The Maria Ciaramella Workshop 2026 will take place on 12–13 November 2026 in the Seminar Room of Area 1, CNR Research Area of Naples, Italy.
The workshop is conceived as a multidisciplinary scientific meeting, bringing together researchers from different fields to promote discussion, exchange of ideas, and scientific interaction.
Participation is free of charge and open to researchers affiliated with research institutions, universities, and scientific organizations based in Campania. Due to space limitations and in line with the mission of the workshop, priority will be given to young researchers. The Organizing Committee will evaluate the number of senior researchers who may attend, according to space availability and the overall balance of the event.
The scientific programme will include eight oral communication sessions and one plenary lecture.
Participants are invited to submit abstracts for consideration. All submitted abstracts will be evaluated by the Scientific Committee. Selection for poster presentation or oral communication will be reserved exclusively for contributions presented by young researchers. Therefore, abstracts submitted for poster or oral presentation must have a young researcher as first author and presenting author.
Only selected abstracts will be accepted for poster presentation or oral communication, according to the evaluation of the Scientific Committee and the structure of the scientific programme.
Please note that certificates of attendance will not be issued. The official scientific output of the workshop will be the Book of Abstracts, which will include the accepted contributions.
The Organizing Committee gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the workshop sponsors.

Giorgia Batelli
received her PhD in Crop Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Naples. After post-doctoral studies at the University of Turin, University of California, Riverside and KAUST, she has joined the CNR-IBBR ss Portici. Her main research interests are focused on understanding the genetic bases of abiotic stress responses in plants, mainly Arabidopsis and tomato. Together with members of the STRESS lab, she uses different genetic, genomic, biochemical, physiological and molecular biology tools to identify genes and mechanisms contributing to stress adaptation and tolerance, which may be employed in plant breeding for resilience. She has been a member of the directive council of the Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics (biennium 2023-2025).

Sabrina Carrella
is senior researcher in molecular biology at Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN). She received her PhD in the European School of Molecular Medicine program carried out at TIGEM, Naples. She received the Graziella Persico Travel Award (CNR) and the ESHG Young Investigator Award. She focused her studies on the functional role of microRNAs in vertebrate eye and in eye diseases and contributed at the identification of strategies of microRNAs modulation as possible RNA-therapeutics (patent WO/2019/202162). Her research group focus the attention on the characterization of miRNA-mediated mechanisms of adaptation in marine organisms to different environment conditions. Her studies have been funded by several internal, national and international competitive grants. Since 2023, she is the Coordinator of the PhD program and institutional seminar program at SZN.

Federica Scotto di Carlo
is researcher in the Bone Diseases & Tumors Laboratory of Dr Gianfrancesco at the IGB-CNR.
Her main scientific interest is the comprehension of molecular bases of genome instability in osteosarcoma. In her publications, she highlighted how the loss of Profilin 1 impairs cell division and affects cell cycle checkpoints.
During her postdoc, she was supported by Fondazione Umberto Veronesi.
Thanks to an AIRC postdoctoral fellowship, she gained experience in live imaging technologies at Institut Curie in Paris.
She won several international awards from the main societies in the field (ASBMR, ECTS, SIOMMMS).

Andrea Strazzulli
received his Ph.D. in Biotechnological Sciences in 2011.
He currently serves as an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, where he is actively involved in both undergraduate and graduate teaching. His research expertise lies at the intersection of applied biotechnology and molecular enzymology. Prof. Strazzulli’s research focuses on the discovery, structural characterization, and engineering of Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes (CAZymes) derived from extremophilic organisms.
In addition, he leads research initiatives in environmental sustainability, with particular emphasis on the identification and functional characterization of novel PETases aimed at developing biocatalytic strategies for plastic degradation.

Claudia Tortiglione
leads the NanoBiomolecularGroup at Istituto di Scienze Applicate e Sistemi Intelligenti (CNR) in Pozzuoli. She received her PhD from University of Naples and completed post doctoral studies at ICMB of Edinburgh and at University of Naples developing biotechnological tools to control cell function, using animal and plant model systems. Since 2004 at ISASI-CNR her research focusses on the development of nano and micro devices to modulate biological functions, and on the use of Cnidaria model organisms to parallel results obtained in vitro. Recently, she exploited the possibility to use organic semiconducting polymers to fabricate living electronic interfaces fully integrated into the animal tissues, opening new horizon in the field of engineered living bioelectronics.

Anna Valenti
is a researcher at the Naples Division of IBBR-CNR, specializing in the biochemical mechanisms underlying DNA transactions. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Biochemistry at the University of Naples Federico II, focusing on DNA structure regulation and genomic stability. She has led pioneering studies on protein and enzyme of thermophilic organisms providing key insights into molecular adaptation. She coordinated several research on DNA structure dynamics, small molecules interactions and DNA metabolism, also exploring biotechnological applications

Roberto Defez
microbiologist at the CNR in Naples. Specialized at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He has published over 60 works and 5 patents. He intervenes in the media on GMOs, research policy, Xylella, Genome editing, glyphosate and issues related to agriculture. Member of the National Academy of Agriculture, the Accademy of Georgofili and the Ethics Committee of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation. He has held 10 parliamentary hearings, two regional hearings and written two books: Il Caso GMO, Carocci 2014 and SCOPERTA, how scientific research can help change Italy, Codice 2018.

For contacts Roberto Defez, CNR, Via Pietro Castellino 111 – 80131 Naples (Italy)
Ph: (+39) 3474087227 -Mail: roberto.defez56@gmail.com

This site was created to coordinate and make information about the Workshop more accessible, an annual event that has now reached the size of an International Congress, attracting such a vast and heterogeneous audience that it would otherwise have very rare opportunities for meeting and discussion. The Congress is inspired by the figure of Maria Ciaramella and deliberately addressed to young students, doctoral students and postdocs who study and work in many research institutes of Campania, protagonists of the Oral Sessions as selected speakers and as presenters in the Poster Sessions. But the element that characterizes this Meeting is their involvement in the scientific organization: in fact, all those who have particularly distinguished themselves in the previous editions will be involved in the Scientific Committee (for the selection of the speakers) and in the moderation (Chair) of the Sessions of the Workshops.

Scientific reports and posters are the heart of the Meeting which thrives on the enthusiasm of those who are in the most fertile moment of their professional career, actively working to advance the frontiers of knowledge from the workbench of our laboratories. These are fundamental moments in the path of scientific and cultural maturation of the new generations, and this is meant to be one of the (few) opportunities for the most active and enthusiastic young people: getting to know each other and comparing themselves with expert researchers is an opportunity to emerge and establish new and fruitful collaborations, scientific sharing and knowledge of other realities.

On the site we have decided to host a personal section dedicated to those who want to leave a memory, a thought, share an experience and perhaps a photo of a meeting they had with Maria. The section is open to family, friends and scientists who have known her, but also to those who have never met her but feel the desire to leave a message, respecting the few rules described in the “I met her” form. The interventions will be moderated by the site managers and the privacy rules are illustrated in detail in this specific section. The photographs will, where possible, be collected in the photo gallery and the thoughts will be published in the “Thoughts on Mary” section. Upon written request from the author, each contribution may be removed by writing to the site administrators: procedure specified in the privacy rules.