He is a food microbiologist and his research interest is focused on the characterization of the probiotic action of Lactobacilli, as well as the description of the gut microbiota composition in humans and animals.
Prof. Morelli is involved in a number of EU-funded research projects, devoted to the classification of beneficial microbes. He was also the Scientific Coordinator of two European funded research projects:
- The FLAIR project, in 1991, first European funded research project, focused on probiotic ingredients in food
- The ACE-ART (2003-2007), which was devoted to the assessment of the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in lactic acid bacteria, including probiotics.
As a Member of the FAO panels, he participated in the preparation of the guidelines for probiotics (2001-2002) and prebiotic (2007) assessment. He is also a Member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Section of the International Dairy Federation.
Lorenzo Morelli is the author of 150 papers, he is in the list of the top Italian Scientists (www.topitalianscientists.org).