Assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Sciences, University of Palermo. Former Marie Curie individual fellow at the University of Wageningen, The Netherlands (2016-2017). Former Agreenskills+ fellow at the University of Montpellier, France (2018). He has carried out research activities at other institutions abroad (Texas A&M University, Lincoln University New Zealand). The research focuses on plant-insect-microbe interactions, with particular interest for plant responses induced by insect egg deposition. Recently he has also been interested in the role played by polydnaviruses at the plant-insect interface.
He has co-authored more than 40 scientific papers published in international journals with impact factor indexed in Scopus and / or Web of Science. He is subject editor for the OIKOS journal and review editor for journals of the Frontiers group.

Plant-insect-microbe interactions
Parasitoid-associated symbionts
Chemical and behavioural ecology
Biological control