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Maura Ferri

Senior assistant professor (fixed-term)

Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences

Academic discipline: BIO/01 General Botany

Research

Keywords: agro-industrial by-products, circular economy, cell cultures, plant metabolites, polyphenols, antioxidants, proteomics

1) Agro-industrial and food waste valorisation. Chemical and enzymatic digestions and chromatographic techniques applied to the extraction and analysis of high added value bioactive molecules (protein/peptides, polyphenols, sugars, fibers, etc) from agro-industrial and food by-products and wastes (e.g. grape pomace, wheat bran, rice, etc). Extract characterisation and bioactivity determination (antioxidant, anti-hypertensive, etc) of plant-derived phytochemicals by in vitro tests in view of their biotechnological (cosmetic, nutraceutical, fodd/feed, bioplastics, etc) applications.

2) Plant cell cultures (such as grape, soybean, pepper) in lab scale and in bioreactor, both for study about regulation of specific biosynthetic pathways of plant secondary metabolites, and for bioactive phytochemical or biomass production. This research involves the use of modern proteomic, mass spectrometry and Real-Time PCR techniques and the collaboration with several research groups at local, national and international level.

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