MOLECULAR EVOLUTION & REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES

Barbara Mantovani 

Professor of Zoology

 

Department of Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale

University of Bologna (Italy)

 

Tel.: +39-051-2094171

Fax: +39-051-2094286

e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Skype: bmantov

 

Barbara was born in Bologna (Italy) in 1956

 

Education and Positions held to date 

1979             Laurea cum laude in Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Bologna
1983-1999   Researcher in Zoology
2000-2007   Associate Professor of Zoology
2007- on      Professor of Zoology
All positions at the Dept. of Experimental Evolutionary Biology (BES), Faculty of Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy.  

Main research interests

Repetitive DNA dynamics and evolution in animals, mainly in asexual or eusocial arthropods (CRUSTACEA: BRANCHIOPODA; INSECTA: ISOPTERA and PHASMIDA) whose taxonomy and phylogeny may be in parallel defined through mitochondrial and nuclear markers. The study of satellite DNA, rDNA, and more recently, non-LTR and SINE retrotransposable elements aims to highlight the evolutionary dynamics of this peculiar genomic compartment through the comparison between sequences subjected to different selective constraints, in different reproductive milieau.

Ongoing Projects

- Origin and evolution of satellite DNAs in two economically relevant Venerupis bivalve molluscs of the Adriatic Sea (M. Plohl, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia; III. Executive Programme of Scientific and Technological Co-operation 2009 -2010 between Croatia and Italy, funded by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia and Italian MAE)
- Satellite DNA isolation in parental and hybrid species of the genus Calligrapha (Jesús Gómez-Zurita, Tinguaro Montelongo, Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF), Animal Phylogeny and Systematics, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain)
- Retrotransposon dynamics and inbred genomes: the termite diplo-diploid eusocial model (PRIN 2008; Italian Ministry of University, MIUR)
- Molecular phylogeny in Crustacea Notostraca and Insecta Isoptera
- Phasmida DNA Barcoding Campaign (Co-ordinator: Paul Brock, Scientific Associate, Natural History Museum, London. e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Website: http://phasmida.speciesfile.org), Alex V. Borisenko, project manager;  Italian representative: Barbara Mantovani; Australian representative: Jack Hasenpusch, Australian Insect Farm, Garradunga, Queensland. e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
- Chromosome repatterning in Bacillus stick insects (Vedrana Vicic, Vlatka Zoldos, Faculty of Science, Biology, Dept. of Molecular Biology, University of Zagreb,Croatia).
- Triops cancriformis genome project (Sarah J. Wheelan, MD, PhD, Assistant professor, Oncology Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Director, Center for Computational Genomics, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA).
 

Recently awarded research grants

2010   PRIN 2008 (Italian Ministry of University, MIUR) - Title: "Retrotransposon dynamics and inbred genomes: the termite diplo-diploid eusocial model"
 
2009-2010    Funding for a joint research projects within the III executive programme of Scientific and Technological co-operation for the exchange of researchers between Croatia and Italy “Origin and evolution of satellite DNAs in two economically relevant Venerupis bivalve molluscs of the Adriatic Sea".
 
2008 EW07-032 - LESC - European Science Foundation funding for the Exploratory Workshop "Heterocromatin structure and function: from repetitive DNA sequences to epigenetics", Donja Stubica, Croatia, 20-23/9/2008;  Convened by: Miroslav Plohl (HR), Fernando Azorin (ES), John Seymour (Pat) Heslop-Harrison (UK), Barbara Mantovani (IT).
 
Other activities
Coordinator of the PhD in “Biodiversity and Evolution”
Supervisor of many B.Sc. and M.Sc. theses.
From 2000, tutor of 7 PhD students and 1 post-doctoral student.
From 2008, reviewer for the ESF Pool of peer reviewers.
Associate Editor of ZOOTAXA.
In the last 5 years, reviewer for over 12 peer reviewed journals and for national grant proposals.
Organizing secretariat of the Summer School “Genome Evolution in Eukaryotes (GEE)” http://www.gee.unibo.it.
 
 
Teaching activity  
Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences, degree course in Biological Sciences:
- Biodiversity and Evolution
- General Biology and Zoology
- Laboratory of animal molecular systematics
Faculty of  Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences, degree course in Biodiversity and Evolution
- Laboratory of animal molecular phylogeny
- Experimental Zoology
Faculty of Agriculture, degree course in Agricultural Technology:
- Zoology