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Astrobiology and Extreme Environments

Submitted by paola.didonato on

Research Areas & Expertise

NATURAL SCIENCES » Chemical sciencesNATURAL SCIENCES » Biological sciencesNATURAL SCIENCES » Earth and related environmental sciences

Principal Investigator

Faculty/school/department
Department of Science and Technology
Composition of Joint Unit of Research

Paola Di Donato, Elena Chianese, Mattia Esposito, Andrea Cattaneo

PI name
Paola Di Donato
Short description of research profile

Research topics:

  • study of bacteria and archaea resistance to space simulated conditions
  • study of microbial species from extreme environments
  • air and soil chemical analyses
Contact person
Paola Di Donato
Contact person e-mail
Partnerships and Cooperation
  • Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry of the National Research Council of Italy
  • University of Naples "Federico II"
  • Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste
  • Aerospace Microbiology Research Group of The DLR, Cologne, Germany
  • University of Venezia Cà Foscari, PhD in Polar Sciences

Semprucci, F.; Appolloni, L.; Grassi, E.; Donnarumma, L.; Cesaroni, L.; Tirimberio, G.; Chianese, E.; Di Donato, P.; Russo, G.F.; Balsamo, M.; et al. Antarctic Special Protected Area 161 as a Reference to Assess the Effects of Anthropogenic and Natural Impacts on Meiobenthic Assemblages. Diversity 202113, 626. https://doi.org/10.3390/d13120626

Mastascusa, V., Romano, I., Di Donato, P. et al. Extremophiles Survival to Simulated Space Conditions: An Astrobiology Model Study. Orig Life Evol Biosph 44, 231–237 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11084-014-9397-y

Romano, I., De Angelis, A., Poli, A. et al. Resistance and Raman spectroscopy analysis of Parageobacillus thermantarcticus spores after γ-ray exposure. Extremophiles 22, 931–941 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-018-1049-0

Di Donato, P., Romano, I., Mastascusa, V. et al. Survival and Adaptation of the Thermophilic Species Geobacillus thermantarcticus in Simulated Spatial Conditions. Orig Life Evol Biosph 48, 141–158 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11084-017-9540-7

Romano, I.; Camerlingo, C.; Vaccari, L.; Birarda, G.; Poli, A.; Fujimori, A.; Lepore, M.; Moeller, R.; Di Donato, P. Effects of Ionizing Radiation and Long-Term Storage on Hydrated vs. Dried Cell Samples of Extremophilic Microorganisms. Microorganisms 202210, 190. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10010190

Size of the team
from 4 to 7
number of researchers
2
number of PhD students
2
Size of the team