UFGI faculty profile – Luciano Brocchieri

Name: Luciano Brocchieri.

Born: Verbania, Italy.

Position at UF: Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology, College of Medicine.

Job before this one: Senior Research Scientist at the Department of Mathematics, Stanford University.

Current research interest, in layman’s terms:  Identifying genes in prokaryotes and viruses. Investigating with computational methods general principles underlying the evolution of genes and proteins. Characterizing the evolution and functional differentiation of specific prokaryotic and eukaryotic protein families. Developing bioinformatics tools and methods to identify genes and their evolutionary relations.

Prior Research: Hierarchical structure in mice societies and predatory behavior of birds of prey (ethologial studies in Parma, around 1978-1986), theoretical models of evolution of altruistic behavior (PhD in theoretical population genetics in Pavia, 1987-1991), analysis of protein structure, sequence and evolution (bioinformatics at Stanford, 1991-2006).

Education: PhD, University of Parma (Italy)

Family: Married to Silvia with two children: Marco (will be six July 1, 2007) and Francesca (will be two June 4, 2007)

When I'm not at work, I am:  Playing with the kids, gardening, thinking about interior and garden design. Thinking about starting to play tennis and golf again.

The best thing that I've done lately that no one knows about: I don’t know either.

Last non-work related book:  Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys, by D. Kindlon and M. Thompson.

Last movie and your thoughts:  Imax documentary on life in the deep sea at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa. Sounds and images in Imax theaters are way too big.

Something always in your refrigerator: Boddington English pub beer is my last finding, but my wife still sticks to Heineken. Parmesan cheese directly shipped from Italy.

People would be surprised to know that: I consider myself a zoologist.

Contact me at: lucianob@ufl.edu