Area of Research

DIB:

Our group is active in the identification, characterization and engineering of new enzymes for industrial biotechnological applications in particular:
- Identification and characterization of enzymes active on carbohydrates and their engineering for the chemoenzymatic synthesis of oligosaccharides in high yields for green chemistry, pharmaceutical applications and bio-medicine.
- Metagenomics in geothermal environments for the identification of (hyper) thermophilic microorganisms and the exploitation of their enzymes in green chemistry, in the agro-food sector and for biofuels.

DSC:

Our group is active in growth of microalgae and cyanobacteria, extraction of different class of molecules in a cascade approach, and biological characterization of the isolated molecules to be used in biotechnological applications. In particular:
- Set up of experimental conditions for microalgal growth.
- Green approach for the isolation and characterization of molecules with antioxidant activity, to be used in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical fields.
- Analysis of other biological activities, such as anti cancer activity, of the isolated molecules.
- Use of the isolated lipids as substrates for microbial growth to produce bioplastics.

Area of Expertise and Main Technologies

DIB:

Enzymology, metagenomics, (hyper)thermophilic microbial cultures, protein engineering, bioinformatics.

DSC:

Biochemistry, cell biology, microalgal cultures, isolation of molecules in a cascade approach, antioxidant activity.

Key Organisms

DIB:

Mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria, hyperthermophilic archaea.

DSC:

Cyanobacteria and microalgae.

Industrial Application

DIB:

Our research activity can be applied in different industrial fields and applications such as in the degradation of (hemi)cellulolytic biopolymers for the production of biofuels in the modern biorefineries as well as for the production of fine chemicals and biomolecules of nutraceutical interest (mainly oligosaccharides) with a high added value starting from waste biomasses. 

DSC:

Our research activity can be applied in different industrial fields and applications, such as the production of antioxidant molecules to be used in nutraceutical application or in cosmeceutic field, as well as in the production substrates used from microorganisms for bioplastic synthesis (oligosaccharides and lipids). All the class of molecules are obtained in a cascade approach, taking in consideration the green chemistry philosophy and using photosynthetic microorganisms able to transform CO₂ in O₂.

Industrial Sector

• Energy
• Human well-being & Care
• Food Ingredients
• Biomedical & Biological
• Pharma

Contacts 

Main contact: Marco Moracci (DIB) - marco.moracci@unina.it - https://www.docenti.unina.it/marco.moracci

Andrea Strazzulli (DIB) - andrea.strazzulli@unina.it

Daria Maria Monti (DSC) - mdmonti@unina.it - https://www.docenti.unina.it/dariamaria.monti