Bruno Botta

Rector

Bruno Botta was born in 1954 and graduated in Chemistry in 1977 from “Sapienza” University of Rome. From 1981 to 1992, he served as an assistant professor at the Catholic University of Rome. In 1984–1985, he held a postdoctoral associate position at the Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, where he worked on the synthesis and biosynthesis of clinically important anticancer alkaloids in the vinblastine-vincristine family.

From 1992 to 2001, he was an associate professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, “Sapienza” University of Rome, and became a full professor at the same institution in 2001. He served as Head of the Department of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs from 2011 to 2020 and as Pro-Rector for International Affairs at “Sapienza” from November 2014 to October 2023.

From 2015 to 2019, he chaired the COST Action CM-1407, Challenging Organic Syntheses Inspired by Nature – From Natural Products Chemistry to Drug Discovery.

He has been a visiting professor at several prestigious institutions, including Michigan State University (USA), Wofford College (USA), The Scripps Research Institute (USA), University of British Columbia (Canada), Universidad de Montevideo (Uruguay), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brazil), and Toho University (Japan).

Professor Botta is the co-author of over 200 scientific publications and holds 8 national and international patents (USA and Europe). He has also contributed to 6 book chapters and is the editor of two Organic Chemistry textbooks published by Edi-Ermes.

Since October 24, 2023, he is the Rector of the University of Rome UnitelmaSapienza.