About

I am currently a second year PhD student in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick supervised by Dr. Caroline Petit (Department of Classics) and Dr. Freya Harrison (School of Life Sciences). The aim of my project is to search ancient medical texts for new plant-derived antimicrobial agents, with a focus on their activities in compound remedies.

I completed my BA degree in Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Verona in 2013 and then I received a MA degree summa cum laude in Classical Languages and Literature and Ancient History from the University of Padova in 2018 with the thesis “Il De usu respirationis di Galeno: traduzione e saggio di commento”. Before studying Classics, I received a BSc degree (2004) and a MSc degree in Molecular Biology (2006) from the University of Padova.

Research

My area of research represents an interdisciplinary endeavour and a collaboration between humanities and sciences. My main interest is ancient pharmacology, with a focus on the treatment of wounds and potential soft tissue infections in the works of the Greek physician Galen of Pergamon (2^nd century AD). My project utilises an approach based on an in-depth textual analysis of several Galenic writings, an integration with modern medical notions and laboratory testing of Galenic remedies to verify their pharmacological activity. The study benefits also from explorations into ancient botany, ethnobotany, and ethnopharmacology. This project can contribute to a new research strategy which exploits historical texts for new antimicrobial drugs – a new approach aiming to tackle the global issue of antimicrobial resistance.

Other roles

• Graduate Teaching Assistant, Greek Language for Beginners, University of Warwick (2020-2021).
• Co-organiser of the International Reading Group “Theophrastus’ Historia Plantarum Book 9”, University of Warwick (2020-2021).
• Co-organiser of the Postgraduate Colloquium, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Warwick (2021).

Papers delivered

• Galen’s pharmacological texts as a potential source of new plant-derived antimicrobial agents. International congress on ancient medicine. In the shadow of Hippocrates. Health, medicine in the ancient world and its survival in the West. Online Multidisciplinary Congress, University of Granada,

  June 10-12th 2020.

• Galen’s pharmacological texts as a potential source of new plant-derived antimicrobial agents, Warwick, Classics Postgraduate Colloquium, University of Warwick, 21 May 2020.
• Galen’s pharmacological texts as a potential source of new plant-derived antimicrobial agents, Focused Meeting Antimicrobial drug discovery from traditional and historical medicine, 29 October 2019, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK.

Qualifications

• MA Classical Languages and Literatures and Ancient History, University of Padova (2018).
• BA Classical Languages and Literatures, University of Verona (2013).
• MSc Molecular Biology, University of Padova (2006).
• BSc Molecular Biology, University of Padova (2004).