Peptpidic antibiotic production in actinomycetes
- rational and genetic strain improvement of producing actinomycetes;
- identification of resistance determinants in producing actinomycetes;
- investigation of biosynthetic regulatory pathways;
- heterologous expression of biosynthetic clusters;
- study of antibiotic resistance in producer strains.
Chitinases as potential novel biopesticides
- production in different heterologous hosts (Escherichia coli and Streptomyces spp.) of chitinases identified by functional and/or genetic screening of different soil metagenomic libraries;
- biological and biochemical characterization of the purified enzymes.
Microbial colonization of benthic Artic and Antarctic environments
- Isolation of actinomycetes from Artic and Antarctic microbial communities;
- Screening of the isolates for the production of secondary metabolites and hydrolytic enzymes.
Polyphasic taxonomy and actinobacteria classification
- taxonomy classification of industrial valuble actinobacteria
- morphological and genomic description of undefined strains
In collaboration with other Laboratories of the University of Insubria
- Study of microbial biodiversity in polar enviroments with Prof. Mauro Guglielmin and Prof. Nicoletta Cannone from the Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences.
- Conjugation of glycopeptide antibiotics with magnetic nanoparticles with Prof. Giovanni Bernardini from the Laboratory of Cell Biology and Dr. Viviana Orlandi from the Laboratory of Microbiology.
- Biocontrol strategies against insects using chitinases and development of insect larvae as models for the in vivo screening of antibiotic compounds with Dr. Aurora Montali and Prof. Gianluca Tettamanti from the Laboratory of Invertebrate Biology.
- Searching for new enzymes involved in lignin degradation in collaboration with Prof. Loredano Pollegioni and Dr. Elena Rosini from the Laboratory of Biochemistry financed by the CIB project “Un approccio glocal alle bioraffinerie di terza generazione”.
In collaboration with other Laboratories:
- Study of fungal biodiversity in Arctic permafrost Prof. Pietro Buzzini fo the University of Perugia
- ENDPOINT (nEw chitiNase-baseD Products for the cOntrol of INsect pesTs), Accordo di Cooperazione Scientifica, Tecnologica ed Industriale tra Italia e Israele- Industrial Track 2020 in collaboration with Laboratory of Invertebrate Biology, University of Insubria, Isagro, Italy, IPM Northern R&D/MIGAL, Israel, Luxembourgn Industries, Israel. Topic: Research and development of fungal chitinases as novel bioinsecticides.
- Microbial colonization of benthic Antarctic environments, isolation and characterization of bacteria from biofilm from marine Antarctic habitat in collaboration with Dr. Gabriella Caruso, Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero, (IRBIM) CNR Messina
- Use of SPR (Surface Plasmon Resonance) to study the interaction between glycopeptides and their molecular targets and the role VanYn in the peptidoglycan modification in collaboration with Prof. Maria Josefa Hernaiz Gomez-Degano, Complutense University, Madrid Spain.
- Characterization and genetic manipulation of biosynthetic gene clusters recently discovered by genome sequencing of Nonomuraea gerenzanensis in collaboration with Prof. Pietro Alifano and Dr. Adelfia Talà, Università del Salento, Lecce
- Biocontrol strategies with chitinases against insects (bioassays with Bombyx mori larvae) in collaboration with Prof. Morena Casartelli, University of Milan, Milan Italy .