MORA DIEGO

Diego Mora
Nato a Vercelli il 28 Aprile 1970

Università degli Studi di Milano
Dipartimento di Scienze per gli Alimenti la Nutrizione e l'Ambiente (DeFENS),
via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano
phone 02 5031 9160
e-mail diego.mora@unimi.it


Professional data
From October 2023 is elected member of the restricted board of the University of Milan Doctoral School for the life sciences area and vice director of the University of Milan Doctoral School. From October 1st 2021, Coordinator of the PhD program in Food Systems; From February 2019 to October 2021, Vice Director of the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS, University of Milan); From October 2020, External member of the commission “Training and Education” National Order of Food Technologists; From February 2019 to October 2020, National vice president of COSTAL (National Coordination of Masters in Food Science and Technology); From November 2018 to June 2021, member of the commission of “Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale” sector 07/I1, AGR/16; From April 2017 Professor at DeFENS (University of Milan); From October 2015 to October 2020, Head of the teaching board of the Bachelor and the Master degree in Food Science and Technology; From 2010 to 2017, associate Professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology (DiSTAM, University of Milan); from 2001 to 2010, Researcher at DiSTAM (University of Milan); PhD in Food Biotechnology at DiSTAM, University of Milan; Master degree in Food Science and Technology at the University of Milan.

Research and teaching activities
Prof. Mora has carried out research activities in the field of Agricultural and Food Microbiology. Specifically, the research activities coordinated by dr. Mora fall into the following fields: i) biology of microorganisms and diversity, ii) biology and biotechnology of microorganisms of food interest with particular reference to the microbial group of lactic acid bacteria of dairy interest, iii) the role of virome in the modulation of microbial communities and in the spread of antibiotic resistance. The scientific activity of dr. Mora is proven by more than 120 publications in international journals peer reviewed, 4626 citations, h index 39 (SCOPUS, May 2025, Diego Mora-ORCID n. 0000-0002-6692-9301).
Prof. Mora is responsible for the following courses: Microbiology and Food Microbiology, Bachelor degree in Food Science and Technology; Biotechnology of food fermentations, Master's degree in Food Science and Technology;

Awards
1998. Best PhD thesis in General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology from SIMGBM;
2015. “SIMTREA Excellence” for the best scientific publication “Mora D, Arioli S (2014) Urease in Health and Disease. PLOS PATHOGENS, 10(12): e1004472.
2023. “SIMTREA Excellence” for the best scientific publication “Arioli et al. (2022) In Streptococcus thermophilus, Ammonia from Urea Hydrolysis Paradoxically Boosts Acidification and Reveals a New Regulatory Mechanism of Glycolysis. Microbiology Spectrum, 10.1128/spectrum.02760-21.

International collaborations
Prof. Erko Stackebrandt, DSMZ, Braunsweig, Germany (2000-2001).
Prof. M. Karp, Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland (2007-2014).
Prof. D. van Sinderen and Dr F. Turroni, Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre and Department of Microbiology, Bioscience Institute, National University of Ireland, Western Road, Cork, Ireland (2011-2015).
Prof. EM. Comelli, Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada (from 2009).
Dr C. Monnet, INRA, UMR782 Génie et Microbiologie des Procédés Alimentaires, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France (2005-2009).
Prof MR. Oggioni, Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, United Kingdom (from 2015).
Dr P. Halami, Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, India (from 2007).
Prof. Willem de Vos, Research Program Unit Immunobiology, Medicum, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands (from 2018).

