Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

CURRICULUM VITAE
Sandra Urbanelli
Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory
Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale
Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
via dei Sardi 70 - 00185 Roma
Tel- Fax:+3906-49917820
e-mail: sandra.urbanelli@uniroma1.it

Sandra Urbanelli, Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, chair of Ecology.
Present positions. Head of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology at the Department of Environmental Biology.
Coordinator of the curriculum in Ecological Sciences, the PhD in "Environmental and Evolutionary Biology" Sapienza University of Rome.
Since 1998 leader of the Self-evaluation group within the Campus Project, promoted by the Conference of Deans, CRUI, regarding the application of the Quality System to the management of the new University scenarios.
Head of Path-quality for the evaluation of Courses of Study.
Member of Team Quality of Faculty.
Teaching. 1995-98: Resident Professor of Applied Ecology, School of Engineering, University of Naples Federico II . Resident Professor of Ecology (since 1996), for the courses of Agro-Industrial Biotechnology and Natural Science, and Molecular Ecology (since 2003), for the course of Genomic Industrial and Environmental Biotechnologies, at the University of Rome La Sapienza .
Research activity. My main interests are focused on understanding of the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that promote genetic diversity of natural populations, the starting point for control and management of biological resources. I am also interested on using the evolutionary genetic principles to reconstruct the past and current history of vectors to inform control strategies. The main lines of research include:
Genetic polymorphisms, in relation to different physiological and ecological parameters;
Molecular interactions and adaptive polymorphisms in parasite-host systems;
The role of natural selection in the process of speciation;
Hybridization as the source of variability in animal populations;
Distribution of species of medical-health interest;
Influence of maternal inherited endosymbiont bacteria on the genetic and ecological characteristics of host populations;
Improvement of breeding programs and strategies for the conservation of germ plasm;
Development and application of eco-compatible control strategies as a potential alternative or support to pesticidal strategies for pest management.
A large portion of my work has been devoted to genetics and ecology of arthropod populations for the development and application of control strategies that allow the reduction of environmental burden and health risks from pesticides. The study systems are mosquitoes (Culex pipiens, Aedes caspius, Aedes albopictus, Anopheles stephensi) and ticks (Ixodes ricinus, Riphicephalus sanguineus sensu lato). In this context, the researches are aimed on one hand to rationalize the use of chemicals in pest control programmes, on the other hand to develop biological strategies to be used in alternative or conjunctly to chemical control. I have been using population genetic approaches of pest insects to gain information about the appropriate geographical scale of control programmes and about the risk of the appearance and spread of resistance alleles, testing a system of autocidal control based on sterile insect techniques in Aedes albopictus and investigating the role of celllular defence mechanism against pesticides, focusing on the possibility to inhibit these defences to improve the efficacy of chemical control and to reduce the amount of pesticides used in the field.
Main national and international collaborations: Department of Life Science, Claudio Bandi, University of Milan; University of Camerino, Guido Favia, Scuola di Bioscienze e Medicina Veterinaria; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Domenico Otranto, University of Bari; Dep. of Plant Biology, Sapienza University of Rome; Dep. of Entomology G. Grandi , University of Bologna; Environmental and Agriculture Centre G. Nicoli of Bologna; ENEA Casaccia, Section of Applied Entomology; Center for Vector Borne Diseases, William Reisen, Dep. of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology; International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Dep. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Adalgisa Caccone, Yale University; Pradya S., Dep. of Parasitology, Chiang Mai University, Thailand; F. Shaffner, Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Susan Kutz, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary; Dusan Petric, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia, John Vontas, Laboratory of Pesticide Science, Agricultural University of Athens.
National and international conferences and seminars on invitation
She has been invited lectures at various national and international conferences, such as the University of Cairo, Ain Shams; Research Center on Vectors of Diseases, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna Consultants 2007; 2018, 22nd Evolutionary Biology Meeting Marseilles, France; Italian university, Milan, Bologna, Ferrara and several other Public Institutions for her knowledge and experience in the field of control pest.
2017 has been invited to draw up a report on vector borne diseases for the country profile of Italy: G7 Summit Meeting: focus on climate and health.
Awards, Member of Scientific Societies, Publishing activity. In 2014 she won the award for "Excellent Teaching", Faculty of Science, Sapienza University of Rome.
Member of: - "Society for Vector Ecology" (SOCI), - the Italian Society of Ecology (S.IT.E.); - Italian Zoological Union (UZI); - European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB).
Reviewer for the following journals: Heredity, Journal of Heredity, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Parasites & vectors, Journal of Vector Ecology, Plant Pathology, PLoS ONE.
Member of the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports.
Founded projects
2000-2003 PRIN: Scientific Coordinator of Research Project of National Interest;
2000-2003 Scientific Coordinator of Research Project, funded by LAZIO REGION;
2000-2003, V° Programma Quadro QLK1-1999-00996: Hazard analysis and control of food contaminants ;
2000-2004 Project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture National Collection of microorganisms of Agricultural and Agroindustrial interest ;
2001 to date Scientific coordinator of Research Project of Ateneo Federato (Sapienza University of Rome);
2007 PRIN: Scientific Coordinator of Research Project of National Interest;
2011 PRIN: Scientific Coordinator of Research Project of National Interest.
2017. Project funded by the Ministry of Health, Cambiamenti climatici e salute nella vision Planetary Health

