Massimo E. Maffei, graduated in Plant Biology in the University of Turin, where he first became assistant professor, then associate professor and, since 2000, professor of plant physiology. He is the Director of the Doctorate School of Natural Sciences and Innovative Technologies, gathering 10 PhD programs in Science. From 2012 to Feb 2014 he was Vice-Director for Research in the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology of the University of Turin. Form 2000 to 2006 he was Director of the Department of Plant Biology and Deputy Dean of Faculty of Sciences in the University of Turin. From 2003 to 2006 he was the coordinator of the Ministerial Centre of Excellence for Plant Biosensing. From 1987 to 1988 he moved to Washington State University and worked as a postdoctoral research associate under the direction of Rodney Croteau, studying monoterpene biochemistry in the genus Mentha. His current interest is the study of early DAMPS signals in plant-biotrophs interaction which is accomplished by using confocal microscopy, electrophysiology, metabolomics and molecular biology techniques. He is author of more than 150 JCR papers.

Physiology and molecular biology of secondary plant products, with particular reference to terpenoids and flavonoids. Biochemistry, molecular biology, gas-chromatography and mass spectrometry; LC-MS. Model plants: Menta piperita, Arabidopsis thaliana, Cucumis sativus, and other medicinal plants DAMPS in Tritrophic and multitrophic interactions between plants and pathogens/herbivores, with particular reference to early events. Electrophysiology, confocal laser scanning microscopy, biochemistry, molecular biology. Model system: Phaseolus lunatus – Spodoptera littoralis; Arabidopsis thaliana – Tomato spotted virus/Botrytis cinerea/Pseudomonas syringae/Myzus persicae/Whiteflies/Spodoptera littoralis Supercritical fluids extraction of bioactive compounds from plants Astrobiology, with particular reference to stress responses of plants to closed artificial environments. Effect of magnetic fields on plant growth, Volatile Organic Compounds Analyses. Microarray analyses Model system: Arabidopsis thaliana – Magnetic Field Compensation Chamber