She earned a Bachelor degree in Biology at the University of Siena, Italy. She got a Ph. D. in Environmental Science at the same University in 1992. From 1993 to 1996 she was at the University of California at Davis, following projects concerning the development of molecular genotyping on grapevine. She was under a Fulbright Scholarship program at Purdue University (I, USA) from November 2008 until May 2009. Currently, she works full time at the University of Siena where she has been teaching as contract professor “Transgenic plants” for ten years (2000-2010). Her main research interests are mostly on molecular biology of mediterranean crops, namely V. vinifera and O. europaea.
Food and wine molecular traceability; plant genotyping
Transgenic plants, genotyping of plant species, food traceability
Jacopo Bigliazzi, Monica Scali, Elisa Paolucci, Mauro Cresti, Rita Vignani. DNA Extracted with Optimized Protocols Can Be Genotyped to Reconstruct the Varietal Composition of Monovarietal Wine. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 63, 568-573 (2012).
Monica Scali, Rita Vignani, Jacopo Bigliazzi, Andrea Bernini, Ottavia Spiga, Neri Niccolai, e Mauro Cresti. Genetic Differentiation of pig breed Cinta Senese from Landrace and Large White by use of microsatellite markers. Electr. J. Biotechnol. 15:2 (2012).
Rita Vignani, Monica Scali, Jacopo Bigliazzi, Elisa Paolucci, Mauro Cresti, Valerio Zorzi. Fenotipo e Genotipo: metodologie applicative per la riscoperta degli antichi vitigni di Siena. In: Taccuini del laboratorio di Etruscologia e Antichità Italiche Università degli Studi di Siena, Casa Editrice: Nuova Immagine Editore, Siena 2011.
A. Cipriani, I. Spadotto, J. Iurman, G. Di Gaspero, M. Crespan, S. Meneghetti, E. Frare, R. Vignani, M. Cresti, M. Morgante, E. Pe, A. Policriti, R. Testolin A. SSR-based molecular profile of 1005 grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) accessions uncovers new synonymy and parentages, and reveals a large admixture amongst varieties of different geographic origin. Teor. Appl. Genet. 121(8):1569-85 (2010).
R. Ebadi, R. Nikkah, Naghavi M., M. Cresti, M. Scali, R. Vignani, J. Bigliazzi. Clonal selection within grapevine “Askari” by molecular markers Acta Horticulturae. 839: 585 – 590 (2009).