PhD student profile, Luca De Vincenti

PhD Student: Luca De Vincenti

Tutors: Prof. Francesca Cappitelli, Dr. Fabio Forlani – DeFENS

Dean: Prof. Francesco Bonomi

Research area: Agri-Environment

PhD title achieved on: 18^th December 2018

Research topic

Plant-derived compounds as antibiofilm agents

Project Synopsis

The principal aim of this PhD project is to unravel the effects of bioactive-enriched fractions obtained from halophytes and nanoparticles (NPs) for the development of innovative biocide-free, eco-sustainable strategies to counteract unwanted biofilms. Using sub-lethal doses of bio-inspired molecules and NPs we offer an elegant way to interfere with specific key-steps that orchestrate biofilm formation, disarming microorganisms without affecting their existence, sidestepping drug resistance and extending the efficacy of the current arsenal of antimicrobial agents.

Project keywords

biofilms, plant-derived compounds, sub-lethal concentrations, biocide-free strategies, oxidative stress, nanoparticles

Contacts

DeFENS – Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences

Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences

Università degli Studi di Milano

Via Celoria 2 – 20133 Milano – Italy

Phone: +39(2) 503.19146

Email: luca.devincenti@unimi.it

Collaborations

Prof. Dr. Jutta Papenbrock, Institute of Botany, Leibniz University of Hannover, Hannover (Germany)

Sponsor

Fellowship sponsor: Università degli Studi di Milano

Publications

De Vincenti L., Cattò C., Borgonovo G., Bassoli A., Saracchi M., Villa F., Cappitelli F. “Evaluation of antibiofilm property of Perilla frutescens essential oils against plant pathogenic fungi”. Abstract submitted for poster session at IV International Conference on Antimicrobial Research – ICAR2016, 29 June-1 July 2016, Torremolinos-Malaga (Spain).

Garuglieri E., Zanchi R., Cattò C., Troiano F., De Vincenti L., Cappitelli F. “Unraveling the effects of food-related engineered NANOparticles on the GUT interactive ecosystem (NanoGut)” – MD-2015 Microbial diversity: the challenge of complexity, Congress of Società Italiana di Microbiologia Agraria, Alimentare e Ambientale (SIMTREA), Perugia (Italy), 27th-29th October 2015.