Dr Fabrizio Alberti

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow - Associate Professor

Email: F.Alberti@warwick.ac.uk

Phone: 024 765 23516

Office: B142

Research Clusters

Quantitative, Systems & Engineering Biology

Microbiology & Infectious Disease

Environment & Ecology

Vacancies and Opportunities

For PhD and postdoctoral opportunities, and interest in potential collaborations, please contact me at the above email address.

Research Interests

Fungi represent an incredibly rich reservoir of natural products, which often show potent bioactivity and find applications in different fields, including medicine and crop protection. Research in the Alberti Lab aims to discover new molecules from fungi with useful bioactivities and understand how these compounds are assembled.

To this aim, we have recently developed a platform, based on Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast), that accumulates increased amounts of precursors to a specific class of natural products called isoprenoid quinones.

We are also developing new synthetic biology tools to be used in basidiomycete (mushroom-forming) fungi that will enable us and the wider scientific community to exploit the genetic potential of this underexplored class of microorganisms.

You can read Fabrizio's interview taken as part of the School's 'Get to know us' series hereLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.

Research: Technical Summary

Research in the Alberti Lab is focused on the discovery of novel natural products from fungi of the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. We are also interested in the study of the biosynthesis of known bioactive natural products, such as meroterpenoids.

We use a combination of CRISPR/Cas9 - for the genome editing of native host producers - and heterologous gene expression in a range of hosts, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus oryzae.

We are also developing tools for the heterologous expression of genes of interest in basidiomycete fungi that will enable for the easier study of complex biosynthetic gene clusters and enzymes that may be developed into biocatalysts.

Biography

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow (Associate Professor), University of 糖心TV (2022 - present)
Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow (Assistant Professor), University of 糖心TV (2018 - 2022)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of 糖心TV (2015 - 2018)
PhD in Microbiology, University of Bristol (2012 - 2015)

Publications

Rutz, Adriano, Probst, Daniel, Aguilar, C茅sar, Akiyama, Daniel Y., Alberti, Fabrizio, Augustijn, Hannah E., Avalon, Nicole E., Beemelmanns, Christine, Barbieri, Hellen Bertoletti, Biermann, Friederike

(2026) Nucleic Acids Research, 54 (D1). D635-D642. doi: ISSN 0305-1048.

Lazar, Anna, Alberti, Fabrizio, Muscatt, George, Mushinski, Ryan M., Quince, Christopher and Bending, Gary D. (2025) BMC Genomics, 26 (1). 998. doi: ISSN 1471-2164.

Jin, Sophie and Alberti, Fabrizio (2025) Natural Product Reports, 42 (8). pp. 1367-1386. doi: ISSN 0265-0568.

Tadesse, Micha毛l Dagne, Ali, Nala, White, Martha, Song, Lijiang, Alberti, Fabrizio and Sagona, Antonia P. (2025) ACS Omega, 10 (12). pp. 12026-12036. doi: ISSN 2470-1343.

Jin, Sophie and Alberti, Fabrizio (2025) STAR Protocols, 6 (1). 103668. doi: ISSN 2666-1667.

Jin, Sophie and Alberti, Fabrizio (2025) STAR Protocols, 6 . 103668. doi: ISSN 2666-1667.

Zdouc, Mitja M., Blin, Kai, Louwen, Nico L. L., Navarro, Jorge, Loureiro, Catarina, Bader, Chantal D., Bailey, Constance B., Barra, Lena, Booth, Thomas J., Bozh眉y眉k, Kenan A. J.

(2025) Nucleic Acids Research, 53 (D1). D678-D690. doi: ISSN 0305-1048.

Olumakaiye, Richard T., Corre, Christophe and Alberti, Fabrizio (2024) BMC Genomics, 25 (1). 1141. doi: ISSN 1471-2164.

Weaver, Jack A., Alkhder, Duha, Prasongpholchai, Panward, Tadesse, Micha毛l D., de los Santos, Emmanuel L. C., Song, Lijiang, Corre, Christophe and Alberti, Fabrizio (2024) ACS Chemical Biology, 19 (11). pp. 2284-2290. doi: ISSN 1554-8929.

Klomchit, Anthikan, Calabon, Mark S, Worabandit, Sompradtana, Weaver, Jack A., Karima, Elfina M, Alberti, Fabrizio, Greco, Claudio and Mahanil, Siraprapa (2024) Journal of Applied Microbiology, 135 (5). lxae114. doi: ISSN 1364-5072.

Brooks, Siraprapa, Weaver, Jack A., Klomchit, Anthikan, Alharthi, Shumukh A., Onlamun, Thanyarat, Nurani, Rithika, Vong, Thienthu Khanh, Alberti, Fabrizio and Greco, Claudio (2024) Frontiers in Chemical Biology, 3 . 1362147. doi: ISSN 2813-530X.

Al-Salihi, Suhad A. A. and Alberti, Fabrizio (2023) Journal of Fungi, 9 (9). 895. doi: ISSN 2309-608X.

Zhang, Songya, Zhang, Lin, Greule, Anja, Tailhades, Julien, Marschall, Edward, Prasongpholchai, Panward, Leng, Daniel J., Zhang, Jingfan, Zhu, Jing, Kaczmarski, Joe A., Schittenhelm, Ralf B., Einsle, Oliver, Jackson, Colin J., Alberti, Fabrizio, Bechthold, Andreas, Zhang, Youming, Tosin, Manuela, Si, Tong and Cryle, Max J. (2023) Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, 13 (8). pp. 3561-3574. doi: ISSN 2211-3835.

