I received my Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Padova. I was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago and an Omidyar postdoctoral fellow at the Santa Fe Institute

Broadly speaking, I am interested in understanding complex phenomena starting from simple rules and minimal assumptions. Most of my current research focuses on the dynamics of large (microbial) ecological communities, with a particular focus on coexistence, diversity, and variability. I combine tools from statistical mechanics and theoretical ecology with ideas from quantitative physiology and evolutionary genomics to address fundamental questions in microbial ecology and evolution.