April 2023 -in progress: Research fellow at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, entitled "Bio-agronomic interventions on fruit crops: physiological, metabolomic and qualitative determinations."
2022/2023 - Research fellow at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, entitled “Evaluation of graft/graft combinations and environmentally sustainable bio-agronomic interventions in citrus."
2020 and 2021 - Research periods at the Institute of biomolecular chemistry (ICB) – CNR in Catania studying the primary and secondary metabolites in fruits using HPLC/DAD, HPLC /ESI-MS and GC/MS analysis
2022 - PhD in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science at Catania University, on the topic “Role of the rootstock in influencing fruit quality and tolerance to salt stress in pigmented citrus species”.
2021 - Research activities at the Jaume I, University of Castellon de la Plana, Spain, on the topic “Responses of citrus rootstocks to abiotic stress conditions” investigating on the metabolomic and hormone response of citrus rootstocks under water and salt stress, using liquid chromatography and bioinformatics software.
2019 - Research period at The Edmund Mach Foundation, San Michele all’Adige, Italy, and working on the topic “Metabolomic and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) characterization on plant matrices” using mass spectrometry (GC- PTR-ToF-MS).
2018 - Research grant for research activity at the Catania University on the topic “Influence of the rootstock on the main productive characteristics in citrus cultivation” investigating the role of the rootstock on yield and qualitative traits of citrus fruit.
2018 - Erasmus + Traineeship at the Universidad Miguel Hernandez in Elche (Spain) investigating on the topic “Influence of agronomical features on citrus qualitative traits” in which the evolution of the biochemical compounds of blood oranges fruits was monitored during maturation by liquid chromatography (HPLC) in experimental field with the same scion-rootstock combinations located in different Italian and Spanish environmental conditions.
2018 - Passed the qualifying examination to practice the profession of agronomist and forestry doctor.
2017 - Stage at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A) of the University of Catania, investigating the main qualitative traits of blood orange affected by rootstocks.
2017 - Master’s Degree in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies, University of Catania. Degree thesis: “Influence of rootstock on early fruiting and anthocyanic content in sweet orange [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck]”. Final mark: 110/110 cum laude
Continella A., Pannitteri C., Modica G., Gentile A., La Malfa S., Hernández F., Legua P. (2019). Evolution of fruit maturation of some pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cultivars in two Mediterranean areas. Acta Hort., 1254: 97-102.
Caruso M., Continella A., Modica G., Pannitteri C., Russo R., Salonia F., Arlotta C., Gentile A., Russo G. (2020) Rootstocks Influence Yield Precocity, Productivity, and Pre-Harvest Fruit Drop of Mandared Pigmented Mandarin. Agronomy, DOI: 10.3390/agronomy10091305.
Legua P., Modica G., Porras I., Conesa A., Continella A. (2021) Bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity and fruit quality evaluation of eleven blood orange cultivars. J Sci Food Agric. 102(7), 2960-2971.
Lana G.*, Modica G.*, Las Casas G., Siracusa L., La Malfa S., Gentile A., Sicilia A., Distefano G., Continella A. (2021) Molecular Insights into the Effects of Rootstocks on Maturation of Blood Oranges. Horticulturae, 7(11): 468. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7110468.
Di Guardo M., Farneti M., Khomenko I., Modica G., Mosca A., Distefano G., Bianco L., Troggio M., Sottile F., La Malfa S., Biasioli F. & Gentile A. (2021) Genetic characterization of an almond germplasm collection and volatilome profiling of raw and roasted kernels. Hortic. Res., 8: 27 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-021-00465-7.
Modica G., Pannitteri C., Di Guardo M., La Malfa S., Gentile A., R. Giuseppe, Pulvirenti L., Parafati L., Continella A., Siracusa L. (2022) Influence of rootstock genotype on individual metabolic responses and antioxidant potential of blood orange cv. Tarocco Scirè, J Food Compos Anal, 105:104246, ISSN 0889-1575.
Oliveri C., Modica G., Bella P., Cirvilleri G., Continella A., Catara V. 2021. Preliminary evaluation of a zinc and copper compound complexed with citric-acid hydracids for the control of Plenodomus tracheiphilus causal agent of Citrus Mal secco disease. Acta Hortic. 1354: 231 - 236 DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1354.30.
Modica G., Arcidiacono F., Massimino Cocuzza G.E., Catara V., Tribulato A., La Malfa S., Continella A. 2022. Development of sustainable control strategies for citrus under the threat of climate change for the prevention of HLB entry into the EU: the Italian experience (LIFE18 CCA/ES/001109). Acta Hortic. 1354, 237 - 243 DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1354.31.
Continella A., Modica G., Tribulato A, La Malfa S., Gentile A. 2022. 11-year survey of yield and fruit quality of blood orange as affected by rootstock. Acta Hortic. 1363, 131-138.
Continella, A., Modica, G., Porras, I., Conesa, A. and Legua, P. 2022. Pomological and phenolic characterization of blood orange cultivars in a Mediterranean environment. Acta Hortic. 1353, 309-316.
Distefano G., Di Guardo M., Farneti B., Khomenko I., Luca L., Modica G., Bianco L., Troggio M., Sottile F., La Malfa S., Biasioli F., Gentile A. 2022. Direct-injection spectrometry and whole-genome genotyping unravel the genetic regulation of aroma in fresh and roasted kernels of almond. Acta Hortic. 1362, 367-372.
Modica, G., Siracusa, L., Pulvirenti, L., Ruberto, G., Di Guardo, M., La Malfa, S., Gentile, A. and Continella, A. (2022). Influence of the rootstock and the environment on qualitative traits and phenolic composition in blood oranges. Acta Hortic. 1353, 211-218.
Consoli, S., Caggia, C., Russo, N., Randazzo, C.L., Continella, A., Modica, G., Cacciola, S.O., Faino, L., Reverberi, M., Baglieri, A., Puglisi, I., Milani, M., Longo Minnolo, G., Barbagallo, S. (2023). Sustainable Use of Citrus Waste as Organic Amendment in Orange Orchards. Sustainability, 15, 2482. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032482
Panebianco, S., van Wijk, E., Yan, Y., Cirvilleri, G., Continella, A., Modica, G., Musumarra, A., Pellegriti, M.G., Scordino, A. (2023). Applications of Delayed Luminescence for tomato fruit quality assessment across varied Sicilian cultivation zones. PLOS ONE. 18 (6), e0286383.
Poles L., Modica G., Gaetano C., Vecchio L., Sipione A., Ereddia V., Arcidiacono F., La Malfa S., Continella A., Gentile A. 2022. Stem cuttings and micropropagation protocols for Bitters rootstock large scale production. Acta Hortic.
Vanella, D., Consoli, S., Continella, A., Chinnici, G., Milani, M., Cirelli, G.L., D’Amico, M., Gentile, A., La Spada, P., Scollo, F., Modica, G., Siracusa, L., Longo-Minnolo, G., Barbagallo, S. Environmental and agro-economic sustainability of olive orchards irrigated with reclaimed water under deficit irrigation. Heliyon. 4491306. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4491306