Dr. Ilaria Catanzaro
Scientist
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Permoserstraße 15
04318 Leipzig
Phone +49 341 6025 2884
Email
ilaria.catanzaro@ufz.de
Research Interests
- Forest monitoring and derivation of old-growth forests through remote sensing
- Astrobiology, space sustainability
Projects
Derivation of potential old-growth forests in Germany using Copernicus Sentinel-2 time series in combination with other remote sensing products
Curriculum Vitae
| since 2025 | Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Remote Sensing, UFZ, Leipzig, Germany |
| 2020 - 2024 | Doctoral student, Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy |
| 2022 - 2023 | Visiting scientist, Department 4: Materials and the Environment, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Berlin, Germany |
| 2019 - 2020 | Research intern, Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy |
| 2016 | Research intern, Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy |
| 2020 - 2024 | Ph.D. in 'Ecology and Sustainable Management of Environmental Resources', University of Tuscia, Viterbo Italy |
| 2017 - 2020 | M.Sc. in 'Ecology of Global Change', University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy |
| 2013 - 2016 | B.Sc. in 'Natural Sciences', Sapienza University, Rome, Italy |
Publications
- Cassaro, A., Pacelli, C., Cemmi, A., Di Sarcina, I., Zucconi, L., Cavalazzi, B., Leo, P., Catanzaro, I., Onofri, S. (2025): The effect of ionizing radiation on hydrated fungal cells: Implications for planetary protection and Mars habitability. Icarus 425, 116339, DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2024.116339
- Onofri, S., Moeller, R., Billi, D., Balsamo, M., Becker, A., Benvenuto, E., Cassaro, A., Catanzaro, I., Cockell, C.S., Desiderio, A., Ellis, T., Gonzáles-Pastor, J.E., Hahn, C., Leys, N., Leo, P., Maurel, M.-C., Pacelli, C., Pavletic, B., Ripa, C., Rothschild, L.J., Surdo, L. (2025): Synthetic biology for space exploration. npj Microgravity 11, 41, DOI: 10.1038/s41526-025-00488-7
Catanzaro, I., Gorbushina, A.A., Onofri, S., Schumacher, J. (2024): 1,8-Dihydroxynaphthalene (DHN) melanin provides unequal protection to black fungi Knufia petricola and Cryomyces antarcticus from UV-B radiation. Environmental Microbiology Reports, 16(6), e70043, DOI: 10.1111/1758-2229.70043
- Catanzaro, I., Gerrits, R., Feldmann, I., Gorbushina, A.A., Onofri, S., Schumacher, J. (2024): Deletion of the polyketide synthase-encoding gene pks1 prevents melanization in the extremophilic fungus Cryomyces antarcticus. IUBMB Life, 76(12), 1072–1090, DOI: 10.1002/iub.2895
- Cassaro, A., Pacelli, C., Aureli, L., Catanzaro, I., Leo, P., Onofri, S. (2021): Antarctica as a reservoir of planetary analogue environments. Extremophiles 25, 437–458, DOI: 10.1007/s00792-021-01245-w
- Pacelli, C., Cassaro, A., Catanzaro, I., Baqué, M., Maturilli, A., Böttger, U., Rabbow, E., de Vera, J.-P.P., Onofri, S. (2021): The Ground-Based BIOMEX Experiment Verification Tests for Life Detection on Mars. Life, 11(11), 1212, DOI: 10.3390/life11111212