Concetta Simona Taranto

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

• Visiting PhD student at DAGOLAB, Bioinformatics laboratory at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II [29/05/2025 – 31/07/2025] | Professor Nunzio D'Agostino: data analysis from miRNA sequencing

• Theorical-practical SIGA course: “Established and emerging gene editing techniques in Solanaceae and rice”| University of Naples Federico II [09/06/2025 – 12/06/2025]

• Biotechnology PhD student: University of Catania [01/10/2024 – current]  | Supervisor: Prof. Angela Roberta Lo Piero | Title of the project: The healthy color of blood oranges: genetic and epigenetic analysis of anthocyanin production and accumulation
• Master's degree in Agricultural Biotechnology: University of Catania [03/10/2022 – 22/07/2024] City: Catania | Country: Italy | Field(s) of study: Agricultural biotechnology (LM-7) | Final grade: 110/110 Cum laude | Experimental thesis: Whole genome bisulfite sequencing methylome analysis of orange (Citrus sinensis) fruits in response to cold temperature stress | Supervisor: Prof. Angela Roberta Lo Piero
• Environmental Educator: University of Catania [16/09/2023 – 02/10/2023] City: Catania | Country: Italy | Field(s) of study: Generic programmes and qualifications: Personal skills and development | Final grade: 28 
• Degree in Biotechnology: University of Catania [10/2019 – 27/09/2022] City: Catania | Country: Italy | Field(s) of study: Biotechnology (L-2) | Final grade: 110/110 Cum laude | Experimental thesis: Identification of phenotypic markers of Mal Secco disease in lemon | Supervisor: Prof. Angela Roberta Lo Piero
• High School Diploma: State Scientific High School "Enrico Boggio Lera" [09/2014 – 07/2019] 

CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS

• Annual congress Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics [Viterbo (Italy), 09/09/2025 – 12/09/2025]:Sodium nitroprusside as a priming agent induces drought stress tolerance in Citrus
• European Horticulture Congress [Bucharest (Romania), 12/05/2024 – 16/05/2024]: Integration of RNAseq and WGCNA to study phenotypic plasticity in wine grape cultivars grown in Southern Italy
• European Horticulture Congress [Bucharest (Romania), 12/05/2024 – 16/05/2024]:  Epigenetic regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in blood oranges during cold storage: first results on bisulphite sequencing

HONOURS AND AWARDS 

• Winner of the "Award for students who are enrolled in STEM courses " For the academic year 2023/2024, the University of Catania, confered an award upon deserving student, who are enrolled in a STEM or Sociology courses [08/04/2024].  
• Winner of the "Graduation Award for deserving students" Degree award in favor of deserving students who, in the 2022/2023 academic year, have decided to continue their education in a Master's Degree course at the University of Catania [06/10/2023].

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Intern: Institut Valencià d'Investigacions Agràries (IVIA) [28/02/2024 – 27/05/2024] City: Moncada (Valencia) | Country: Spain | Website: www.ivia.gva.es | Name of unit or department: Centre de Genòmica - Business or sector: Agriculture, forestry and fishing | Research activities: Use of genomic tools for citrus breeding, for fruit quality and adaption to global warming; use of LINUX system to conduct bioinformatics studies; physiological and molecular analysis of a a selected number of segregants from a cross of two mandarins using trascriptomics and bioinformatics.
• Intern: Laboratorio BioGene di Primer srl [21/06/2022 – 22/06/2022] City: Catania | Country: Italy | Activities: Process techniques from the pre-analytical phase, acceptance and preparation of the samples, the analytical phase (hematology, clinical biochemistry, immunoenzymatic, electrophoresis, molecular biology), up to the validation and reporting of the results.
• Intern at Plant Genetics' laboratory: University of Catania [21/02/2022 – 31/03/2022] City: Catania | Country: Italy | Activities: nucleic acid extraction from plants; PCR; preparation of solutions and culture media; culture in vitro for breeding techniques of fruit tree; use of laboratory equipment, control of growing conditions.