Sonia PIACENTE | Curriculum

Curriculum vitae prof. Sonia Piacente

Date and place of birth: 4.10.66, Naples (Italy)

Education

March 1990: graduation in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at the University of Naples “Federico II”, academic degree: summa cum laude.

November 1990-July1994: PhD Student in Bioactive Natural Products, Department of Chemistry of Natural Products, University of Naples “Federico II.

March 1996-March 1998: Postdoctoral position at the University of Salerno.

June –July 1997: Visiting Scientist at the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation IUNG, Pulawy, Poland.

October 1999: Specialization in Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Naples “Federico II”, academic degree: summa cum laude.

Academic positions and related activities

July 1999-December 2004: Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Salerno.

July 2005-May 2016: Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology, Dept. Pharmacy, University of Salerno.

Since April 2013: Coordinator of international mobility/ERASMUS, Dept. Pharmacy, University of Salerno.

2013-2020: Coordinator of Master in Cosmetic Science and Technology, Dept. Pharmacy, University of Salerno.

January 2014: Scientific qualification as Full Professor in Pharmaceutical Biology.

February 2014: Scientific qualification as Full Professor in Pharmacognosy.

2016-2022: Coordinator of the Degree in Herbal Products.

Since May 2016: Full Professor in Pharmaceutical Biology (BIO/15, actually BIOS-01/D).

2008-2011: Coordinator of the Italian-Egyptian bilateral project “Chemical-biological study of medicinal plants growing in south-eastern desert of Egypt” granted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

2016-2018: Coordinator of the Italian-Algerian bilateral project “Valorization of the plant resources of Algerian Sahara: Phytochemical investigation and evaluation of biological activities of endemic species” granted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

2015-2024: Principal Investigator of FARB projects (UNISA) dedicated to chemical and biological investigations of medicinal and food plants.

2016-2018: Member of the Commission for the Scientific Qualification as Associate and Full Professor of Plant Physiology.

2022-2024: Principal Investigator of the project ‘Biological Control of hazelnut weevil (Curculio nucum) by using Cornus sanguinea’ granted by Regional GAL funded by European Commission.

2010-2015 Member of the Directive Board of the Italian Society of Phytochemistry.

2010-2015 Member of the Scientific Committee of Conferences, Congresses and Schools organized by the Italian Society of Phytochemistry.

2015 Member of the Scientific Committee of the 3rd International Conference on Pharmaceutical Sciences”, Iovel Kutateladze Institute of Pharmacochemistry, Tbilisi, Georgia, May 29-31, 2015.

2018 Member of the Scientific Committee of the 113° Congress of the Italian Society of Botany, Fisciano (Salerno), September 12-15, 2018.

Award

September 2010: APIVITA award from the Phytochemical Society of Europe for her contribution in the study of natural products with publication of cv in the scientific journal Phytochemistry.

Teaching activities

Plant Biology, Phytochemistry, Pharmacognosy

Major research activities

Investigation of medicinal and food plants focused to isolation, structural elucidation of specialized metabolites, and definition of the bioactivity profile of plant extracts and single compounds; development of analytical strategies for the quali-quantitative determination of specialized metabolites in plant extracts and herbal products.

prof. Piacente has authored 346 research articles in international peer reviewed journals.

Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Phytochemistry, Elsevier.

prof. Piacente serves as referee for many international journals in the field of Phytochemistry, Pharmacognosy, Chemistry of Natural Products and Food Chemistry: Journal of Natural Products, Food Chemistry, Trends in Food Science & Technology, Food Research International, Chemical Reviews, Natural Product Reports, Phytochemistry, Phytochemistry Reviews, Carbohydrate Research, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Fitoterapia, Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, Natural Product Communications, European Journal of Cancer, Phytochemical Analysis, Journal of Mass Spectrometry, Journal of Nutrition, Food and Chemical Toxicology.

Bibliografic parameters from SCOPUS (12/01/25)

Publications: 346

Citations: 9626

H index: 50

Bibliografic parameters from Google Scholar (12/01/25)

Citations: 13915

H index: 61

The complete list of publications is available at https://docenti.unisa.it/004030/en/research/publications

Technology Transfer Activities

Coauthor of the European Patent "Arginine prodrugs with high therapeutic activity". PCT Int. Appl. (2007), 24pp. CODEN: PIXXD2 WO 2007115808 A1 2007-10-18 AN 2007:1177686.

Coauthor of the European patent ‘Comfreyns, arylnaphthalene lignans that inhibit pro-inflammatory gene expression, and pharmaceutic composition comprising them. European Patent Organization, EP3871672 A1 2021-09-01.

2020-2021 Scientific coordinator of the contract for research activity ‘Study of the medicinal plant Symphytum officinale’ granted by Merck Healthcare.

2021-2022 Scientific coordinator of the contract for research activity ‘Phytochemical and Metabolomic Profiling of Symphytum dry extracts’ granted by Procter & Gamble, Health Germany.

2023 Scientific coordinator of the contract for reserch activity ‘Investigation of the Metabolite Profiles of Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) Extracts granted by Procter & Gamble, Health Germany.

Participation to projects of technology transfer:

1999-2002 Project POM A 34 VALPOMI "Valorizzazione dei prodotti di trasformazione da piante officinali dell'Italia meridionale ed insulare".

2004-2007 Project PON n.12930 "Innovazione dei processi e dei prodotti nella filiera alimentare delle piante officinali ".

2009-2012 European Project PROFICIENCY "Managing the production of food and feedstuff, their safety and quality under global climate change"(FR7-REGPOT-2009-1-275451), coordinated by Institute of Soil Sciences and Plant Cultivation di Pulawy, Polonia.

2021-2023 Project ‘Approcci Innovativi per bevande e alimenti funzionali con matrici vegetali mediterranee’, granted by MISE

International Collaborations:

prof. Piacente has been involved in scientific collaborations with the following Institutions:

- Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

- Tbilisi State Medical University, Iovel Kutateladze Institute of Pharmacochemistry, Tbilisi, Georgia

- UNESP-Universidade Estadual Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil (prof. W. Vilegas)

- University Hospital of Monastir, Biochemistry and Toxicology Laboratory, Monastir, Tunisia

- Instituto de Quimica, UNESP, Araraquara, SP, Brasile (prof. L. Campaner Dos Santos)

-Institute of Pharmacochemistry, Academy of Sciences, Tblisi, Georgia (prof. E. Kemertelidze);

-Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Aswan, Egitto (prof. A. Hamed);

-Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation, Pulawy, Polonia (prof. W. Oleszek);

-Department of Pharmacognosy, University Hacettepe, Ankara, Turchia (prof. I. Calis);

-Ege University, Faculty of Engineering, Dept. of Bioengineering, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey (prof. E. Bedir);

-Ege University, Faculty of Sciences, Dept. of Chemistry, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey (prof. O. Caliskan);

-Department of Pharmacognosy and Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mashhad, Iran (prof. M. Iranshahi).

-Department of Molecular Systems Biology, University of Vienna (prof. Wolfram Weckwerth).

-Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vienna (prof. Verena Dirsch and Elke Heiss).