Dr. Francesca Cappitelli is a Full Professor of Microbiology at the Università degli Studi di Milano, in the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences. She received her Ph.D. (2002) in Conservation Science from the Royal College of Art, London. She has substantial post-doctoral interdisciplinary research experience and conducts high quality research which is reflected in the authorship of peer-reviewed publications. She supervises academic work by undergraduates, master and doctoral students and mentors post-doc fellows.

Major research interests are cultural heritage microbiology and subaerial biofilm.

Current areas of cultural heritage microbiological research include biodeterioration of many materials, such as stone, paintings, synthetic polymers and paper and control strategies. A further topic is the use of microorganisms for the bioremoval of undesired compounds, e.g. graffiti compounds from cultural heritage surfaces.

Biofilm research is devoted to the study of bacterial and fungal biofilms mainly at the air/solid interfaces. This topic includes the investigation of non-toxic environmentally-friendly phytocompounds such as those that interfere with key steps of biofilm development.