PhD Student: Aziza Caccia (ORCID n. 0009-0000-6425-0533)
Supervisor: Prof. Sabrina Dallavalle, Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS)
Co-tutor: Dr. Gigliola Borgonovo
Dean: Prof. Diego Mora
Research area: Chemistry and Biochemistry
Research topic: Development of new chemical and biological strategies for the control of pathogenic microorganisms in the agri-food chain.
Project Synopsis
Synthesis of natural and nature-inspired hordatines: antimicrobial activity and SAR studies.
This PhD research project aims at the development of novel and highly active nature-inspired antimicrobial agents to be used as biofungicides for crop protection, focusing on virulence mechanisms of phytopathogens fungi and bacteria, both Gram positive and negative. Among phytoalexins, this project is centered on cinnamic acids derivatives as monomers and dimers that are found in different cereals, fruit and vegetables. Starting from preliminary results of in vitro tests, the natural cinnamic acid dimers core have shown interesting antimicrobial activity. Scaffold modification strategies and SAR studies will be exploited to increase both the activity as multitarget agents and the bioavailability of the natural compounds, aiming at obtaining new active hit-compounds.
Project keywords: Chemical synthesis, natural compound, crop, antimicrobial activity
Contacts
Laboratory address: DeFENS – Chemical & Biomolecular Sciences – Via Celoria 2, Milano (MI)
Email address: aziza.caccia@unimi.it
Collaborations
Prof. Andrea Kunova, Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS).
Prof. Piera Anna Maria Martino, Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences.
Sponsor
Università degli Studi di Milano