Mario Raspanti was born on August, 26 1956 near Bologna, Italy. 
After classical studies he entered Biological Sciences at the Bologna University, where he frequented the Electron Microscopy Laboratory of the Anatomical Institute as a resident student. After earning his degree (cum laude) he spent a period of study in the Abteilung fur Elektronenmikroskopie of the Medizinische Hochschule in Hannover, and subsequently he was for fifteen years the technical manager of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory of the Institute of Human Anatomy in Bologna, taking actively part in all the research carried on in this structure and devising original preparation and investigation techniques in the fields of optical microscopy, TEM, high resolution SEM, freeze-etching, atomic force microscopy, image analysis and three-dimensional modelling.
In 1999 he joined as an Associate Professor the Human Morphology Laboratory of the Insubria University in Varese where he founded the new Atomic Force Microscopy facility and the Research Center for Image Analysis and Medical Informatics. Since 2001 he is Full Professor of Human Anatomy.
He is a member of the Italian Society of Anatomy and Histology (SIAI), the International Society of Matrix Biology (ISMB), the Italian Society for Microscopical Sciences (SISM), where he served as Scientific Counsellor, and the Italian Society for the study of the Connective Tissue (SISC), where for two terms he served as Vice President. 
His scientific activity is focused on the extracellular matrix, its components - collagen, elastin, proteoglycans, mineral phase - and its architecture and its functional aspects.