Donato Giovannelli is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Naples Federico II, an explorer and an entrepreneur. With his research group he investigates microbial diversity in extreme environments, the planetary impacts of life and the coevolution of Life and Planet. His approach combines fieldwork and classic microbiology with cutting edge molecular tools and computational approaches. He is an affiliated scientist and guest investigator at the Earth-Life Science Institute (Tokyo), Rutgers University (USA), the National Research Council of Italy (Italy), and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA).