Role
Professor Emeritus of Plant Biology, University of Turin.
Bio
Paola Bonfante graduated in Biology from the University of Turin in 1970 and was awarded a fellowship at the Center for the Study of Soil Mycology (Centro di Studio sulla Mycologia del Soil - CNR) in Turin. From 1973 to 1985, she was a Researcher at the CNR; from 1985 to 2017, she was a Full Professor of Plant Biology at the University of Turin. She was Head of the Turin Section of the Institute for Plant Protection (CNR) (1995-2009), Director of the Department of Plant Biology (2006-2011), and Coordinator of the PhD program in Biology and Biotechnology until 2013.
Her research focuses on plant-microorganism interactions in mycorrhizal associations. Using cellular, genetic, and Next Generation Sequencing techniques, she has studied plants, fungi, and bacteria, sequencing genomes of mycorrhizal fungi and associated bacteria, also in relation to the plant microbiota in natural and agricultural ecosystems. She contributed to the discovery of bioactive molecules released by fungi in their interaction with plants, a process that has formed the basis of field trials. She discovered a group of endobacteria that live within symbiotic fungi.
Since 2017, she has been Professor Emerita and serves as a scientific reviewer for both journals and review panels. She is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, the Academy of Lincei, the Academy of Agriculture of France, the Academy of Turin, Bologna, and Florence (Georgofili), as well as the European Academy. She is the author of over 390 international scientific publications (Paola Bonfante Google Scholar). She has been a Highly Quoted Scientist (Clarivate) for years and is among the Top Italian Scientists.
She is actively involved in scientific dissemination. In 2019, she was named Commander for scientific merit by President Sergio Mattarella.