Developed skills and lines of research

Born in Lecco (LC) in 1960, Barbara Citterio graduated in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Milan in 1984. After some training experiences through scholarships at the University of Pisa (1985-1989), Florence (1990-1991) and Udine (1991-1992), in 1992 she obtained the qualification of researcher at the Faculty of Food Science and Technology at the University of Udine. In 1996 she became a researcher at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at the University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”. Since 1998 she has been part of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology. In 2003 she switched from the disciplinary scientific sector of Agrarian Microbiology to General Microbiology and since 2021 she has been Associate professor at the Department of Biomolecular Sciences of the University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”. She is a member of the Italian Society of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology (SIMGBM). Her field of research is aimed at environmental microbiology, particularly microbial interactions and metabolism in soil and the presence of environmental reservoirs of antibiotic resistance, mainly sediments and animals. Since 2013 she has collaborated with Prof. Biavasco of Università Politecnica delle Marche (Ancona) in the study of pulmonary infection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis, particularly in the development of persistent and viable but non-culturable forms and in the development of molecular techniques suitable for their detection such as qPCR and cytofluorimetry. In 2019, she participated as a partner in the FFC#16/2019 project, focused on the study of microbial response to exposure to various classes of antibiotics routinely applied for the therapy of P. aeruginosa lung infections.

Projects funded by FFC Ricerca as Principal Investigator or as Research Manager

FFC#7/2023
Evaluation of cefiderocol activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis lung infections

Projects financed by FFC Ricerca as a partner

FFC#16/2019
Fighting Pseudomonas aeruginosa persisters in cystic fibrosis pulmonary infections: improved detection and therapeutic strategies

Recognitions

Mangiaterra G, Amiri M, Di Cesare A, et al. Detection of viable but non-culturable Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis by qPCR: a validation study. BMC Infect Dis. 2018 Dec 27;18(1):701. doi: 10.1186/s12879-018-3612-9. 

Laudadio E, Cedraro N, Mangiaterra G, et al. Natural Alkaloid Berberine Activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa MexXY-Mediated Aminoglycoside Resistance: In Silico and in Vitro Studies. J Nat Prod. 2019 Jul 26;82(7):1935-1944. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.9b00317.

Mangiaterra G, Cedraro N, Vaiasicca S, et al. Role of Tobramycin in the Induction and Maintenance of Viable but Non-Culturable Pseudomonas aeruginosa in an In Vitro Biofilm Model. Antibiotics (Basel). 2020 Jul 10;9(7):399. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics9070399.

Mangiaterra G, Carotti E, Vaiasicca S, et al. Contribution of Drugs Interfering with Protein and Cell Wall Synthesis to the Persistence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms: An In Vitro Model. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Feb 5;22(4):1628. doi: 10.3390/ijms22041628.

Mangiaterra G, Cedraro N, Vaiasicca S, et al. Involvement of Acquired Tobramycin Resistance in the Shift to the Viable but Non-Culturable State in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jul 18;24(14):11618. doi: 10.3390/ijms241411618.