He was born in Lodi in 1969. He graduated in computer sciences from the Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale of Lodi in 1996. At the University of Milan he finished his studies in Biology writing his thesis on foetal/embryonic malformations caused by drugs in the mammals.

After a year of military service, he got a scholarship for the Italian Experimental Institute “Lazzaro Spallanzani” where he is still working. During the period 2000-2001 he moved and started to work as “Visiting Fellow” in the department for Animal Sciences of the Cornell University, in Ithaca (NY, U.S.), doing research in the area of in vitro fertilization techniques, with particular regard to the intracytoplasmatic sperm injection (ICSI), the freezing of embryos and cytogenetics applied to bovine embryos.

Since 2007 he is head of the laboratory of Embryology, Cytogenetics and Cell Cultures of the Institute Spallanzani. His most important scientific work concerns reproductive techniques for zootechnical purposes, i.e. the sexing of sperm and the development of in vitro models to determine the fertility level of bulls. More recent research regards the development of in vitro cell culture models as an alternative for animal testing.

Main publications

  • R Puglisi, C Cambuli, R Capoferri, L Giannino, A Lukaj, R Duchi, G Lazzari, C Galli, M Feligini, A Galli, G Bongioni (2013) Differential gene expression in cumulus oocyte complexes collected by ovum pick up from repeat breeder and normally fertile Holstein Friesian heifers. Animal reproduction science 141, 26-33.

  • Puglisi R, Pozzi A, Foglio L, Spanò M, Eleuteri P, Grollino MG, Bongioni G, Galli A (2012) The usefulness of combining traditional sperm assessments with in vitro heterospermic insemination to identify bulls of low fertility as estimated in vivo. Animal Reproduction Science 132, 17-28.

  • Badr H, Bongioni G, Abdoon ASS, Omaima Kandil O, Puglisi R (2007) Gene expression in the in vitro-produced preimplantation bovine embryos. Zygote 15/04, 355-367.

  • Puglisi R, Vanni R, Galli A, Balduzzi D, Parati K, Bongioni G, Crotti G, Duchi R, Galli C, Lazzari G, Aleandri R (2006) In vitro fertilisation with frozen–thawed bovine sperm sexed by flow cytometry and validated for accuracy by real-time PCR. Reproduction 132, 519-526.

  • R Puglisi, D Balduzzi, A Galli (2004) In vitro sperm penetration speed and its relationship with in vivo bull fertility. Reproduction in Domestic Animals 39, 424-428.