ROBERTA PROVVEDI (RP), was born in Siena on November 29th 1967. Resident in Padova, (Italy) Present position: Associate Professor of Microbiology (SSD BIO/19 - General Microbiology) at the Department of Biology, University of Padova. She is a member of the Italian Society of General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology (SIMGBM). Education -1992. Bachelor in Biology -1999. PhD in Microbiology Professional activity After her Bachelor Degree, RP has always been involved in studies on Microbiology. She worked at the Institute of Microbiology, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Siena (1992-1995). From 1995 to 2000 she worked first as a PhD STUDENT and then as a RESEARCH ASSOCIATE at the Public Health Research Institute of New York, NY, USA. In 2000 she was back in Siena and in 2002 she moved to the Department of Histology, Microbiology and Medical Biotechnology of the University of Padova. In 2006 she had a position as RESEARCH ASSOCIATE and from 2015 she is ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR in Microbiology (SSD BIO/19 – General Microbiology) at the Department of Biology, University of Padova Teaching experience Courses teached by RP: 2009/2010. APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, degree in Health Biology, University of Padova 2011/present. MICROBIOLOGY, degree in Biology, University of Padova 2011/present. MICROBIOLOGY AND DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY, degree in Health Biology, University of Padova

RP has principally worked in the fields of bacterial genetics and global regulation of gene expression. At the beginning of her career, RP studied conjugative transposons of Gram positive bacteria and developed biotechnological tools with the commensal Streptococcus gordonii. From 1995 to 2000 she was in New York (USA). During this period her research focused on the characterization of the molecular mechanisms involved in natural transformation in the Gram positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis. When she moved to Padova, she started a research focused on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) with main interest on the relationship between virulence and global regulation of transcription.

Role of SigE in the stringent response of Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis