Lorenzo Morelli

Lorenzo Morelli has served as Dean of Faculty at the Institute of Microbiology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, since November 2009. A food microbiologist, his research focuses on characterizing the probiotic activity of Lactobacillus spp. and describing gut microbiota composition in humans and animals. Prof. Morelli has contributed to several EU-funded research projects aimed at classifying beneficial microbes. He also served as Scientific Coordinator of two European research projects: FLAIR (1991), the first European-funded project focused on probiotic ingredients in food; ACE-ART (2003–2007), dedicated to assessing the presence of antibiotic-resistance genes in lactic acid bacteria, including probiotics. As a member of FAO expert panels, he contributed to the development of guidelines for the assessment of probiotics (2001–2002) and prebiotics (2007). He is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Section of the International Dairy Federation. Prof. Morelli has authored 150 papers and is listed among the Top Italian Scientists.