Ascolese Roberta

Master’s degree in Agro-Environmental and Food Biotechnology at the Department of Agricultural Sciences of Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, with the experimental thesis in Agricultural Chemistry entitled “Biomonitoring of air quality by using moss-bags” (use of moss transplants to evaluate heavy metals concentration in the form of particulate matter in polluted sites under phytoremediation).

During my work experience, I improved my analytical skills including the preparation of cell cultures, extraction and purification of proteins, extraction of nucleic acids, PCRs, SDS-PAGE and agarose gel electrophoresis, and statistical analyses of data.

Since 2019, I’m working at the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection in collaboration with the Phytosanitary Service of the Campania Region for the planning of preventive pest monitoring as part of the team of the URCoFi project, focusing on insect species of agricultural and forestry interest. My activities in field involve the installation of specific traps and direct observations of damages to potential crops. In the lab, I use to perform morphological and molecular analyses aimed at the characterization of the sampled pest species. My activities also include the study of the biology of pests, the development of monitoring methods useful for their control, and the identification of potential natural enemies.

In addition, I periodically support the phytosanitary agents at the Border Inspection Posts (PIF) in the control of plant material from third countries.