Maria Rosa Loffredo is a researcher at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Department of Environment and Health, Unit of Ecosystem and Health, in the context of the BlueAdapt project.

She obtained her PhD degree in Biochemistry in 2019. Her main research interest is characterizing the killing mechanisms of amphibian skin-derived bioactive peptides against multidrug-resistant bacteria using biochemistry and molecular biology approaches. These molecules known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have a good application prospect in medicine, food, animal husbandry, agriculture and aquaculture.

From 2019 to 2024 she worked as researcher assistant on several national and international research projects co-founded by the Italian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Institut Pasteur in Italy, focusing particularly on the development of AMPs for biomedical applications and for the treatment of lung pathology in cystic fibrosis (Scopus Author ID: 57195489424). Since 2019, she has been held teaching academic positions continuously at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of “La Sapienza”, University of Rome, Italy.

In 2024, she was teacher in the “Second Training School” of the COST ACTION CA221145 – EURESTOP “European Network for diagnosis and treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections”. Since 2018 she has been a member of the Italian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Italian Peptide Society.

She is now actively participating in WP3 and WP7 of the BlueAdapt project, focusing on mechanisms by which environmental variables impact pathogens and related antibiotic resistance spreads into aquatic ecosystems.