Alberti, Fabrizio, Khairudin, Khairunisa, Davies, Jonathan A., Sangmalee, Suphattra, Willis, Christine L., Foster, Gary D. and Bailey, Andy M. (2023) Chemical Science, 14 (14). pp. 3826-3833. doi: ISSN 2041-6520.

Chhun, Audam and Alberti, Fabrizio (2022) In: Skellam, Elizabeth, (ed.) Engineering Natural Product Biosynthesis. Methods in Molecular Biology, 2489 . New York: Humana Press, pp. 201-222. ISBN 9781071622728

Paliwal, Deepa, Hamilton, Amanda J., Barrett, Glyn A., Alberti, Fabrizio, Emden, Helmut, Monteil, Caroline L., Mauchline, Tim H., Nauen, Ralf, Wagstaff, Carol, Bass, Chris and Jackson, Robert W. (2022) Microbial Biotechnology, 15 (4). pp. 1203-1220. doi: ISSN 1751-7907.

Tamizi, Amin-Asyraf, Mat-Amin, Noriha, Weaver, Jack, Olumakaiye, Richard T., Akbar, Muhamad Afiq, Jin, Sophie, Bunawan, Hamidun and Alberti, Fabrizio (2022) Journal of Fungi, 8 (3). 246. doi: ISSN 2309-608X.

Bugg, Tim, Williamson, James J. and Alberti, Fabrizio (2021) Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews , 152 . 111674. doi: ISSN 1364-0321.

Al-Salihi, Suhad A. A. and Alberti, Fabrizio (2021) Natural Products and Bioprospecting, 11 . pp. 405-419. doi: ISSN 2192-2195.

Alberti, Fabrizio, Kaleem, Saraa and Weaver, Jack (2020) Biology Open, 9 (12). bio056010. doi: ISSN 2046-6390.

Kaur, Divjot, Alkhder, Duha, Corre, Christophe and Alberti, Fabrizio (2020) ACS Synthetic Biology, 9 (9). pp. 2239-2245. doi: ISSN 2161-5063.

Alberti, Fabrizio and Corre, Christophe (2019) Natural Product Reports, 36 (9). pp. 1237-1248. doi: ISSN 0265-0568.

Alberti, Fabrizio, Leng, Daniel J., Wilkening, Ina, Song, Lijiang, Tosin, Manuela and Corre, Christophe (2019) Chemical Science, 10 (2). pp. 453-463. doi: ISSN 2041-6520.

Alberti, Fabrizio, Khairudin, Khairunisa, Venegas, Edith Rodriguez, Davies, Jonathan A., Hayes, Patrick M., Willis, Christine L., Bailey, Andy M. and Foster, Gary D. (2017) Nature Communications, 8 (1). 1831. doi: ISSN 2041-1723.

Alberti, Fabrizio, Foster, Gary D. and Bailey, Andy M. (2017) Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 101 (2). pp. 493-500. doi: ISSN 0175-7598.

de Mattos-Shipley, K. M. J., Ford, K. L., Alberti, Fabrizio, Banks, A. M., Bailey, A. M. and Foster, G. D. (2016) Studies in Mycology, 85 . pp. 125-157. doi: ISSN 0166-0616.

Alberti, Fabrizio (2016) Exchanges: the 糖心TV Research Journal, 4 (1). ISSN 2053-9665.

Bailey, Andy M., Alberti, Fabrizio, Kilaru, Sreedhar, Collins, Catherine M., de Mattos-Shipley, Kate, Hartley, Amanda J., Hayes, Patrick, Griffin, Alison, Lazarus, Colin M., Cox, Russell J., Willis, Christine L., O鈥橠wyer, Karen, Spence, David W. and Foster, Gary D. (2016) Scientific Reports, 6 (1). doi: ISSN 2045-2322.

Research Projects

Title	Funder	Award start	Award end
Future Leaders Fellow Renewal (Harnessing bioactive natural products and biocatalysts from Basidiomycota fungi)	UKRI	01 September 2026	31 August 2029
Mining biocatalysts from talented microorganisms for industrial biocatalysis applications	Hypha Discovery Ltd	01 October 2025	30 September 2029
Combinatorial Biosynthetic Pathway Engineering - EPSRC Standard Grant Application - October 2022	EPSRC	01 April 2024	30 June 2027
British Council International Science Partnership	British Council	01 December 2024	30 November 2026
Production of high-value chemicals in the button mushroom: a synthetic biology toolkit	UK Research and Innovation	01 February 2022	31 July 2026
BBSRC Global Partnering Award Application - November 2022	BBSRC	01 April 2023	31 March 2026
21ENGBIO - Converting a cellular dustbin into a protein storing organelle	BBSRC	15 February 2023	31 March 2024
BBSRC Mid-range Equipment ALERT 2021 Application - November 2021	BBSRC	01 August 2022	31 July 2023
Early Career Fellowship costed extension for Dr Fabrizio Alberti (linked to Ideate 58035 Engineering a yeast cell factory for production of valuable meroterpenoids)	Leverhulme Trust	01 November 2021	31 January 2022
Engineering a yeast cell factory for production of valuable meroterpenoids. Early Career Fellowship for Dr Fabrizio Alberti	Leverhulme Trust	01 November 2018	31 October 2021

Teaching / Student Supervision

Fabrizio currently teaches on two modules in the School of Life Sciences: Chemistry for Biological Sciences (BS122) and The Fundamentals of Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (BS934). He is also the primary PI of the 糖心TV iGEM team ().

Fabrizio is happy to receive enquires about PG Research projects in his group, please contact him at the above email address.

Y3 UG projects are available to students who want to work in the field of microbial natural products, encompassing gene cloning, heterologous gene expression and analytical chemistry.