Virginia Lanzotti

Virginia Lanzotti is a professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, where she got her degree in Chemistry cum laude in 1982. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Bonn, joining the Prof. Breitmaier group, in 1985 she was appointed as a researcher at the National Council of Research (CNR), working on the isolation of membrane lipids from archaebacteria. From 1988 to 2009 she was first a researcher and then a professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Molise, Italy, working on the discovery of new plant metabolites.

In 1989, 1994, 1996, and 1997 she was a visiting professor at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands, joining the Prof. Altona group, working on conformational studies of DNA oligomers. In 2009 she moved to the University of Naples Federico II, Department of Agricultural Sciences, where she is ERASMUS and International Relationships Delegate. Her research interests are focused on the stereostructure of natural compounds, drug discovery, food chemistry, and soil organic matter phytotoxicity. She is the author of 150 papers. Winner of the 2003 Phytochemical Society of Europe – Pierre Fabre Award for excellence in Phytochemistry, she has been in charge as President of the Phytochemical Society of Europe from 2016 to 2018.