Selected Publications
1. Kotsakiozi, P., Richardson, J.B., Pichler, V., Favia, G., Martins, A.J., Urbanelli, S., Armbruster, P.A., Caccone, A., 2017. Population genomics of the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus: insights into the recent worldwide invasion. Ecology and Evolution Open Access, Volume 7, Issue 23, December 2017, Pages 10143-10157.
2. De Marco L., Sassera D., Epis S., Mastrantonio V., Ferrari M., Ricci I., Comandatore F., Bandi C., Porretta D., Urbanelli S., 2017. The choreography of the chemical defensome response to insecticide stress: insights into the Anopheles stephensi transcriptome using RNA-Seq. Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 41312 (2017)
3. Porretta D.,Latrofa M.F, Dantas-Torres F., Mastrantonio V., Iatta R., Otranto D., Urbanelli S., 2016. Exon-intron structure and sequence variation of the calreticulin gene among Rhipicephalus sanguineus group ticks. Parasites & Vectors, 2016. 9:640
4. Porretta D., Mastrantonio V., Crasta G., Bellini R., Comandatore F., Rossi P., Favia G., Bandi C., Urbanelli S., 2016. Intra-instar larval cannibalism in Anopheles gambiae (s.s.) and Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae). Parasites & Vectors, 2016 9:566.
5. Mastrantonio V., Porretta D., Urbanelli S., Crasta G., Nascetti G., 2016. Dynamics of mtDNA introgression during species range expansion: insights from an experimental longitudinal study. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 2016. Volume: 6 Article Number: 30355
6. Porretta D., Epis S., Mastrantonio V., Ferrari M., Bellini R., Favia G., Urbanelli S., 2016. How heterogeneous is the involvement of ABC transporters against insecticides? Acta Tropica , 157, pp. 131-135.
7. Cafarchia C., Porretta D., Mastrantonio V., Epis S., Sassera D., Iatta R., Immediato D., Ramos R.A.N., Lia R.P., Dantas-Torres F., Kramer L., Urbanelli S., Otranto D.., 2015. Potential role of ATP-binding cassette transporter against acaricides in the brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato. Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 29 (1), pp. 88-93.
8. Epis S., Porretta D., Mastrantonio V., Urbanelli S., Sassera D., De Marco L., Mereghetti V., Montagna M., Ricci I., Favia G., Bandi C., 2014. Temporal dynamics of the ABC transporter response to insecticide treatment: insights from the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi. Scientific Reports , 4 articolo n. 7435.
9. Urbanelli S., Mastrantonio V., Bellini R., Pieraccini G., Romoli R., Crasta G., 2014. Hybridization, natural selection, and evolution of reproductive isolation: 25-years survey of an artificial sympatric area between two mosquito sibling species of the Aedes mariae complex. Evolution , 68 (10), pp. 3030-3038.
10. Epis S., Porretta D., Mastrantonio V., , Sassera D., Rossi P., Cafarchia C., Otranto D., Favia G., Genchi C., Bandi C., Urbanelli S., 2014. ABC transporters are involved in defense against permethrin insecticide in the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi. Parasites & Vectors,7:349.
11. Porretta D., Mastrantonio V., Amendolia S., Gaiarsa S., Epis S., Genchi C., Bandi C., Otranto D., Urbanelli S., 2013. Effects of global changes on the climatic niche of the tick Ixodes ricinus inferred by distribution modelling. Parasites & Vectors, 6:271.
12. Porretta D., Mastrantonio V., Mona S., Epis S., Montagna M., Sassera D., Bandi C., Urbanelli S., 2013. The integration of multiple independent data reveals an unusual response to Pleistocene climatic changes in the hard tick Ixodes ricinus. Molecular Ecology 22, pp. 1666-1682.
13. Porretta D., Mastrantonio V., Bellini R., Somboon P., Urbanelli S., 2012. Glacial history of a modern invader: phylogeography and species distribution modelling of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus. PloS ONE ,7(9): e44515.
14. Porretta D., Urbanelli S., 2012. Evolution of premating reproductive isolation among conspecific populations of the sea rock-pool beetle Ochthebius urbanelliae driven by reinforcing natural selection. Evolution, 66 (4), pp.1284-1295.
15. Porretta D., Canestrelli D., Urbanelli S. , Bellini R., Schaffner F., Petric D. and G. Nascetti, 2011. Southern crossroads of the Western Palaearctic during the Late pleistocene and their imprints on current patterns of genetic diversity: insights from the mosquito Aedes caspius. Journal of Biogeography, 38(1), pp. 20-30.
16. Bellini R., Albieri A., Balestrino F., Carrieri M., Porretta D., Urbanelli S. , Calvitti M., Moretti R. and S. Maini., 2010. Dispersal and Survival of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) Males in Italian Urban Areas and Significance for Sterile Insect Technique Application. Journal of Medical Entomology, 47(6), pp. 1082-1091.
17. Calvitti M., Porretta D. , Moretti R. , Bellini R., Urbanelli S., 2009. Effects on male fitness of removing Wolbachia infections from the mosquito Aedes albopictus. Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 23(2), pp. 132 140.
18. Urbanelli S. and D. Porretta, 2008. Evidence of reinforcement of pre-mating isolation between two species of the genus Ochthebius (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae). Evolution, 62 (6), pp.1520-1527.
19. Porretta D., Gargani M., Bellini R., Medici A., Punelli F.,Urbanelli S., 2008. Defence mechanism against insecticides temephos and diflubenzuron in the mosquito Aedes caspius: the P-glycoprotein efflux pumps. Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 22(1), pp.48-54.
20. Porretta D., Canestrelli D., Bellini R., Celli G., Urbanelli S., 2007. Improving insect pest management through population genetic data: the case study of the mosquito Ochlerotatus caspius (Pallas). Journal Of Applied Ecology., 44(3), pp.682 691