Technologies

Detection devices for the presence of molecules of interest (analytes) enjoyed a renewed burst with the introduction of biological components (biosensors). Their high specificity is often used in various fields, from environmental monitoring and biomedicine to the protection and promotion of agri-food products. However, the high cost of production and the lack of compatibility with mass sampling (high-throughput) sometimes limit their use.

We propose a compact innovative spectroscopy system operating in the UV range. In the actual version, designed for gas, it exhibits: an aluminium tubular optical chamber (length can be adjusted; currently is 20 cm); a cheap commercial UV LED; a SiC visible blind UV detector designed and manufactured at the CNR-IMM facilities. The team developed also the electronic chain for wireless remote real time read out; while able to deal with pA current levels, it uses very cheap components and construction technology.

The procedure enables the fabrication of nanocomposite membranes filled with suitable amounts of exfoliated bidimensional crystals. These are obtained with an advanced wet-jet milling technique, which provides desired thickness and lateral size of nanofillers through the pulverization and colloidal homogenization of bulk nanomaterials. The bidimensional crystals are dispersed in fluids and suitably delivered inside polymeric matrixes exhibiting a singular morphology.

We have identified compounds that show a neuroprotective action in vivo, in models of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. SMA, Parkinson, Alzheimer, Huntington) in the model organism C. elegans. These compounds consist of: mixtures of 22 natural extracts, 15 natural molecules and 11 synthetic molecules.

Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (SSNMR) is today one of the most powerful techniques for characterizing solid and soft materials and systems. This spectroscopy allows the detailed characterization of structural and dynamic properties over large spatial (0.1-100 nm) and time (10²-10^-11 s) scales. Accessing these properties allows a deep knowledge of a material to be obtained and  its design and optimization to be oriented.

The systems simulate, with high reproducibility, the conditions that occur in the different compartments of the gastrointestinal tracts and are promising to accurately mimic the digestive process, with the possibility to evaluate bioaccessibility and bioavailability. Moreover, the systems permit to study the synergic and reciprocal effects between the bioactive compounds characteristic of food and intestinal microbiota.

Celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity affect a large portion of the world population. Furthermore, the percentage of people who adopt the gluten free diet is constantly increasing because it is perceived to be healthier. We have previously developed a food grade enzymatic procedure (transamidation) for wheat flour capable of making gluten unable to induce the inflammatory response in the intestine of celiac disease patients.

Plants can compete favorably with traditional expression systems (mammalian cells, yeasts or bacteria) to produce recombinant proteins/peptides of pharmaceutical/industrial/agrifood interest. This technology names “Plant Molecular Farming”. The CNR-IBBA research team offers the study of new strategies for the expression and optimization of recombinant proteins/peptides in plant-based systems (plant tissues, transgenic plants, plant cell culture). Our pipeline is based on the following modules:

The prototype uses soil moisture sensors which, through a measurement of dielectric permittivity, estimate the soil moisture based on which irrigation is started through relay-controlled solenoid valve. The system was developed using Open Source technologies. Specifically, for the hardware components, a small sized board computer Raspberry PI 3B + was used together with a 4G LTE Wi-Fi router and a Modbus rs485 / USB converter.

High-Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonace (NMR) in solution also combined with multivariate statistical analysis to determine the quality and authenticity of saffron. Particularly the content of components (metabolites) is evaluated.

Wine is one of the economically most important beverages and may be subject to fraud and mislabelling, although that there are specific and strict rules protecting its authenticity in Europe. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), recently identified and characterized thanks to advances in genomics, are considered the newest type of molecular marker for grapevine identification.

The software is based on mathematical models able of simulating the time evolution of the different stages of a pest population starting from environmental data collected from weather stations located in an area of interest and information regarding the development stage of the host plant. The models are of two types: phenological, which provides information on the stages population as a function of time and demographic which also allows to know the abundance of each population stage.

Environmental contamination is a prominent topic. Where the exposure to contaminants such as heavy metals (HMs) or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is greater, the incidence of chronic degenerative diseases, such as oncologic, is increased. Scientific evidence reports that some phytochemicals are able to interact with HMs and PAHs by interfering with their cellular metabolism, inhibiting their cytotoxic mechanisms or helping to reduce tissue concentrations.

Grape pomace, a by-product of wine-making, is rich in polyphenols, metals, organic acids and can become a functional ingredient in food and beverage. The stabilisation of the pomace has been optimised to preserve the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of the molecules present. Isolated grape skins have been reused in purity or in blends with other plant components as a base for: 1) herbal teas, 2) ready-to-drink functional beverages, 3) freeze-dried products.

Our team can develop low-cost ultra-flexible sensors integrated on plastic substrate for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and gas detection. These devices combine scalable fabrication technologies, implementing active materials such as nanostructured metal oxides or stack of nanostructures decorated with metal nanoparticles, thus enabling a high sensitivity (in the range of hundreds of ppb). These devices can be applied to numerous industrial and commercial sectors and they can be embedded in systems that are more sophisticated.