Enrico has over 6 years of experience in regulatory microbiology combining environmental safety with clinical settings as a study director.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Immunology with medical Microbiology followed by a master’s degree in clinical microbiology from Queen Mary University of London in 2013.
As part of his MSc’s project, he collaborated with the Barts Health NHS Trust to develop a diagnostic PCR cycle to detect Pneumocystis jirovecii in samples from immunocompromised patients. This helped reduce the turnaround time from several days to less than 12 hours.
During his previous role, he worked extensively in method transfer and development. His work spanned from environmental microbiology to clinical settings. He worked on clinical trials to assess the validity of vaccination against Group B Streptococci in pregnant women. He was strongly involved in the assessment of the safety of agrochemical products such as biocides as well as being the lead scientist for the assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of pre and probiotic products.
During his time working in safety assessment, he collaborated on a CRACK-IT sponsored research under the NC3Rs as the lead scientist. The research focused on evaluating the discrimination of toxic and non-toxic chemicals using wax moth larvae Galleria mellonella as model to help reduce, replace, and refine the use of animal models. The research was published for Chemosphere (Elsevier) in May 2018.
During the height of the pandemic, he worked on the development of antiviral assays against Coronavirus as well as being part of clinical trial of bacteriophage technology to help fighting secondary infection of cystic fibrosis patients.
He is a certified biosafety officer and operates as the Head of Formulation and Analysis as well as acting as the Technical Lead at Test Labs. He helped setting up the laboratory from an empty warehouse to fully achieve the ISO 17025 UKAS accreditation.
Leading the microbiology, chemistry and material sciences teams in performing EN disinfectant testing and R&D projects, he provides expert knowledge in infection control and prevention having vast experience working with environmental and pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
