Laboratorio di Genetica Microbica
Francesca Coscione
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Francesca Coscione is a PhD student in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology at the University of Florence, working within the Laboratory of Microbial Genetics.
Her research focuses on bacterial epigenetic mechanisms, with a particular focus on the contribution of DNA methylation and nucleoid organization to gene expression control, environmental adaptation, and the establishment of mutualistic interactions in Sinorhizobium meliloti.
She earned full marks in Molecular and Applied Biology at the University of Florence. Under the supervision of Dr. Elena Perrin, she carried out her MSc thesis on quorum sensing and biofilm development in Burkholderia cenocepacia, elucidating their roles as key regulatory mechanisms underlying intercellular communication and antibiotic resistance.
Before beginning her doctoral studies, she held two research fellowships at the Department of Biology. The first, conducted in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff”, focused on characterizing the antimicrobial activity and elucidating the mode of action of newly synthesized metal-based bioactive compounds.
She subsequently joined the European project Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE), contributing to COI sequencing and the generation of PacBio-based barcodes to support large-scale biodiversity assessment.