Biography of Dr.Bruno Mezzetti
About 30 years of academic and research career have focused on different aspects of genetics, genetic improvement, biotechnology and cultivation systems in order to improve the sustainability and quality of fruit production, with particular attention to the possible benefits for the health of the consumer. These activities included the integration between laboratory studies for the application of new biotechnological techniques (cisgenesis and RNAi) and field studies, in different cultivation conditions, to determine the genetic and environmental factors that determine the sustainability and quality of the productions. Particular attention was paid to the compositional analysis of new products to better determine the components of safety and nutritional benefit for the consumer. He is the author of 200 publications in SCI journals (SCOPUS H-I: 42), of numerous book chapters, manuscripts, and non-indexed extension publications. Prof. Mezzetti has been evaluator of several research and development projects, reviewer for several SCI journals and editor in two SCI journals. He coordinated 6 European projects (COST, FP7 and Horizon2020) and numerous national projects including 4 Miur-PRIN, in addition to the research unit manager for another 7 European projects. From 2006 to 2017 he coordinated the eBiosafety master on plant biotechnologies, in collaboration with UNIDO and the University of Ghent (BE). In 2009-2015, he was director of the Agricultural Sciences department of the Polytechnic University of Marche. Since 2015 he has been Director of the Doctoral School in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences of the Polytechnic University of Marche. In the last three years (2019, 2020, 2021) from Web of Science-Clarivate he received the recognition of Highly Cited Researcher (among the 1% of the most cited researchers in the world for agricultural sciences). For these merits, in 2021 President Mattarella awarded him the honor of OFFICIAL of the Italian Republic.