Francesco Asnicar

Francesco Asnicar is a researcher at the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO) at the University of Trento. He specializes in computational biology, genomics, and microbiome research with a focus on metagenomics and microbial genomics. His work bridges bioinformatics, data science, and biological applications, particularly in understanding host-microbiome interactions in health and disease.

Teaching activities include courses such as Algorithms and Data Structures, Computational Biology, Cancer Genomics, and Scientific Programming, emphasizing Python programming and algorithmic problem-solving in biological contexts. His research spans microbial community analysis, dietary impacts on the gut microbiome, and translational applications of metagenomics in oncology and immunology.

Key areas of study include microbiome-driven biomarker discovery for colorectal cancer, antibiotic resistance mechanisms in foodborne pathogens, and the role of microbial metabolites in autoimmune and metabolic disorders. He contributes to open-source tools for metagenomic analysis and collaborates on large-scale epidemiological studies linking microbiome composition to diet and cardiometabolic health.

Recent work focuses on precision nutrition, fecal microbiota transplantation in cancer therapy, and computational methods for metagenomic data interpretation. Asnicar’s interdisciplinary approach integrates computational tools with experimental biology to address fundamental questions in systems microbiology and translational medicine.