PhD student profile, Erika Meroni

PhD Student:  Erika Meroni

 

Tutor: Daniela Erba (DeFENS, Food Science and Nutrition)

Dean: Francesco Bonomi

Research area: Food Science and Nutrition

PhD title achieved on: 18^th December 2018

 

Research topic

Bioavailability, biological activity, mechanisms of action and role on health of bioactive components (endogenous, from food or from food industry by-products) through cell culture models and in vivo studies

 

Project Synopsis

The “ketogenic diet” (KD) it’s a dietary program that was designed in the 20’s as a therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy, and spreads rapidly, since the 70’s, as a weight-loss diet (Atkins). The “in vivo effects” of KD are matter of debate in the scientific community: on the one hand it’s unquestionable its usefulness for therapeutic purposes, but there have been discussions on KD formulated for rapid weight loss. The aim of this PhD project is to investigate the metabolic effects of ketone bodies, by “in vitro” and “in vivo” studies. The main objectives will be: 1) to verify the effects exerted by ketone bodies on cellular responses, by studying the activation of transcriptional factors and post-translation changes of proteins; 2) to verify the impact of this dietary approach on human intestinal environment, by evaluation of composition of gut bacteria, marker of bacterial metabolism and toxicity of fecal water.

 

Project keywords

metabolism, ketogenic diet, nutrition, gut health

 

Contacts

Dept. of Food, Enviromental and Nutritional Science, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy.

Telephone: +390250316646

E-mail: erika.meroni@unimi.it

 

Collaborations

Nadia Papini, Dept. of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, LITA, Segrate (MI)

Anna Tagliabue,  Dept. of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia (PV)

Cinzia Ferraris, Dept. of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia (PV)

 

Sponsor

Fellowship sponsor: Università degli Studi di Milano

 

Publications

Garuglieri E., Meroni E., Cattò C., Villa F., Cappitelli F., Erba D. (2018) Effects of sub-lethal concentrations of silver nanoparticles on a simulated intestinal prokaryotic–eukaryotic interface. Front. Microbiol. 8:2698. Doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02698.

Meroni E., Raikos V. (2018) Formulating orange oil-in-water beverage emulsions for effective delivery of bioactives: improvements in chemical stability, antioxidant activity and gastrointestinal fate of lycopene using carrier oils. Food Res. Int. Doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2018.01.013.

Meroni E., Raikos V. (2017) Physicochemical stability, antioxidant properties and bioaccessibility of β-carotene in orange oil-in-water beverage emulsions: influence of carrier oil type. Food Funct. Doi: 10.1039/C7FO01170A.

Erba D., Manini F., Meroni E., Casiraghi MC. (2016) Phytate/calcium molar ratio does not predict accessibility of calcium in ready-to-eat dishes. J. Sci. Food Agric. 97(10):3189-3194. Doi: 10.1002/jsfa.8163.

Marengo M., Carpen A., Bonomi F., Casiraghi MC., Meroni E., Quaglia L., Iametti S., Marti A., Pagani MA. (2016) Macromolecular and micronutrient profiles of sprouted chickpeas to be used for integrating cereal-based food, Cereal Chem. 94:1. Doi: 10.1094/CCHEM-04-16-0108-FI.

 

Proceedings of National and International Conferences

Meroni E., Domingo G., Erba D., Cattò C., Cappitelli F., Vannini C., Bracale M. (2018) Effects of sub-lethal concentrations of silver nanoparticles on Caco-2 cells.

Poster Presentation at V International Conference on Foodomics: from Data to Knowledge, 10^th -12^th January, Cesena (FC).

 

Meroni E., Raikos V. (2017) Stabilità fisico-chimica, proprietà antiossidanti di bevande addizionate con ß-carotene, bioaccessibilità del carotenoide: influenza della tipologia di olio carrier.

Poster Presentation at XXXVIII National Congress SINU, 20^th -22^th November, Torino (TO).

 

Meroni E. (2017) Metabolic effects of dietary approaches: ketogenic diet & ketone bodies.

Poster presentation at 22^th Workshop on the Developments in the Italian PhD Research on Food Science Technology and Biotechnology, September 20^th-22^th, Bolzano (BZ).

 

Meroni E., Papini N., Erba D. (2016) Effects of exposure to ketone bodies in endothelial cells.

Poster Presentation at XXXVII National Congress SINU, 30^th November-2^nd December, Bologna (BO). AWARD for the best scientific poster presentation.

 

Meroni E. (2016) Metabolic effects of dietary approaches: ketogenic diet & ketone bodies.

Poster presentation at 21^th Workshop on the Developments in the Italian PhD Research on Food Science Technology and Biotechnology, September 14^th-16^th, Portici (NA).

 

Others

Member of SINU (Italian Society of Human Nutrition)

Erasmus Traineeship: The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK. January – May 2017.