A microbiologist, entrepreneur and winner of a 2020 ERC Starting Grant, he is professor of environmental microbiology at the University Federico II in Naples, where he and his research group study how microorganisms influence planetary-scale processes. His group works at the interface of biology and geology, integrating expeditions to some of the most remote parts of the planet with techniques from microbiology, geochemistry and computational biology to understand how our planet and life have co-evolved over the past 4 billion years.