Nicole Grandi obtained her Master’s degree in Health Biology cum laude from the University of Bologna in 2012 and her PhD in Life, Environmental and Drug Sciences from the University of Cagliari in 2017. In 2019, she joined the University of Cagliari as a researcher and was appointed Associate Professor of Microbiology in 2025. She leads the Bioinformatics Unit within the Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, where her research integrates molecular virology and microbiology with the computational analysis of omics data. Her main research focus is on human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), including the characterization of their genomic integration sites and expression profiles in transcriptomic datasets. Her work investigates HERV elements specifically modulated in cancer, autoimmune diseases, and viral infections, aiming to elucidate their contribution to disease and assess their potential as innovative biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Particular attention is devoted to the interplay between viral gene transcription and host immune responses. More recently, she has applied metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches to characterize environmental microbial communities, investigate their biodiversity and ecological functions, and explore their biotechnological potential.
