Institute of biomembrane and bioenergetics (IBIOM)

Focus

Biomembrane bioenergetics system: functional mechanism and pathophysiology

2016
1. Regulation of expression, structure and assembly of mem¬brane energy transducing systems of both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In this contest, the signal transduction and second messen¬gers, in particular cAMP, play an important role in regulating the biogenesis and functional capacity of membrane ener¬gy transducing systems and oxygen free radical balance in physiological and pathological conditions. Another area in¬volves the study of energy transducing systems in microor¬ganisms of ...

Biogenesis of Membranes for Energy Transduction

2016
Particular attention is given to the study of mitochondri¬al biogenesis and its regulation under physiopathological conditions. Indeed, mitochondria, organelles equipped with membranes for energy transduction, have a pivotal role in the cell response to various kind of stress. The following topics are studied in detail: i) molecules of the mitochondrial membrane, such as cardiolipin, ii) aspects of mitochondrial bioenergetics under physiopathological and metabolic con¬ditions; iii) ...

Mitochondrial carriers: structure and functional mechanisms

2016
This research activity is involved in the identification and in the functional and structural characterization of mitochon¬drial membrane transporters belonging to the family SLC25 known as "mitochondrial carrier family (MCF)". Main research topics are: i) study of the relationship between structure and function of mitochondrial carriers; ii) effects of either endogenous and xenobiotic molecules on the transport activity, mediated by mitochondrial carriers; iii) identification of the catalytic ...

Study of molecular biodiversity for the development of innovative product and processes

2016
This research activity include the following research topics: 1) Development of bioinformatics methodologies and spe¬cialized databases for taxonomic analysis and functional characterization of "omics" data. 2) Structural and functional annotation of the genome and study of the mechanisms of regulation of gene expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms, viruses and organ¬elles (mitochondria and chloroplasts) through High-Through¬put Sequencing (HTS) technology and advanced ...

Nucleus/cytoplasm/mitochondria crosstalk in cellular homeostasis

2016
Objective of this research is the study of signaling pathways and mitochondrial metabolism in different models of neuro¬degenerative/neurodevelopmental diseases and in cancer. The delicate balance between cell death and proliferation is essential to the genesis of various pathologies and the mi¬tochondria are proving to be the key factors in regulating: cell growth and death, intracellular signaling and integration of stress signals. The targets of this research concern: mi¬tochondria-nucleus ...