Services

The infrastructures of the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry constitute an updated technological platform for the study of small molecules and/or biotechnological processes related to the production of functional molecules. The Institute possesses the chemical and biological know-how indispensable for basic and industrial research activities in the bio-medical, agro-food, biotechnological, environmental, and green-economy sectors by virtue of many years of experience in chemical synthesis, supramolecular chemistry , microscopy, cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry, chromatography and extraction, spectroscopy (including Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Infrared, Ultraviolet, Circular Dichroism), mass spectrometry and related techniques (gas chromatography and liquid chromatography coupled with mass-mass analysis), fermentation and enzymatic catalysis from laboratory scale to large industrial reactors and photobioreactors.

The institute's infrastructures are particularly suitable for the analysis of single metabolites (marker analysis) and molecular pools (metabolomics, glycomics and lipidomics), for the characterization of the molecular structure of new bioactive compounds, for the study of biological properties (cellular and enzymatic assays, ex vivo models, animal models) and the mechanism of action of bioactive compounds, the synthesis and functionalization of organic molecules, the study of the mechanism and kinetics of reactions of industrial interest. For the pharmaceutical sector, the activities dedicated to the analysis, synthesis, and biological evaluation of small bioactive organic molecules are able to support studies of lead compounds and preclinical development of lipids, natural products, peptides, and biomarkers for oncology, immunology. and neuroscience. The Institute also makes available a collection of natural molecules and extracts and a database with information on molecules discovered, synthesized or characterized at our offices. In biotechnology, the Institute conducts research in the development and implementation of processes based on extremophilic and whole-cell enzymes for the biological mitigation of CO2 and for the production of hydrogen, food ingredients, and functional and/or bioactive compounds from the conversion of natural matrices and residues agro-food.

The Institute has a proven track record in analyzing, preparing, and evaluating the biological properties of small organic molecules. We spend time interpreting complex spectral data to identify our compounds from natural sources, developing biological models to demonstrate their health efficacy and understanding their biological role, implementing synthetic and biosynthetic pathways for their sustainable production. In line with these activities, the infrastructures of the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry constitute an updated technological platform for the study of small molecules and/or biotechnological processes related to the production of functional molecules. Available tools include:

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Electronic Paramagnetic Resonance
o 600MHz NMR spectrometer - BRUKER Avance III inverse TCI CryoProbe
o 600MHz NMR spectrometer - BRUKER Avance HD600
o 600MHz NMR spectrometer - BRUKER Avance (condiviso con il Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche dell'Università di Padova)
o 400MHz NMR spectrometer - BRUKER Avance III CryoProbe Prodigy
o 400 MHz NMR spectrometer equipped with multinuclear BBI probe or Dual probe or HRMAS for gel analysis
o 400MHz NMR spectrometer - BRUKER Avance
o 400MHz NMR spectrometer - BRUKER Avance II (condiviso con il Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche dell'Università di Padova)
o X-Band (9.4 GHz) EMX Spectrometer for EPR analysis

Mass Spectrometry and related techniques
o Hyperion CyTOF form imaging mass cytometry based on HeliosTM mass cytometer
o LC-HRMS system composed of Orbitrap Exploris(TM) 240 Mass Spectrometer on line with a Vanquish LC System O
o LC-HRMS system composed of Q-Exactive Hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer) on-line with a UHPLC apparatus Infinity 1290
o LC-HRMS system composed of a Q-Exactive-Orbitrap(TM)-based mass spectrometer on line with a UPLC Ultimate 3000
o LC-HRMS system composed of HPLC/IT-TOF
o LC-HRMS system composed of Micro-qToF mass spectrometer (Waters) with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source and online with a Waters Alliance HPLC system
o LC-HRMS system composed of a Single Qudrupole MS spectrometer on line with 1260 Infinity HPLC
o LC-APCI-MS: (Shimadzu Corporation): HPLC (LC-10ADVP) accoppiato a spettrometro di massa a singolo quadrupolo Shimadzu (LCMS-2020) con sorgente APCI.
o PolarisTM ion trap mass spectromter on line with Polaris Q gas-chromatographer for GCMS
o gas chromatography (GC) (Focus GC, Thermo Scientific) equipped with a thermoconductivity detector (TCD) and fitted with a 3 m molecular sieve column (Hayesep Q)

