Research

Description

The research group was born from the combination of biochemical and inspection issues to meet the needs related to the complexity of food systems which require multidisciplinary approaches. The activity of the group deals with different subjects which use biochemical, microbiological and modelling methodologies with the purpose of defining the safety and quality of foods of animal origin. In particular, the aspects concerning safety are approached using mathematical models capable of predicting the growth, survival and death of the main pathogenic microorganisms. Through the models, it is also possible to predict shelf-life and such predictions can be presented through web applications designed specifically for this purpose. Safety is also the dominant motif of researches that consider ecology, physiology and biophysics of spores (bacillus cereus), which represent forms of microbial survival that can endanger consumers’ health. Further studies are conducted to consolidate and validate challenge testing (listeria monocytogenes), which are fundamental in defining the healthiness of food products. As for the quality of foods of animal origin, the research aims at identifying protein markers originated from proteolytic phenomena during the post-mortem phase, through proteomic approaches that use electrophoretic and immunochemical methods, and mass spectrometric analyses. Such proteolysis is the result of endogenous activities of food and is markedly influenced by the conditions of the animal in the ante-mortem status. The mechanisms of cell death are also studied at tissue and cellular level, with particular attention to the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics and of the ATP synthase complex, which is responsible for the synthesis of ATP in physiological conditions. Recent results have shown that ATP synthase is also crucial in the induction of cell death under stress conditions. The group collaborates with other research groups from inside and outside the department. In particular, the group collaborates with prof. Stefano Sforza (University of Parma) for the proteomic approach and prof. Paolo Bernardi (University of Padua) for the bioenergetics studies.

Research subjects

Aspetti ecologici, fisiologici e biofisici di microrganismi sporigeni, con particolare riguardo al Bacillus cereus
Sviluppo e validazione di modelli predittivi per la crescita, la sopravvivenza e la devitalizzazione di microrganismi patogeni.
Sviluppo e validazione di modelli predittivi per la crescita, la sopravvivenza e la devitalizzazione di microrganismi patogeni.
Studio della bioenergetica mitocondriale nei meccanismi di morte cellulare.
Studio della bioenergetica mitocondriale nei meccanismi di morte cellulare.

ERC panels

LS1_8 Structural biology
LS3_4 Cell junctions, cell adhesion, the extracellular matrix, cell communication
LS9_6 Marine biotechnology and bioengineering
LS9_9 Plant pathology and pest resistence