Focus
fruit quality assessed by highly sensitive methods for volatile organic compounds (voc) detection (pptv)
2002
The qualification of trade marks of agro-industrial products is consumer
oriented with a growing demand of objective methods to assess production,
preservation and market distribution methods. Monitoring volatile organic
compounds (VOC) in traces it's an approach that requires instrumentation
adequate in sensitivity, selectivity and reliability. Solid state sensors
give only a very limited answer to this demand. Our approach is based on
the development of instrumentation based on mass ...
Bacterial toxins: knowing them is paramount for defeating them
2002
Gianfranco Menestrina, Biophysics Institute, Trent Division
Thought to have been eliminated with the discovery of penicillin,
bacterial threats are now back for two important reasons: the development
of resistance and bio-terrorism. The overuse of antibiotics, in the
health and food chains, has put us at risk for the rising of resistant
super-bugs that cannot be cured. We have already bred new strains of
Staphylococcus aureus, a microorganism responsible in the USA of 2 million
infections ...
Electrophysiological recordings on isolated sponge cells: a model system for the study of ancient responses to environmental stimuli?
2002
Armando Carpaneto
Our project focuses on the investigation of temperature effects on sponges
(phylum Porifera) and the identification of the molecular bases for this
phenomenon. Temperature represents a fundamental environmental parameter,
able to modulate and determine a variety of physiological processes. In
sponges the first event to be recognised in response to a temperature
increase is the activation of a plasma membrane ion channel permeable to
potassium and sodium. The activation ...