About
I am an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, affiliated with ESA and AURA, working primarily on supermassive black holes, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and radio galaxies across cosmic time.
My current research focuses on recoiling supermassive black holes (including the candidate in the powerful radio‑loud quasar 3C 186), high‑redshift radio galaxies and proto‑clusters, and the role of mergers in triggering powerful AGN activity.
I also lead the MJ ("mice jump!") project, a multidisciplinary collaboration between different departments at Johns Hopkins University and external partners including Carnegie Science . We study how jump‑based exercise could help protect cartilage and joint health during long‑duration spaceflight.
Bio
I graduated in Physics from the University of Torino, Italy, and obtained my PhD in Astrophysics from SISSA/ISAS in Trieste, with a thesis on the nuclear regions of low‑redshift radio galaxies observed with the Hubble Space Telescope.
After a postdoctoral position at SISSA/ISAS, I joined STScI as an ESA Fellow from 2001 to 2003. I held a tenured research position at INAF‑IRA in Bologna, Italy from 2001 to 2015. After returning to Bologna in 2003, I joined STScI again in 2005 with an ESA/AURA Astronomer position, where I have been since, working on the Hubble Space Telescope and pursuing research on AGN, supermassive black holes, and — more recently — human spaceflight.
I also hold an appointment as Research Scientist in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University.
Recent news
- Our MJ project paper on jump‑based training and knee cartilage in mice is now published in npj Microgravity [article].
- New work on the recoiling black hole candidate 3C 186 is now available on arXiv [arXiv:2501.18730].
MJ press coverage
- Johns Hopkins University press release: "Jumping workouts could help astronauts on the moon and Mars" .
- Carnegie Science press release: "Jumping mice could help astronauts avoid injury during long space missions" .