Francesco Ricci

Francesco Ricci is a Research Fellow in Microbiology at Monash University, affiliated with the Greening Lab. His research focuses on microbial adaptation in extreme environments, including deep-sea corals, Antarctic ecosystems, and hypersaline lakes. Ricci holds a PhD in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Melbourne (2022), where he studied coral-microbe symbiosis. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to marine conservation and climate action.

Research Interests

• Chemosynthesis in aquatic systems
• Microbial ecology of extreme environments
• Host-symbiont interactions in corals
• Bioinformatics and multivariate statistical analysis of microbial communities

Awards

• BayCenSI Stepping Stones funding (2024)
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellowship (2023)

Key Contributions

Ricci's recent work includes studies on coral microbiomes, chemosynthetic processes in deep-sea ecosystems, and the role of microbial diversity in environmental adaptation. His articles bridge microbial ecology with broader biogeochemical cycles, emphasizing underappreciated roles of chemosynthesis in marine systems.