Invited/selected speaker at international meetings
2022. Selected speaker at the “23ème colloque du Club des Bactéries Lactiques - 8 - 10 June 2022”, The ability of Streptococcus thermophilus BT01 to modulate urease activity in healthy subjects’ fecal samples depends on biomass production process.
2019. Invited speaker at the “2nd International Bio-Fermentation Nutrients Symposium” organized by Procelys Lesaffre, “Development of omic-based protocols for the microbiological characterization of probiotics”. Shanghai 20-21 Novembre 2019;
2019. Invited speaker at the International Congress “Probiotics, prebiotics, new foods, nutraceuticals and botanicals for nutrition & human and microbiota health”, September 8-10, 2019, “How to obtain nowadays reliable high quality multistrain probiotic for clinical practice: the case of VSL#3”;
2019. Invited speaker at the 25th FISMAD Congress, March 29th 2019, “VSL#3, microbiological identity card and quality assessment”;
2018. Invited speaker at the 11th Meeting on Global Microbial Identifier (Geneva, Switzerland), “Viromes As Genetic Reservoir for the Microbial Communities in Food-Associated Environments: A Focus on Antimicrobial- Resistance Genes”;
2013-Selected speaker at the Microbial Diversity 2013 – Microbial Interactions In Complex Ecosystems (Turin, Italy), “The overexpression of PmrB reduce the sensitivity of Streptococcus thermophilus towards several antimicrobial molecules”;
Selected speaker for short presentation at the “II International Conference on Antimicrobial Research” (Lisbon, Portugal), “Overexpression of the MFS transporter pmrB in Streptococcus thermophilus improves the efficiency of ethidium bromide efflux and the growth fitness under stressed condition”;
2011-Selected speaker for short presentation at the “5th International Conference on Analysis of Microbial Cells at the Single Cell Level”, “Single-growing unit phenotypic heterogeneity in Streptococcus thermophilus DSM20617”;
2009- Selected speaker for short presentation al convegno internazionale 10th International Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria (Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands) con una relazione dal titolo “A single-growing unit approach highlights phenotypic cell heterogeneity in Streptococcus thermophilus”;
2008- Selected speaker al convegno internazionale 9th International Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria (Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands) “The role of carbon dioxide and alkalinizing reactions on the energetic metabolism in Streptococcus thermophilus”;

Editorial Board
Dr Mora belongs to the Editorial board of the international journal Annals of Microbiology (Springer);

Project referee
Dr Mora has done project referee activity for the following institution: MIUR, Free University of Bozen, Poland National Science Center, ANR, France.

Financed Projects
PRIN-PNRR 2022: S. thermophilus urease, a health-associated factor for IBS patients (St-4-health). PI. 24 months;
PRIN 2022: Guidelines and protocols for quality and functional assessment of probiotic formulations (Prob-ID). Research unit leader. 24 months;
PRIN 2006: Genetic variability and functional analysis of Streptococcus thermophilus strains of industrial interest. Research unit leader. 24 months;
FP7-KBBE-2008-2B: Confronting the clinical relevance of biocide induced antibiotic resistance; Research unit leader. 36 months;
Indo-Italian program of cooperation POC 2005-7, BS 4: Molecular characterization of novel bacteriocin producing bacterial strains and development of applications for food-biopreservation process. PI of the Italian Unit. 36 months;
Safe Food Microbes (n. 30059587) financed by Regione Lombardia and MIUR. Research Unit leader. 24 months. 2012-2013.

Patents
Mora D, Arioli S. Metodo per aumentare la capacità di una cellula batterica di utilizzare il lattosio. Deposited in February 2024.
Guglielmetti S, Mora D. (2008). Preparation of polyfunctional fermented food products. International Patent Application WO/2008/131899. Publication date: 6th November 2008. International Application No.: PCT/EP2008/003267.
Guglielmetti S, Mora D. (2008). Preparation of polyfunctional fermented food products. International Patent Application WO/2008/131899. Publication date: 6th November 2008. International Application No.: PCT/EP2008/003267.
Mora D., Pintus, P. (2008). A method for the preparation of Penicillium spores and the use of the latter in the food field. EP 06425435.2
Guglielmetti S, Mora D. (2012). Bifidobacterium bifidum strains for application in gastrointestinal deseases. International Patent Application WO/2012/104226. Publication date: 9th August 2012. International Application No.: PCT/EP2012/051369.

Advisory board and consultant activities for private company
Dr. Mora is involved in advisory board, consultancy and research contracts for several private companies operating in the fields of starter cultures for dairy applications and probiotics.