicity mechanisms to therapeutic opportunities and biotech applications.”
• 2020–2023: Lecturer within the PhD Course in Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Parma, for the course “Next Generation Sequencing Technologies and in silico analyses applied to prokaryotic genomes”, PhD cycles XXXVI–XXXVII–XXXVIII.