Curriculum Vitae
Find the extended version of my CV at this link.
Last updated: Aug 12, 2025
Outlook
- ๐ผ Employment
- ๐ Education
- ๐ฐ Outreach activity
- ๐ซ Teaching activity
- ๐งฎ Professional skills
- ๐ Courses and workshops
- ๐ Publications
- ๐จ๏ธ Oral presentations at congresses
- ๐ค Invited talks
- ๐ Awards and scholarships
- โ๏ธ Visiting scholar
Employment
Research Associate
Subject: Evolution of vision in early metazoans.
Supervisor: prof. Roberto Feuda
University of Leicester, Leicester (UK). Nov 2024 - ongoing
Education
Ph.D in "Innovative technologies and sustainable use of Mediterranean Sea fishery and biological resources" (FishMed-PhD)
Thesis: Integrative perspectives on bivalve sex determination: A comparative and evolutionary analysis across phylogeny
Supervisor: prof. Andrea Luchetti
University of Bologna, Bologna (IT). Nov 2021 - Oct 2024
M.Sc in "Biodiversity and evolution"
Thesis: Identification of Hox and ParaHox genes in tadpole shrimp genomes (Pancrustacea, Branchiopoda, Notostraca)
Supervisor: prof. Andrea Luchetti
University of Bologna, Bologna (IT). Sep 2019 - Jul 2021
B.Sc in "Biological Sciences"
Thesis: Species delimitation and phylogenetic analysis of the Australian genus Candovia (Insecta, Phasmida)
Supervisor: prof. Barbara Mantovani
University of Bologna, Bologna (IT). Sep 2016 - Oct 2019
Outreach activity
For a more detailed description of my outreach activity, have a look at the Outreach section in this website.
- Editor and web writer
BioPills. Jul 2017 โ ongoing - BiGeA Day 2023
University of Bologna, Bologna (IT). May 27, 2023 - University of Bologna opening days
University of Bologna, Bologna (IT). Nov 18, 2022
Teaching experience
- Practical class "CAFE: estimating gene family turnover across a phylogenetic tree"
Master degree in Bioinformatics
University of Bologna, Bologna (IT). Apr 23, 2024 - Practical invertebrate zoology class
Bachelor degree in Biological Sciences
University of Bologna, Bologna (IT). Sep 2022 โ Jan 2023
Professional skills
Bioinformatics
- Programming and markup languages
More
(beginner โฏโฏโฏโฏโฏ advanced)bash
โฎโฎโฎโฎโฏR
โฎโฎโฎโฏโฏpython
โฎโฎโฏโฏโฏ- LaTeX
โฎโฎโฏโฏโฏ html
โฎโฏโฏโฏโฏ
- Phylogenetics
- Comparative genomics
More
- Orthology inference (
OrthoFinder,Possvm,TOGA) - Gene annotation (
BLAST,DIAMOND,HMMER,InterProScan,tRNAscan-SE) - Genome quality assessment (
BUSCO) - Molecular evolution (
PAML,HyPhy,BASE,RRTree) - Gene family evolution (
CAFE5,GeneRax) - Gene macro-synteny (
MCScanX/JCVI) - Detection of sex-related loci (
SEX-DETector,SDpop) - Other (
AGAT,GffRead)
- Orthology inference (
- Mitogenomics
More
- Mitogenome assembly and annotation (
MitoHiFi,MitoFinder,mitoRNA)
- Mitogenome assembly and annotation (
- Read manipulation
More
- Raw reads quality check (
FastQC,MultiQC) - Read trimming (
trimmomatic) - Read mapping and filtering (
Bowtie2,STAR,TEtranscripts,stringtie,samtools)
- Raw reads quality check (
- Transcriptomics
Wet-lab
- Metaphase-plate chromosome preparation
More
- Experience with bivalves and ants
- Total DNA extraction
More
- Experience with insects
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
More
- Experience with insect mitochondrial and nuclear markers
- Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) embryology
More
- Spawning induction by thermal shock
- Gamete collection and concentration
- Sperm mitochondria staining with MitoTracker
- In-vitro fertilization of eggs
- Embryo rearing in flasks or multi-well plates
- Estimation of survival rates
- mRNA in-situ Hybridization Chain Reaction (mRNA in-situ HCR)
More
- Experience with whole-mount embryos of the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis)
- Probe design
- Multiplex experiments (up to four target genes), paired with DAPI and MitoTracker stainings
- Confocal imaging (main experience with Leica DMi8 paired with Stellaris 5 systems)
Others
- Field scientific sampling
More
- Experience with termites, ants, and freshwater crustaceans
- Experience with mussels and oysters
- Field sample storing for subsequent DNA extraction (pure methanol) or mRNA extraction (RNAlater or Trizol)
- Scientific illustration
See the Resources section of this website
Courses and workshops
- Establishing state-of-the-art mollusc genomics
EMBO Workshop. Awarded with a travel grant.
Namur, Belgium. May 28 โ 31, 2024. - Art (Science) Attack
Physalia Courses.
Online. May 20 โ 23, 2024. - Introduction to Python for biologists
Physalia Courses.
Online. Sep 25 โ 28, 2023 - ITA*PHY phylogenetics workshop
Trento (IT). Jun 6 โ 9, 2023 - Sex chromosome evolution
Physalia Courses.
Online. Jan 23 โ 27, 2023 - Identification of butterflies from the Eastern Alps
Dolimiti National Park.
