Ph.D. student
Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms Department (BEOM)

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
80121 Naples - Italy

Tel.: +39 081 5833255
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Curriculum Vitae

Director of Studies: Salvatore D’Aniello and Cristiano Bertolucci
Internal Supervisor: Fabio Crocetta
Program: PhD in Life Science and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, XL cycle

Research Interests

Deep-sea fish live in an extreme aphotic environment, with low temperature and high pressure, and display unique evolutionary adaptations such as large eyes and light-producing organs (photophores). The aim of my project is to understand whether these organisms possess a functional circadian clock and, in the absence of light, which factors determine its synchronization with the environment. In general, at the molecular level, the circadian clock consists of feedback loops involving specific genes (Clock and Bmal1 as positive elements, Per and Cry as negative elements) that cyclically activate and repress each other, creating a periodicity of about 24 hours. In deep-sea fish, although sunlight is absent, daily rhythms appear to persist, suggesting that other factors, such as temperature and feeding cycles, may modulate the circadian clock and support adaptation to this environment. The project aims to identify the main clock genes in teleost and cartilaginous deep-sea fishes from the Gulf of Naples through RNA sequencing (RNAseq) on various tissues (liver, brain, heart, gonads and fin) and to verify their expression levels using RT-qPCR. Furthermore, due to the extreme difficulty in keeping these fish alive outside their natural habitat, I will establish primary cell lines from fin tissue that will be instrumental to conduct molecular and functional studies on the circadian clock.

Deep-sea fish live in an extreme aphotic environment, with low temperature and high pressure, and display unique evolutionary adaptations such as large eyes and light-producing organs (photophores). The aim of my project is to understand whether these organisms possess a functional circadian clock and, in the absence of light, which factors determine its synchronization with the environment. In general, at the molecular level, the circadian clock consists of feedback loops involving specific genes (Clock and Bmal1 as positive elements, Per and Cry as negative elements) that cyclically activate and repress each other, creating a periodicity of about 24 hours. In deep-sea fish, although sunlight is absent, daily rhythms appear to persist, suggesting that other factors, such as temperature and feeding cycles, may modulate the circadian clock and support adaptation to this environment. The project aims to identify the main clock genes in teleost and cartilaginous deep-sea fishes from the Gulf of Naples through RNA sequencing (RNAseq) on various tissues (liver, brain, heart, gonads and fin) and to verify their expression levels using RT-qPCR. Furthermore, due to the extreme difficulty in keeping these fish alive outside their natural habitat, I will establish primary cell lines from fin tissue that will be instrumental to conduct molecular and functional studies on the circadian clock.