The search for new vaccines and new anticancer drugs from marine sources (ADViSE) aims to provide a new perspective of innovation in drug discovery processes for the fight against oncological diseases [lung cancer, melanoma and multiple myeloma] through both development of models of anticancer vaccines based on a new molecular adjuvant called SULFAVANT (synthetic sulfoglycolipid inspired by natural molecules from marine micro-organisms), of which preclinical development is already at an advanced ...

On February 2016 the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (CNR) and AutismAid signed a collaboration agreement for the realization of divulgation and formation activities concerning biomolecular chemistry, aimed to support the social inclusion of children with autism. AutismAid is a not-for-profit association of parents and volunteers committed to defending the rights of autistic people. The Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry is committed to chemical study of biological systems and processes to ...

AMICA (Analysis of the oral microbiome during hormonal cycle and its alterations in menopausal women) is a project proposed by young ICB-CNR women researchers, directed by Dr. Fabiana Piscitelli, which aims to analyze and characterize the women salivary microbiome in function of changes in hormone levels (FSH, LH, progesterone and estradiol) during menstruation and menopause. For this reason, it is enlisting women volunteers of childbearing age and menopause between 25-70 years. Two are the main ...

In questa linea di ricerca l'esperienza ISMN nelle nanotecnologie è utilizzata per la realizzazione di materiali nanostrutturati e dispositivi utili nel campo della salute e della qualità della vita. Le numerose e consolidate competenze dell'ISMN sono state sviluppate nell'ambito di numerosi progetti e collaborazioni sia nazionali che internazionali che hanno qualificato l'ISMN come un punto di riferimento per la promozione e lo sviluppo delle attività finalizzate alla realizzazione di ...

Nanotechnology applied to medicine is the new frontier of drug therapy that aims to create personalized, safer and more effective treatments. Nano-structured systems that can facilitate the penetration, the site-specific transport and controlled release of a drug, improving efficiency and reducing the unwanted side effects, could have evolutionary implications for pharmacotherapy. This explains the great interest of the academic and industrial research in drug delivery nanotechnology. This ...

There is currently a great interest in creating extremely sensitive and specific chemical and biological nanosensors. In this regard, the interaction between biological, organic and inorganic materials surface is one of the key issues in the near future. Since the technology must interact with the biological world on the molecular and cellular scale, the structure and properties of that interface must be designed and controlled on that scale. The nanoscale properties of the interface between ...

ISMN is internationally recognized as an institution of excellence in the field of nanomaterials and enabling processes. In this strategic field, the research activities are mainly focused on organic and hybrid electronics, optoelectronics, photovoltaics, mechanics, sensors and nano-medicine. The aims of this research line are: The development of top-down, bottom-up and hybrid technologies for the fabrication of thin films and nanostructured systems integrated in nano and micro devices such as ...

In vivo monitoring neurotransmitters is one of the most crucial problems to solve for neuroscientist and chemists, because these substances, particularly the catecholamines have many physiological roles, are critical for normal neuronal metabolism, and are involved in some neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. The fact that the catecholamines are easily oxidable compounds makes their detection possible by electrochemical methods. A major problem of electrochemical detection in real ...

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) on eight-fold quasicrystal arrays with precisely controlled size and spacing fabricated via electron beam lithography was investigated. This SERS substrate shows high efficiency at 785 nm excitation in the detection of p-mercaptoaniline (pMA), and a SERS enhancement factor (EF ) of 107 is achieved. SERS behavior of the realized engineered SERS substrate indicates that the present engineered metamaterial may be used as an ultrasensitive Raman probe and ...

Attività rivolta alla progettazione, sintesi e caratterizzazione di materiali nanostrutturati e sviluppo di dispositivi per la catalisi ambientale, per la chimica sostenibile e per la produzione di combustibili ed energia da fonti rinnovabili. Tali attività sono finalizzate alla rimozione di agenti inquinanti, alla produzione di combustibili da biomasse e di energia elettrica tramite celle a combustibile o dispositivi fotovoltaici. L'Istituto rappresenta un punto di riferimento sul piano ...

