Duccio Cavalieri

Duccio Cavalieri is one of the world’s leading experts in the ecology and biology of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in the role of microorganisms in the production of fermented foods. Since 2010, his work has primarily focused on the coevolution of diet and the human microbiome in health and disease.

Since 2021, he has been Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Biology at the University of Florence and the Coordinator of the Ph.D. program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Previously, he served as Harvard Genomics Fellow and Group Leader (Harvard Bauer Center for Genomics Research, Cambridge, MA, 1999–2004), Researcher in the Department of Pharmacology (University of Florence, Italy, 2004–2010), Department Director at the Edmund Mach Foundation (Trento, Italy, 2010–2015), and Associate Professor at the University of Florence (2016–2021). He is currently the Rector’s Delegate for relations with the Italian Consortium for Biotechnology (CIB) and the European Infrastructure ELIXIR-ITA.

In 2023, Cavalieri became President of the global organization studying Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the AMORHI ODV Volunteer Association. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS), a council member of the Italian Genetics Society (AGI), and part of the Food and Nutrition Cloud Project (FNS-CLOUD).

Cavalieri was one of the founders of the Nutrigenomics Organization (NuGO) and served on the Board of the Italian Society of Microbiology (SIMGBM).

His teaching activities include courses in General Microbiology, Microbial Biotechnology, Microbial Forensics, and Microbiome Dynamics Analysis. He has also taught at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo (Master Brewer Program), at Cordon Bleu courses (Microbiology of Fermentation), and collaborated with Slow Food on projects involving cheese and fermented foods (Terra Madre).