Online. Mar 12 โ Apr 2, 2022 - Science communication
Feltrinelli Education.
Online. May 12 โ Jun 3, 2021 - Nature illustration
Associazione ARDEA.
Online. Feb 6 โ Mar 20, 2021 - Advanced Open Water Diver (PADI Education)
Scientific Diving School (SDS).
Bologna (IT). Oct 18, 2020
Publications
Forni G, Fusco G, Nicolini F, Bruce H, Luchetti A (2025). Loss, persistence and reversal of phenotypic traits. Under revision.
Iannello M, Piccinini G, Salatiello F, Forni G, Nicolini F, Valdrรจ U, Martini M, Martelossi J, Ghiselli F, D'Aniello E, & Milani L. (2025). New insights into mitochondrial segregation mechanisms in animals from the Doubly Uniparental Inheritance of bivalves. Research Square, preprint. Under revision. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7120697/v1
Forni G*, Nicolini F*, Martelossi J, Savojardo C, Corneti S, Marrone F, Luchetti A. (2025). The elusive genomic signature of tadpole shrimpsโ ancient morphology. Under revision.
Nicolini F, Nuzhdin S, Ghiselli F, Luchetti A, & Milani L. (2025). Comparative genomics of sex determination related genes reveals shared evolutionary patterns between bivalves and mammals, but not fruit flies. bioRฯiv, preprint. Accepted for publication in Molecular Ecology on 03/08/2025. doi: 10.1101/2025.01.30.635362
Righetti N*, Nicolini F*, Forni G, & Luchetti A. (2025). Towards a time-tree solution for Branchiopoda diversification: a jackknife assessment of fossil age priors. Palaeoentomology, 8(3), 316-328. doi: 10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.3.8
Nicolini F, Ghiselli F, Luchetti A, & Milani L. (2023). Bivalves as emerging model systems to study the mechanisms and evolution of sex determination: a genomic point of view. Genome Biology and Evolution, 15(10), evad181. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evad181
Martelossi J, Nicolini F, Subacchi S, Pasquale D, Ghiselli F, & Luchetti A. (2023). Multiple and diversified transposon lineages contribute to early and recent bivalve genome evolution. BMC Biology, 21(1), 1-23. doi: 10.1186/s12915-023-01632-z
Nicolini F, Martelossi J, Forni G, Savojardo C, Mantovani B, & Luchetti A. (2023). Comparative genomics of Hox and ParaHox genes among major lineages of Branchiopoda with emphasis on tadpole shrimps. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 11, 23. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1046960
Forni G, Cussigh A, Brock PD, Jones BR, Nicolini F, Martelossi J, ... & Mantovani B. (2023). Taxonomic revision of the Australian stick insect genus Candovia (Phasmida: Necrosciinae): insight from molecular systematics and species-delimitation approaches. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 197(1), 189-210. doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac074
* equal contribution
โ Go up โOral presentations at congresses
For a report of poster presentations, have a look at the Resources section of this website.
- Nicolini F, Iannello M, Piccinini G, Ghiselli F, Luchetti A, Milani L. (2024). Advancing the study of bivalve sex determination in the light of comparative genomics. Establishing state-of-the-art mollusc genomics (EMBO workshop). Namur (BE). May 27 โ 30, 2024.
- Nicolini F, Ghiselli F, Milani L, Luchetti A. (2023). Contrasting patterns of amino acid evolution and shared ancestry between putative sex-determining genes in bivalve molluscs. EVOLMAR 2023. Online. Nov 14 โ 17, 2023.
- Nicolini F, Ghiselli F, Milani L, Luchetti A. (2023). Sex-determination related genes in bivalves: novel acquisitions and high rates of sequence evolution. Evolution 2023 (Ernst Mayr Award symposium). Online. Jun 2 โ 3, 2023.
Invited talks
- Nicolini F. (2024). From comparative genomics to fluorescence imaging: a multi-disciplinary approach to study bivalve sex determination. Department of Biology seminar series. University of Fribourg. Fribourg, Switzerland. Jul 26, 2024.
- Nicolini F, Chignoli D. (2021). Communicators are not improvised โ BioPills in a nutshell. In the event: How to simplify science without inaccuracies. Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona. Online. Jun 15, 2021.
- Licari G, Chignoli D, Bencardino D, Nicolini F (2021). In the event: Scienze e Social: tra informazione e pericolo.. Vivere Ateneo, Univeristy of Palermo. Online. Apr 20, 2021.
Awards and scholarships
- Travel grant to attend the Congress 2024 of the Italian Society for Evolutionary Biology (ISEB/SIBE) in Naples (Italy).
Issued by Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn. Amount: โฌ 250.00.
May 28 โ 31, 2024 - Travel grant to attend the EMBO workshop "Establishing state-of-the-art mollusc genomics" in Namur (Belgium).
Issued by EMBO. Amount: โฌ 500.00.
May 28 โ 31, 2024 - Marco Polo scholarship to promote the scientific training of young researchers and offer the opportunity to carry out research in an international context.
Issued by the University of Bologna. Amount: โฌ 4,050.00.
Apr 13, 2023 - Laura Bassi scholarship for editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics.
Issued by Editing Press. Amount: $ 500.00.
Apr 13, 2023 (Spring edition)
Visiting scholar
- Nuzhdin's Lab
University of Southern California, Los Angeles (CA, USA). Aug 2023 โ Feb 2024 - Pasantes' Lab
University of Vigo, Vigo (ES). Jan 12 โ 22, 2023