PhD Student: Pisoni Luca (ORCID n. 0009-0004-1036-3144)
Supervisor: Paolo Cortesi, DeFENS
Co-tutor: Daniela Bulgari
Dean: Prof. Diego Mora
Research area: Agri-Environment
Research topic: Agricultural waste as a source of bioactive compounds for applications in agriculture
Project Synopsis
The transition to sustainable agricultural production is growing steadily in Europe and around the world. Epidemic diseases caused by soilborne pathogenic fungi are a key target. Solid-state fermentation (SSF) is a promising tool to produce microbial biomass, and bioactive molecules for use in the production of biopesticides, using waste materials from various agro-industrial supply chains as growth substrates.
The aim of this project is the development of biotechnological processes, in particular solid-state fermentations, to valorise different agrifood waste for antimicrobial applications in field to implement pathogen resistance in crops. Bioactive compounds will be searched, and their antimicrobial activity will be evaluated in vitro and in planta. Moreover, omics techniques will be used to understand the mechanisms involved in the production of secondary metabolites with antimicrobial activity.
Project keywords
Agri-food waste, antimicrobials, bioactive compounds, circular economy
Contacts
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, DeFENS
Università degli Studi di Milano
Via Celoria 2, 20133, Milan/Italy
Collaborations
Dott. Gregorio Peron, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia
Dott. Fabrizio Araniti, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences – Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, University of Milan
Prof. Sabrina Dallavalle, Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, University of Milan
Sponsor
Fellowship sponsor: Università degli Studi di Milano
Updated: