Last update 1st july 2011

Prof. Dr. Riccardo Muzzarelli

Emeritus Professor of Enzymology; Doctor of Chemistry; Ph.D. Applied Radiochemistry.

Riccardo A.A. Muzzarelli is best known for his scientific endeavour in elucidating the chemical and biochemical characteristic properties of chitins and chitosans, and for his charisma that enabled him to bring together scientists of the most various backgrounds, interested in disparate aspects of chitins in nature and technology. In fact, he acted as organizer and chairman of the 1st International Conference on Chitin and Chitosan, Boston, 1977, sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that generated the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary book on chitin. Since June 2010, R.A.A. Muzzarelli is Associate Editor of Carbohydrate Polymers, the international journal of which he has been a scientific editorial Board member and reviewer since 1987.

Riccardo A.A. Muzzarelli was born in Varese, Italy in 1937. His father and several ancestors were medical doctors, including Prof. Enzo Bizzozero, the world-wide known discoverer of the blood platelets. He received his Doctor of Chemistry degree from the University of Modena, and then specialized in Radioisotope Techniques at the Polytechnic School in Milan. After a post-doctoral experience with the European Atomic Energy Commission, Euratom, in Belgium, he moved to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Analytical Chemistry Division, Oak Ridge, TN, USA, as a research fellow of the Italian National Research Council. He was appointed Assistant Professor of General Chemistry at the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, for 3 academic years; later he obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Radiochemistry. In the period 1968-1976 he was Associate Professor of Quantitative Analytical Chemistry at the University of Bologna, Faculty of Sciences, to become full Professor of Enzymology in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ancona. In the latter position he had additional duties as Director of the Centre for Innovative Biomaterials, Head of the Institute of Biochemistry, member of the Scientific Board of the Library, and member of the Administration Board of the University.

His activity as an inventor led him to have many contacts with the industrial world, and in particular he was a scientific consultant to Anic Chemicals, Milan, Italy; Enel Atomic Energy, Milan, Italy; Gentili Pharmaceuticals, Pisa, Italy; Lepetit Pharmaceuticals, Varese, Italy; Magneti Marelli, Milan, Italy; Merck, Darmstadt, Germany; Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, USA; Sandoz Chemicals, Milan, Italy; Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland; Sirc Dietary Foods, Milan, Italy; and some others, more recently.
He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the international journal Carbohydrate Polymers, and a reviewer for Biomacromolecules; Biomaterials; Carbohydrate Research; Cellular and Molecular Life Science; Enzyme and Microbial Technology; European Journal of Clinical Nutrition; European Polymer Journal; International Journal of Biological Macromolecules; Journal of Applied Polymer Science; Journal of Biomedical Materials Research; Polymer; Reactive and Functional Polymers; Science, and others.