Photograph courtesy of Mark Feenstra
Dr. Marco Quarta is a biomedical scientist at the School of Medicine of Stanford University, CA, USA. His research is focused on physiology, biomechanics and on bioengineering in regenerative medicine and aging biology. He is also serial entrepreneur, co-founder of longevity biotech companies in Europe and in the Silicon Valley in California, such as Rubedo Life Sciences (where he serves as CEO) and Turn Biotechnologies (where he served as CSO and serves as chief scientific advisor and director).
He also researches, teaches and promotes Italian Martial Arts (IMAs) at Stanford and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Overall, his work, as for Nova Scrimia philosophy, is dedicated to proposing original IMA traditions actualized in modern combat and self defense methods.
Marco grew up in Bologna, Italy. His journey in the martial art world started at a young age with judo and jujitsu (where he earned a black belt) to join eventually mixed martial arts (such as BJJ). His interest in Italian martial traditions started in the early Nineties with formal training in modern fencing, boxing and wrestling. He eventually joined Graziano Galvani and his IMAs research group (Circolo della Tavola), that later will grow into the organization known as Nova Scrimia. As a co-founder, he served as senior instructor of the Nova Scrimia brotherhood from 1999 until present time. He is also maestro of historic fencing at Scrimia Scuola d’Armi. Since late Nineties, he has been teaching and promoting IMAs with publications, lectures, festivals, tournaments and seminars at Italian and International Universities and fencing/martial art symposia (including University of Bologna, Stanford in California, Vancouver International Swordplay Symposium, Western Martial Arts Workshop WMAW in Chicago, and Bone Breakers MMA Academy in Mexico City).
In 2008 he moved to California, where he founded Nova Scrimia International (www.novascrimia.org), teaching and promoting IMAs in Canada, USA and Mexico. Since 2000 he opened Salles d'Armes in Bologna (IT), Padova (IT), San Francisco Bay Area (USA) and supported additional opening in USA, Mexico and Canada, training new generations of teachers. He is also one of the founders of “Hic Sunt Leones”, a fighting club based on traditional fencing assaults, duels and ritual combats.
Marco has a personal interest in the body-mind-spirit elements embedded in the core of western martial arts and fencing traditions, including the symbolic and philosophical aspects.
About the author
who is the director behind the research and the film