Dr Rosa Bonaventura

Education: 1998, Degree in Biological Sciences awarded at the “Università degli Studi di Palermo”.
2000-2003, Associate Research Fellow at the “Istituto di Biomedicina ed Immunologia Molecolare (IBIM) ”A. Monroy”, CNR Palermo, in the frame of the European Community Grant: Effects of UV-B exposure and pollution on sea urchin cells, embryos and larvae: expression of inducibile proteins (UV-TOX).
2003-2005, fellow of the Master Course, sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), “MAMBO” Master in Oceanographic Monitoring and Environmental Protection.
2005-2006, Associate Research Fellow (6 months contract) at the IBIM-CNR Palermo, in the frame of the Project “Produzione di giovanili della specie mediterranea di riccio di mare Paracentrotus lividus a scopo di accrescimento in impianti di maricultura”.
2007- 2008, Associate Research Fellow at the IBIM-CNR, in the frame of the Project with Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) WP#1B1311- X9: Effects of cosmic radiation and microgravity on the expression of stress markers in an embryo model system.
2008-2011, Temporary research contract by the CNR, at the Institute IBIM in the frame of the Project with Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) WP#1B1311- X9.
September 2011-today, Full time researcher at the Institute for Innovation and Biomedical research (IRIB), Dept. of Biomedical Science of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), Palermo, Italy.

Main research fields:
- Study of the stress response to chemical and physical agents using a marine invertebrate, the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, as an embryonic model. Different protein levels and/or their post-translational modifications were analyzed together with morphological evaluation on sea urchin embryos exposed to chemical and/or physical agents.
- Assay of embryo-toxicity for the evaluation of the quality of coastal marine environments.
- Aquacultures of sea urchin larvae.