Sample Preparation and Chromatography
o HPLC JASCO equipped with PDA and ELSD detector and autosampler
o Waters ACQUITY UPLC System QqQ - ABSciex
o Preparative HPLC AKTA pure 25 M
o Preparative HPLC SHIMADZU LC-8
o Biotage Isolera SL
o FPLC (Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography) GE AKTA Prime Plus Liquid Chromatography System.
o Automated Fractionation System GX-271 ASPEC GILSON
o Alpha 2-4 LSCbasic Lyophilizer
o 6L Liophylizer.
o Precellys Cryolys Evolution Homogenizer
o Swing-out centrifuge (Backman Allegra 12-XR)
o High-pressure anion-exchange pulsed amperometric detection HAPAE-PAD (Dionex LC30)
o Mini-PROTEAN Tetra Cell per 1-D gel di elettroforesi verticale
o Mini-PROTEAN 3 system components per 1-D gel di elettroforesi verticale
o Wide Mini-Sub Cell GT System per la separazione di acidi nucleici
o SYRO-SAP peptide synthesizer
o Biotage® Syro Wave(TM) is a programmable peptide synthesizer

Spectroscopy
o FT-IR 4100 - JASCO
o Spectrophotometer V-650 JASCO
o Digital polarimeter P2000
o Spectropolarimeter J-815
o CHNS Analyser Flash2000
o Optima XPN-90 Ultracentrifuge Backman
o ChemiDoc XRS Biorad + System with Image Lab Software.
o Spetrophotometer Beckman Coulter.

Biotechnology
o 158.5L Autoclave Fedegari
o 100 L Glass fermenter (Faucitano-Terzano)
o Biostat 50 L pilot Glass fermenter
o 5L/3L/2L glass fermenters.
o continuous flow centrifuge
o Cappe a flusso laminare verticale.
o SThermostated ovens 40-250 °C.
o Sartorius continuous ultrafiltration system for large volumes equipped with filtering "cassettes" of various cut-offs..
o Labwit ZWYR-240 incubator (volume 69L; temperature range 4-60 °C)
o Hood for anaerobiosis
o Vertical laminar flow hoods.

Microscopy and Imaging
o WORKSTATION LEICA © "LIVE CELL MICROSCOPY" (Leica AM LEICA DMI6000 B integrated fluorescence and phase contrast microscopy system, latest generation Leica LAS X software with Mark & Find mode and Tile Scan mode; FRET software module for Fluorescence Resonance study Energy Transfer; Software module for radiometric measurement of Calcium Imaging by FURA-2AM analysis using external high-speed 340/380 filter wheels; Leica external filter wheels set with EL6000 and triple fluo filter, CFP / YFP for FRET and for FFIM. Digital camera Leica K5 2020; Electronic CO2 Microscope Cage Incubator OkoLab (range: 3 ° C to 45 ° C) with digital CO2 / O2 control.
o Nikon Eclipse 400 optical microscope
o Leica Wild H8 Heebrugg stereo microscope


Cell and Molecular Biology
o High-Resolution Fluo-Respirometer (02K, Oroboros Instrument)
o Glomax Multidetection Microplate Reader (Promega)
o Real-time live-cell analysis (INCUCYTE System Sartorius / Essen Bioscience) with associated CO2 incubator of 250 L (Leica)
o Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology Setup equipped with Leica microscope, video camera, automated micromanipulator system, ClampFit recording system (UK Scientific) and optical stimulation system for LED optogenetics using speed filter wheels » = 350/380
o Intracellular Electrophysiology Setup (Leica apparatus equipped with fluorescence microscopy with associated Leica ® K5 video camera and stimulation and recording system with micromanipulator and glass electrodes produced with Sutter ® electronic puller)
o PULLER SUTTER for the production of glass capillaries with sub-micrometric diameter
o CFX Real-Time PCR Detection Systems
o Eppendorf PCR machine
o Eppendorf BioPhotometer
o Electroporator
o MACS Cell Separator