Chemistry, biochemistry and botany

Synthesis and investigation of functional light-responsive molecules and nanomaterials. Study of biological systems and active molecules. Bioaccessibility and biological activity of nutrients and food components. Applied biology, ecology, biodiversity and genetics of Fungi and Plants.

Keywords: biodiversity, digestion, foodomics, functional-foods, green-infrastructures, metabolomics, mycorrhizas, nanomachines, nanoscience, NMR, nutrition, photochemistry, proteins, supermolecule, truffles.

Main research fields

• Photochemical nanosciences. Study of luminescent and/or photoreactive chemical species and nanostructured materials. Design, synthesis and investigation of functional molecular devices, machines and motors. Use of various kinds of modelling, synthetic and analytic techniques to solve problems related to the interaction between light and chemical compounds.

• Chemistry of Biological Systems. Definition of biological systems using holistic descriptors based on NMR spectroscopic data and relaxation parameters. Bioacitvity of proteins, protein hydrolysates, and peptides (from food sources, industrial by-products and wastes) and their applications.

• Nutritional Biochemistry. In vitro digestion. Assessment of the biological activity of food components at molecular and functional level. Exploitation of food industry by-products. Formulation and evaluation of functional foods and related nutritional and health claims.

• Mycology – Applied Plant Biology. Mycorrhizal diversity, ecology and application in agriculture and forestry. Mushroom and truffle genetics, biology and cultivation. Eco-physiology of wild plant species; their cultivation and use in habitat restoration and in green-infrastructures.