Technologies

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.

Combinations of several enzymes in a production chain are preferred to “first generation” enzymatic processes (where the "single reaction - single enzyme" principle was followed), for the synthesis of compounds with high added value starting from simple and cheap substrates. An important requirement for obtaining control in "cascade enzymatic reactions" is the ability to deliver from one biocatalyst to the next one the various intermediates, limiting as much as possible the diffusion of the latter in the solvent.

The proposed technology is based on the concept of Power-Over-Fibre (PoF), which involves the transmission of data and power over an optical fiber. This technology is suitable for applications where traditional copper cabling is impractical or undesirable. This is the case with pantographs, where there is a large potential difference between the catenary and the earth, and therefore any electrical contact must be avoided for safety reasons. Furthermore, pantographs operate in an environment with very high electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Quartz tuning forks are employed in scanning atomic force microscopy (AFM), as well as in some derived techniques, as high sensitivity detectors of interactions, of both conservative and dissipative kind, between the AFM nanometric probe and the investigated surface. However, the contributions of the two kinds of interaction result as convoluted in the sensor response, preventing fully quantitative measurements of the quantities of interest.

The technology concerns planar optical antennas composed of thin metal films and dielectric materials for the efficient direction of the light emitted by light sources, such as fluorescent molecules and bio-markers. They consist of a reflector layer, adjacent to the substrate, and a director, semi-reflective, between which the emitter is positioned, integrated into a homogeneous dielectric layer.

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 technology refers to an innovative plasma (ionized gas) source operating at atmospheric pressure and low electric power levels. A cold plasma is produced, characterized by an ion temperature significantly lower than the electron temperature. Partial ionization of a Helium flux is induced by a time-varying electric field in between two parallel grids, both perpendicular to the flux itself.

The proposed technology deals with the development of active SERS (Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering) substrates ad hoc designed for diagnostics of cultural heritage. The substrates are prepared starting from common commercial 'polishing film' sheets (lapping optical fibers) showing an intrinsic roughness (48- 1000 nm) that favors the SERS effect. A pattern of silver or gold nanoparticles are deposited on these films through Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD).

The instrument which is under development is a non-conventional portable Raman spectrometer. Raman spectrometers provide the molecular composition of the material surfaces, essential for their identification. The instrument peculiarity relies in the simultaneous acquisition of Raman spectra at imaged position and at different micrometric distances (offset) from the laser illumination area.

Recently, it has been demonstrated that Raman spectroscopy can play a fundamental role in assisting the work of the anatomopathologist by allowing classification of oncological samples with practically 100% accuracy in oncological diagnosis.

The development of an innovative screening platform of natural marine extracts guided by biological assays represents one of the main products developed within the Antitumor Drugs and Vaccines from the SEA (ADViSE) project which aims to provide a new vision in Drug Discovery processes.

The proposed system is based on a high-resolution electrocardiograph in which the electrodes are positioned on maternal abdomen. The acquired signals are processed using a completely unsupervised software for fetal ECG extraction based on independent component analysis, maternal ECG canceling and a quality index optimization. The electrocardiograph is constituted by a light-weight and light-dimension portable unit, which acquires the signals and transmit them to a computer where the analysis software runs.

The present technology deals with jewels based on shape memory alloys and fabricated through additive manufacturing. In ICMATE-Lecco laboratories, several NiTi-based rings have been fabricated through a powder bed fusion technology (selective laser melting technique).

SITODIET is an innovative software that supports a translational approach to health’s state. It integrates various sources of physiological, behavioral, and psychological data to reduce the risks associated with the onset of lifestyle-related diseases (primary prevention), to support health professionals in early diagnosis (secondary prevention) or to manage the personalized therapy’s patient (tertiary prevention). SITODIETcollects data automatically, through actigraphy tools, as wristband or smartwatch, or manually

TNBC affects around 170,000 patients worldwide each year and accounts for 15-20% of breast cancer; compared to other types of breast cancer, TNBC is more aggressive and precocious. Its diagnosis, made difficult by the existence of subtypes with different characteristics, is fundamental to establish prognosis and personalized therapy. Nucleic acid aptamers are highly selective low-molecular-weight molecules, synthesizable at low cost and easily modifiable, capable of binding and detecting tissue markers ("aptahistochemistry”). Our team has iden