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared from acrylamide complex of iron and nickel nitrates by controlled thermolysis at constant temperature in a self-generated atmosphere and used to fabricate epoxy resin nanocomposites. X-ray diffraction performed on the nanoparticles revealed a metal core/polymeric shell structure for the nanoparticles thermolysed at higher temperature as also confirmed by cross analysis of thermo-gravimetrical and vibrating magnetometer data. Optical microscopy was used to ...

PMM2-CDG (PMM2 gene mutations) is the most common congenital disorder of N-glycosylation. We conducted a nationwide survey to characterize the frequency, clinical features, glycosylation and genetic correlates in Italian patients with PMM2-CDG. Clinical information was obtained through a questionnaire filled in by the referral physicians including demographics, neurological and systemic features, neuroimaging data and genotype. Glycosylation analyses of serum transferrin were complemented by ...

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is one of the main causes of low back pain. Current surgical treatments are complex and generally do not fully restore spine mobility. Development of injectable extracellular matrix-based hydrogels offers an opportunity for minimally invasive treatment of IVD degeneration. Here we analyze a specific formulation of collagen-low molecular weight hyaluronic acid (LMW HA) semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) loaded with gelatin microspheres as a potential ...

L'attività di ricerca è rivolta allo studio di materiali, interfacce e dispositivi ibridi magnetici nanostrutturati per applicazioni nel campo della micro-nano elettronica (ICT), per la sensoristica finalizzata alla diagnostica bio-medicale e ambientale, per la rigenerazione tissutale e altre applicazioni innovative in nanomedicina. Nell'ambito ICT, le attività sono focalizzate allo sviluppo e ottimizzazione di dispositivi Spintronici ibridi per l'elettronica futura: memorie e logic-gate ...

New natural-like agrochemicals and fungicides for agrofood application Giovanna Delogu, ICB-CNR The new chemistry has a key role to play in maintaining and improving the quality of life, such as protection of the environment and development of sustainable synthetic techniques to solve environmental problems and to produce compounds selective and active at low concentration, with decreasing toxicity and side effects to humans, animals and vegetation. Chemical challenger includes the discovery ...

3D hybrid biomimetic and bio-resorbable scaffolds for the complete regeneration of multi-functional regions like osteochondral and periodontal sites are developed by a well-established bio-inspired synthesis mimicking the biologic neo-ossification process, thus providing the new devices with very high regenerative ability. The scaffolds are based on Type I collagen fibers that assemble, organize and mineralize with biomimetic, ion-substituted hydroxyapatite nano-nuclei upon pH variation at ...

SOEC are produced at ISTEC starting from powders obtained by conventional solid state synthesis or chemical routes (precipitation, sol-gel, etc.). The powders are synthesized with characteristics suitable for the subsequent shaping processes. The cell fabrication consists in depositing the cell elements onto a supporting-element produced by tape casting. All the possible substrates for SOEC were produced with this technique: anodes: La0.6Sr0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 (LSCF), La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSM); ...

"Metabolic Profiling": a new strategy for the study of metabolic diseases. Debora Paris, ICB-CNR Metabolomics describes the chemical profile of an organism in terms of metabolites, which are the end products of all chemical reactions of metabolism. The metabolic profile can be defined as a 'fingerprint' as it characterizes the biochemical phenotype of a biological system as a whole, by taking a snapshot of the overall metabolic levels. The study of the alterations induced by a disease, for ...

"Spice of life": polyphenol curcumin by-products may act on Parkinson's relates protein aggregation. Paolo Ruzza, ICB-CNR Parkinson's disease (PD) belongs to the group of protein misfolding diseases and it is characterized by the progressive degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra of the brain. Among the biochemical mechanisms proposed for the pathogenesis of PD, our attention has been focused on the intracellular accumulation and aggregation of misfolded proteins, in ...

