01/2025 – now, ZARM, University of Bremen, Germany: Research Group Leader of the Laboratory of Applied Space Microbiology (LASM).
05/2019 – 12/2024, ZARM, University of Bremen, Germany: Postdoctoral Fellow and Junior Research Group Leader of the LASM.
12/2017 – 12/2018 – Italian Research Council, Concordia research station, Antarctica: Station Leader and Glaciologist. Responsible for a crew of 13 and performed field work daily.
08/2015 – 08/2016 – University of Hawaii, Mauna Loa volcano, Hawaii, USA: Crew Biologist of HI-SEAS IV, a NASA-funded, one-year mission in an isolated habitat. No real-time communication, no exposure to the open air. Research on spaceflight microbiome dynamics.
11/2013 – 11/2017 (defended April 2018), University of Rome II, Rome, Italy: PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology. Supervisors: Prof. Daniela Billi (University of Rome II) and Dr. Lynn Rothschild (NASA Ames). Field: astrobiology.
10/2012 – 08/2013, University of Paris-Saclay, Evry, France: Master's in Systems and Synthetic Biology. In parallel to Sup’Biotech. Thesis at NASA Ames (California).
09/2008 – 07/2013, Sup’Biotech, Villejuif, France: Master's equivalent, and Bachelor's, in Biotechnology Engineering.
2011 – University of Paris-Est Creteil, Créteil, France: Bachelor's in Biology and Chemistry. Cumulative degree (alongside Sup’Biotech).
- ERC Starting Grant (Project 101165485 — MarCyano), 2025.
- Europlanet TA grant (17-EPN3-018; Microbiome evolution during the HI-SEAS IV mission and impact on human space travel), 2017.
The list below shows the latest 25 publications of this research group. For the complete, searchable list of ZARM publications, please click more
2025
Conclusion: Horizons of Red and Green
Mars and the Earthlings: A Realistic View on Mars Exploration and Settlement
Page 391—397
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland Cham
2025
391—397
Introduction: Seeing Through the Martian Dust
Mars and the Earthlings: A Realistic View on Mars Exploration and Settlement
Page 1—3
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland Cham
2025
1—3
Cyanobacteria as a substrate for heterotrophs—Implications for biological life-support systems on Mars.
I Talks 5 :68
Cyanobacteria in support of human lunar bases. Why? How?
Mars and the Earthlings: A Realistic View on Mars Exploration and Settlement
2024
Cultivation and nutritional characteristics of Chlorella vulgaris cultivated using Martian regolith and synthetic urine
Life Sciences in Space Research, 42 :108—116
2024
Publisher: Elsevier
Dependence of cyanobacterium growth and Mars-specific photobioreactor mass on total pressure, pN2 and pCO2
npj Microgravity, 10 (1) :101
2024
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK London
Effects of atmospheric pressure, and of the partial pressures of CO2 and N2, on the growth rates of Anabaena sp. PCC 7938: Assessment and implications for cyanobacterium cultivation on Mars
2024
Impact of low-dose X-ray radiation on the lipidome of Chlorella vulgaris
Algal Research, 84 :103783
2024
Publisher: Elsevier
Nutrient Composition & In-Situ Irrigation Capabilities for Space Crop Production Systems
2024
Presentations at the 2022 MELiSSA conference—current and future ways to closed life support systems
2024
Sustainable Bioproduction on Mars Subproject 3: Hardware & Integrated Testing
2024
2023
An airlock concept to reduce contamination risks during the human exploration of Mars
npj Microgravity, 9 (1) :81
2023
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK London
Integration of a photobioreactor into the MaMBA facility as part of a human-centered life support system
52nd International Conference on Environmental Systems, Page ICES—2023
2023
Sustainable Bioproduction on Mars
2023
Sustainable Bioproduction on Mars: Setting the ground for sustainable bioproduction in a Martian settlement
2023
The MaMBA facility as a testbed for bioregenerative life support systems
Life Sciences in Space Research, 36 :86—89
2023
Publisher: Elsevier
2022
A vision for Human Mars Exploration made in Bremen
44th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 16-24 July, 44 :3186
2022
An airlock of a human habitat on Mars conforming to planetary protection goals
44th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 16-24 July, 44 :3281
2022
Bioregenerative life-support systems for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars
2022
On the cost-efficiency of cyanobacterium-based, biological ISRU on Mars
European Planetary Science Congress, Page EPSC2022—57
2022
On the growth dynamics of the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7938 in Martian regolith
npj Microgravity, 8 (1) :43
2022
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK London
Selection of Anabaena sp. PCC 7938 as a cyanobacterium model for biological ISRU on Mars
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 88 (15) :e00594—22
2022
Publisher: American Society for Microbiology 1752 N St., NW, Washington, DC
Setting the ground for sustainable bioproduction in a Martian settlement
44th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 16-24 July, 44 :2840
2022
2021
A low-pressure, N2/CO2 atmosphere is suitable for Cyanobacterium-based life-support systems on Mars
Frontiers in Microbiology, 12 :67
2021
ISSN: 1664-302X
