Dr. Rita Meleddu  was born in Sorgono in 1981. In the year 2000 she entered the Master degree in CTF at the University of Cagliari, where she graduated in the year 2006. From 2006 to 2019 she has been mentoring the students in CTF  for the students of Analisi dei Farmaci 2”. She is “cultore della materia” of “Analisi Chimica Tossicologica” SSD CHIM08, “Chimica Farmaceutica e Tossicologica I” SSD CHIM08, “Analisi dei Farmaci II” SSD CHIM08. From 2007 2009 she has been research fellow at the “Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biomediche, Sezione di Microbiologia” of the University of Cagliari for the research project “Evaluation of the activity and the cytotoxicity on VERO cells of new anti-fungal, anti-mycobacterial and antiviral drugs” under the supervision of prof. Alessandro De Logu. In 2013, she received her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Cagliari with a thesis entitled: “Synthesis of different series of small molecules targeting HIV-1 RT, Candida albicans, MAO and G-Quadruplex”. Furthermore, she was appointed Doctor-Europeus and earned the “Paul Ehrlich MedChem Euro-PhD” Award of Excellence. She spent 9 months of research at the Department of Organic Chemistry of Budapest's Semmelweis University, working on the project “Application of Suzuki coupling reactions to the synthesis of dual HIV-1 RT inhibitors”, under the supervision of prof. Peter Matyus. As a Post-Doc at the department of Life and Environmental Sciences (2013-2014) she performed a research on “Innovative targets for the identification of new inhibitors of HIV-1 early phases replication cycle: functional studies and new inhibitors development”. During 2015/16 she has been working as research fellow at the department of Life and Environmental Sciences on a project titled "Sinthesis of human Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors”. She obtained the National Habilitation for Associated Professor of Medicinal Chemistry 03D1 (SSD CHEM-07/A) in 2018. From 2019 to 2021 she was a tenure track researcher (RTD-A) at the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Cagliari. In October 2021, she became tenure track researcher (RTD-B) at the same department and in June 2024 was appointed associate professor of medicinal chemistry. She has several national and international collaborations (University of Padua, University Magna Graecia (Catanzaro), Drug Unit of the ISS (Roma), University of Porto, Semmelweis University (Budapest), University of Santiago de Compostela, Sardegna Ricerche e Agenzia per la ricerca, innovazione e trasferimento tecnologico della Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, Unità di supporto alla ricerca biomedica. Rita Meleddu has been participating in several other research projects: 1) 2022. OSARE Ottimizzazione di inibitori della replicazione di SARS-CoV-2 aventi come bersaglio la proteina virale Nsp13 (elicasi) financed by Sardegna ricerche and the Autonomous Region of Sardinia. 2) 2020. DRUG4CoV Identificazione di Agenti Terapeutici per il Trattamento dell’infezione da SARS-CoV-2, financed by the Unità di supporto alla ricerca biomedica di Sardegna Ricerche; 3) RAS-2018- L.R. 7/2007-. RASSR17032- Multi-target approach for the development of novel HIV replication inhibitors-(3 years), 4) Basic research projects funded by the Autonomous Region of Sardinia; Discovery, design and development of STING agonists as immune modulators with antiviral and anticancer activities; (2 years), Financial contribution of the “Banco di Sardegna” Foundation.

Recently, she was the PI for the project PROGETTO START-UP D.M. 737/2021 ANNUALITA 2023 - Identification and Biological Evaluation of Broad-Spectrum InHibitors of ns2b/ns3 ProteasE to fight flavivirus outbreaks - IHOPE - DOTT.SSA MELEDDU RITA and she is involved as a participant in two relevant national projects: -PROGETTO INF-ACT - One Health Basic And Translational Research Actions Addressing Unmet Needs On Emerging Infectious Diseases - CODICE MUR: PE0000007 - (PNRR) “Next Generation EU” (2023-today) and PROJECT ADVISE: PNRR - Missione 4, Componente 2, Investimento 1.5 - Progetto: ECS_00000024 - Rome Technopole - Bando a cascata: CODBAN_000378 - Spoke 3 - Progetto bando a cascata: N. UR301-2023-000077 - (2024-today).

From 2018 she is teaching “Analisi dei Medicinali 2” in the Farmacy (LM13) and from 2024 she is also teaching “Biotechnology of fermentations and biochemical methods” in Advanced biotechnology (LM9). Moreover, she is a member of the doctorate in Life, Environmental and Pharmaceutical Sciences (UNICA).

Throughout the years she has developed significant expertise in the area of synthesis and characterization of compounds with biological activity, with a particular focus on enzyme inhibitors. As a result of her research activity, she published 43 articles in indexed journals, with a H index of 24 (Scopus ID 24399228700).