The development of hydraulic mortars by using as binder slaked lime, historic material, and natural hydraulic lime, that, at the present time, is the most lime typology used in the restoration and building fields. Metakaolin is obtained by calcinating at 650°C a commercial kaolin and it is used as pozzolanic admixture. Our study is focalised on the realisation of: 1) injection mortars for consolidation or re-adhesion systems previously disconnected or detached; 2)structural mortars that ...

The experience gained in the field of colloidal science has been fruitfully transferred to the control of nano particles (NPs) confinement and surface chemistry, opening new challenges towards the control of potentially adverse health impact of nanomaterials. EXPECTED IMPACTS _ Some of the very high impacts expected by the present research are: o The development of practical and cost effective strategies for reduction of worker exposure to NMs during all stages of NMs production, use and ...

In the restoration works, the use of products compatible with the materials composing the heritage artworks is important. The majority of materials of Cultural heritage (ceramics, mosaics, mortars, stones) is made of natural inorganic raw materials, so it is crucial in the conservative intervention to use inorganic non-metallic compounds, that in some cases are the same components of the cultural heritage. For this reasons, we are setting up products gotten by modification of inorganic raw ...

Coupling nanoparticle sol-gel process technology with textile finishing or spinning techniques let to obtain HIGHLY VERSATILE MULTIFUNCTIONAL MEDIA, easily exploitable in environmental green technology, application. The high scalability and sustainability of the process is guaranteed by the consolidated technologies involved in nanotech / sol-gel / colloidal and textile processes. ANTIBACTERIAL PROPERTIES _The widely accepted mechanism of antibacterial action is for both TiO2 and Ag ...

Joining techniques permit to build complex and potentially multimaterial structures that cannot be obtained directly with the densification process. Bonding is necessary to fully exploit the potential of several hi-tech ceramics.

L'attività è dedicata allo sviluppo di impianti porosi con struttura gerarchicamente organizzata in grado di mimare le caratteristiche morfologico-strutturali dell'osso e di esibire adeguate proprietà biomeccaniche. Recenti studi avanzati indirizzati allo sviluppo di strutture porose consistono nell'applicazione di processi di trasformazione morfo-sintetica di templanti naturali, con cui si possono ottenere impianti ossei a base calcio-fosfatica con proprietà rigenerative, che riproducono in ...

A heat pipe is a heat transfer device that can exchange large quantities of heat with a very small difference in temperature between the hot and cold interfaces by means of evaporation and condensation of a working fluid. The evaporator is the heart of the device and it contains capillary-porous structures generally based on metals or organic polymers. A possibility to increase the capacity of thermal exchange is through the replacement of conventional materials with ceramic like materials such ...

A ruthenium catalyst for the efficient production of hydrogen from methanol. Elisabetta Alberico, ICB-CNR Hydrogen is an ideal fuel as its combustion releases energy and water as the sole by-product. Its widespread use would allow to successfully tackle several issues, the increasing demand for energy, the pollution and green-house gases arising from the use of fossil fuels. However, mainly because of its physical and chemical properties, hydrogen is not an ideal energy vector: it is a flammable ...

Hybrid porous nano-composites to be used as filtering devices and moisture exchange systems are developed with complex geometry contributing to the water and nano-particles trapping (including the unrestrainable particle with dimensions in the range of 30-100 nm) without excessive pressure drop. The hybrid composites are developed through a biomineralization process induced starting from a suspension of blended natural polymers (e.g. gelatine, chitosan, alginate) in the presence of Ca2+ and ...

The ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) draw the interest of the materials engineering to designe thermal protection structures and control surfaces for the sharp leading edge technology. Sharp leading edges for reentry vehicles or hypersonic space-crafts are two leading examples. Thhank to this new concept, improved flight performances together with enhanced safety for the crew, larger cross-range, wider launch windows, and safer landing for aborted flight plans can be achieved. Ceramic ...

Cubic isotropic MgAl2O4 spinel can be regarded as an almost ideal transparent ceramic material. It is an attractive material in the aerospace sector for several applications under severe conditions such as hard front layer in transparent protection and rugged optical windows operating in harsh environment. CNR ISTEC optimized the production process of spinel components with an in-line transmittance up to 82 % close to the theoretical value