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Agrifood and nutrition

Research and technologies for nutritional characteristics of several agrifood products using modern platforms and infrastructures, e.g, metabolomics, stable isotopes, sensory panels. Molecolar tools and statistical models applied in the field of molecular ecology to understand the distribution and adaptation of native and alien species (plants, animals, and insects).

Agrifood and nutrition


Plant Pathology and Pests

Biological mechanisms that regulate phylogenetics, physiology, and ethology of insect crop pests.

Open field, greenhouse and lab tests of vegetable extracts and natural product against Plasmopara viticola.

Secondary metabolites production through cell coltures of S. sclarea, S. officinalis, T. vulgaris and R. officinalis.

Risk maps for crop pest species, e.g., Halyomorpha halys, Drosophila suzukii, Cydia pomonella, Plasmopara viticola.

Microbiology and Food Safety

Microbial ecology of microscopic organisms for sustainable utilization in agriculture, industry, and medicine.

Dairy microbiology with focus on studying the bacterial biodiversity in milk and local cheeses from raw milk.

In vitro cell models, e.g., colonic epithelial cell lines, and in vivo dietary interventions with human volunteers.

Fermented foods and functional ingredients from fibers, prebiotics, probiotics, and polyphenols.

Food Quality and Security

Analytical chemistry of volatile compounds through GC-O, GC-MS, GC-TOF, and GC-MS/MS.

Analytical chemistry of food metabolites through LC-MS and LC-DAD-MS instrumentations (QqQ and QTofs).

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) assessed by Proton Transfer Reaction Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS) for consumers' studies.

Stable isotope ratios analysis of bio-elements (H, C, N, O, S).

Wine Science

LC-MS and LC-DAD-MS/MS analyses of polyphenols e.g., anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols, tannins, phenolic acids, etc.

Untargeted analyses and metabolomic fingerprinting of grapes and wines using LC-MS based techniques.

Metabolites annotation using high-resolution MS, MS fragmentation, and UV-Vis spectrum.

Effects of storage, e.g., packaging, oxygen, temperature, and light effect, on wine quality.

Influence of plant stresses, e.g., water stress, hormones’ use, defoliation, etc. on grapes quality and resistance to diseases.

Genomics and Biology of Crops and Acquatic Systems

Functional and structural characterization of genes from grapevine, apple, and strawberry.

New breeding technologies, e.g., cisgenesis and CRISPR-CAS9, in apple and in grapevine.

Development of new varieties of strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, apricot, and cherry.

Hydrobiological and hydrochemical techniques integrated with metabolomics, molecular biology and NGS, stable isotopes, high frequency data sensors.

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