Pharmacist with experience in pharmacology and in pharmaceutical research, manufacturing and legislation, particularly with regard to phytotherapics and in silico analyses of natural drugs activities.
The experience in the department of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen allowed me to collaborate with international researchers, and gave me the ability to relate and work in multiethnic groups.
Since April 2014 I collaborate with the research laboratory of the Italian Society of Phytotherapy (SIFitLab), dealing with quality control, chemical and biological analyses of phytotherapics, and managing research projects involving the study of pharmaco-toxicological properties of medicinal plants through in silico, in vitro and ex vivo investigations.
Currently I manage a research project about in silico and in vitro evaluation of natural products bioavailability and supervise many master thesis projects within the pharmaceutical biology laboratory at the University of Siena.
Since June 2015 I'm the head of Italian Society of Phytotherapy Young section (S.I.Fit Giovani).
In my free time I devote myself to sports and music, and I participate in the activities of my family farm.
Supervisors: Prof. Daniela Giachetti, University of Siena (Italy), Dr. Marco Biagi, University of Siena (Italy), Prof. Fabrizio Manetti, University of Siena (Italy), and Prof. Luca De Vico, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
The experience in the department of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen allowed me to collaborate with international researchers, and gave me the ability to relate and work in multiethnic groups.
Since April 2014 I collaborate with the research laboratory of the Italian Society of Phytotherapy (SIFitLab), dealing with quality control, chemical and biological analyses of phytotherapics, and managing research projects involving the study of pharmaco-toxicological properties of medicinal plants through in silico, in vitro and ex vivo investigations.
Currently I manage a research project about in silico and in vitro evaluation of natural products bioavailability and supervise many master thesis projects within the pharmaceutical biology laboratory at the University of Siena.
Since June 2015 I'm the head of Italian Society of Phytotherapy Young section (S.I.Fit Giovani).
In my free time I devote myself to sports and music, and I participate in the activities of my family farm.
Supervisors: Prof. Daniela Giachetti, University of Siena (Italy), Dr. Marco Biagi, University of Siena (Italy), Prof. Fabrizio Manetti, University of Siena (Italy), and Prof. Luca De Vico, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
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Various ethnobotanical investigations that took place in Italy and in Greece confirmed the use of many species enlisted by EMA, ESCOP and WHO for use in wound healing. The interviewed subjects provided important practical details about the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of tissue lesions and they also described how every single plant, as well as every preparation, is destined to a specific type of wound. This work summarizes the medicinal plants used in Mediterranean countries, particularly Italy and Greece, for wound healing, reporting mechanisms of action, clinical efficacy and peculiar characteristics. These data provide the rationale for using different natural remedies on different types of wounds, showing that local health seeking strategies can help in resolving wound healing problems.
Various ethnobotanical investigations that took place in Italy and in Greece confirmed the use of many species enlisted by EMA, ESCOP and WHO for use in wound healing. The interviewed subjects provided important practical details about the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of tissue lesions and they also described how every single plant, as well as every preparation, is destined to a specific type of wound. This work summarizes the medicinal plants used in Mediterranean countries, particularly Italy and Greece, for wound healing, reporting mechanisms of action, clinical efficacy and peculiar characteristics. These data provide the rationale for using different natural remedies on different types of wounds, showing that local health seeking strategies can help in resolving wound healing problems.
The main chemical constituents of the species are flavonoids and polysaccharides, but phenolic and organic acids are also present, together with coumarins, amino acids and triterpenes. Overall, at least fifteen different flavonoids have been identified, belonging to the group of glycosides of kaempferol and quercetin with one, two or three sugar units. The freeze-dried juice of S. telephium contains about 3% of total flavonoids expressed as kaempferol, and more than 5% of soluble polysaccharides (Biagi et al., 2013). In modern herbal medicine, S. telephium has been used in clinical practice even in serious emergency cases, such as for treating open wounds and deep burns of II and III degree, or for major damage from traumatic events involving bone (Balatri, 2013). More recently, in vitro and in vivo pharmacological studies have investigated the mechanisms of action, with the aim of proposing stable preparations with a standardized chemical composition.
Our data have shown that the whole phytocomplex is responsible for the biological activity, with a prominent role of both polysaccharides and flavonoids. Tissue repair is ascribed to a complex series of cellular and molecular events, including in situ tissue regeneration, reduction of pathogenic bacteria, and reshaping of the new tissue in its final structure. S. telephium shows bacteriostatic activity especially against Streptococcus spp. and Staphylococcus spp. Moreover, thanks to its anti-radical and antioxidants properties, it also inhibits the accumulation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in the site of action (in particular species produced by monocytes as antibacterial agents). Preparations obtained from Sedum leaves show radical scavenging and photoprotective ability in vitro, also confirmed by in vivo experiments (Bonina et al., 2000). In addition, these preparations are able to modulate the inflammatory response, that is considered the ideal goal of a therapeutic healing agent (Altavilla et al., 2008). As another key mechanism of action, S. telephium promotes the proliferation of fibroblasts and collagen production. Finally, working with primary human fibroblasts, we highlighted that dry extracts of S. telephium, standardized in flavonoids and polysaccharides, are able to enhance the levels of sirtuin 1, which represents an interesting cell repair signal.