Foto profilo

BRUNETTI PATRIZIA

Position: RICERCATORE

Type: T.I.

Phone: 06-90672267

Location: Montelibretti (RM)

Research Lines: Soil health, Plant Sciences

Patrizia Brunetti is a researcher at the Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems of the National Research Council of Italy (IRET-CNR). She holds a PhD in Plant Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, with a Plant Genetics and Genomics project conducted at ENEA Casaccia. Throughout her career, she has gained extensive experience in plant biotechnology, physiology, and genetics, focusing on the mechanisms of heavy metal and arsenic tolerance and accumulation in higher plants, as well as the development of phytoremediation strategies.

She previously worked as a researcher at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology (IBPM-CNR) and held various academic and research positions at Sapienza University, where she taught courses in Plant Biotechnology and Biotechnology for Medicine, Agriculture, and the Environment.

Currently, she is engaged in Molecular Biology and Plant Physiology research at IRET-CNR and plays an active role in supervising researchers and PhD students. She serves as the principal investigator for national and international projects and has acted as a Guest Editor for special issues in international scientific journals. Additionally, she conducts peer review for various journals in the field of environmental pollution, including Journal of Hazardous Materials, Environmental Pollution, and Science of the Total Environment.

Her main research interests include the study of heavy metal accumulation in plants, the role of plant hormones in flower development, and the analysis of transcription factors and alternative splicing in response to environmental stress.

Research fields

EXPERIMENTAL PLANT SCIENCES (Physiology, Biochemistry, and Genetics; Biotic and Abiotic Stress; Biotechnology) – PLANT SCIENCES
SOIL HEALTH (Soil-Plant System, Mitigation)

With a particular focus on the following topics:

  • Analysis of the molecular and physiological mechanisms regulating plant responses to environmental pollutants, as well as tolerance and accumulation of heavy metals and arsenic in plants.
  • Investigation of genes involved in arsenic uptake and accumulation in the hyperaccumulator species Pteris vittata.
  • Study of the role of auxin in flower development in Arabidopsis thaliana and Solanum lycopersicum.
  • Examination of alternative splicing mechanisms in plants exposed to heavy metal stress.
  • Development of strategies for the phytoremediation of contaminated soils and water through the use of plants.