Director of Research
Marine Biotechnology Department

Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn
Villa Comunale
80121 Napoli - Italia

Tel.: +39 081 5833 319
Fax: +39 081 6132276
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Contatto Skype: donatella.de.pascale

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

The research activity of Dr. Donatella de Pascale is mainly focused on the exploration of extreme marine environments such as the Antarctic, the Arctic and the Earth like Tibetan glaciers, in order to isolate and characterize new strains of bacteria and fungi hyper-producers of bioactive compounds such as antimicrobials and anti-biofilm and anti-cancer.
A classic biodiscovery pipeline has been implemented for the identification of new bioactive compounds, starting from the collection of sediments from extreme marine environments and the isolation of bacteria and fungi adapted to the purification and their structural elucidation. Among the selected targets, the aim is to discover new antimicrobials aimed at multi-resistant human pathogens.
New anthelmintic compounds are also selected using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system, and tests are available for anti-biofilm and anti-cancer activity. The research activity is also aimed at the biochemical characterization of small antimicrobial peptides and at the development of new methods for the isolation of microorganisms in order to improve the isolation of bacteria belonging to the so-called "non-cultivable fraction of microorganisms".
The exploitation of bacteria for biotechnological purposes is also aimed at the discovery of new biocatalysts, in fact antifreeze proteins and hydrolases, which have a high potential for biotechnological applications are widely investigated. These enzymes are isolated using both the genomic and functional metagenomics approaches, using plate-based screening.

Selected Publications

Vitale, G. A.; Scarpato, S.; Mangoni, A.; D’Auria, M. V.; Della Sala, G.; de Pascale, D., Enhanced Molecular Networking Shows Microbacterium sp. V1 as a Factory of Antioxidant Proline-Rich Peptides. Marine Drugs 2023, 21, (4), 256.

Giugliano, R.; Della Sala, G.; Buonocore, C.; Zannella, C.; Tedesco, P.; Palma Esposito, F.; Ragozzino, C.; Chianese, A.; Morone, M. V.; Mazzella, V.; Núñez-Pons, L.; Folliero, V.; Franci, G.; De Filippis, A.; Galdiero, M.; de Pascale, D., New Imidazolium Alkaloids with Broad Spectrum of Action from the Marine Bacterium Shewanella aquimarina. Pharmaceutics 2023, 15, (8), 2139.

Esposito, F. P.; Vecchiato, V.; Buonocore, C.; Tedesco, P.; Noble, B.; Basnett, P.; de Pascale, D., Enhanced production of biobased, biodegradable, Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) using an unexplored marine bacterium Pseudohalocynthiibacter aestuariivivens, isolated from highly polluted coastal environment. Bioresource Technology 2023, 368, 128287.

Della Sala, G.; Coppola, D.; Virgili, R.; Vitale, G. A.; Tanduo, V.; Teta, R.; Crocetta, F.; de Pascale, D., Untargeted metabolomics yields insights into the lipidome of Botrylloides niger Herdman, 1886, an ascidian invading the mediterranean sea. Frontiers in Marine Science 2022, 9, 865751.

Palma Esposito, F.; Giugliano, R.; Della Sala, G.; Vitale, G. A.; Buonocore, C.; Ausuri, J.; Galasso, C.; Coppola, D.; Franci, G.; Galdiero, M.; de Pascale, D., Combining OSMAC approach and untargeted metabolomics for the identification of new glycolipids with potent antiviral activity produced by a marine Rhodococcus. International journal of molecular sciences 2021, 22, (16), 9055.

Giugliano, R.; Buonocore, C.; Zannella, C.; Chianese, A.; Palma Esposito, F.; Tedesco, P.; De Filippis, A.; Galdiero, M.; Franci, G.; de Pascale, D., Antiviral Activity of the Rhamnolipids Mixture from the Antarctic Bacterium Pseudomonas gessardii M15 against Herpes Simplex Viruses and Coronaviruses. Pharmaceutics 2021, 13, (12), 2121.

Coppola, D.; Lauritano, C.; Palma Esposito, F.; Riccio, G.; Rizzo, C.; de Pascale, D., Fish waste: From problem to valuable resource. Marine drugs 2021, 19, (2), 116.

Vitale, G. A.; Sciarretta, M.; Palma Esposito, F.; January, G. G.; Giaccio, M.; Bunk, B.; Spröer, C.; Bajerski, F.; Power, D.; Festa, C.; Monti, M. C.; D’Auria, M. V.; de Pascale, D., Genomics–metabolomics profiling disclosed marine vibrio spartinae 3.6 as a producer of a new branched side chain prodigiosin. Journal of Natural Products 2020, 83, (5), 1495-1504.
Tedesco, P.; Visone, M.; Parrilli, E.; Tutino, M. L.; Perrin, E.; Maida, I.; Fani, R.; Ballestriero, F.; Santos, R.; Pinilla, C., de Pascale D. Investigating the role of the host multidrug resistance associated protein transporter family in Burkholderia cepacia complex pathogenicity using a Caenorhabditis elegans infection model. PLoS One 2015, 10, (11), e0142883.