Curricula

Applied Plant Biology.  

• In vitro plant morphogenesis and its genetic basis, in vitro culture for ex situ conservation of threatened plant species and control of gene stability.
• Molecular markers for plant identification in preparations of food and phytochemical interest.
• Lichen-environment interactions, plant response to heavy metals and other stressors (biotic and abiotic). Physiology and biochemistry of the photosynthetic apparatus in organisms of varying degrees of evolution. 

• Molecular study of plant responses to pathogen attack and development of tools for induction and/or amplification of plant defenses with low impact molecules.
• Use of plants or bacteria to produce enzymes for industrial or biotransformation applications. Study and protection of biodiversity in plant species from Ecuador.
• Aspects of amino acid metabolism in plant response to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Basis of carotenoid and phenol accumulation.
• Use of algal strains for the production of metabolites of industrial interest and for environmental bio-remediation strategies. 

• Vegetation ecology of cold climate environments;
• response of plant communities to climatic and environmental changes;
• interactions between plants and soil organisms. 

• Ecology of inland waters, ecology of transitional environments, marine ecosystems, population dynamics, analysis of extinction risk, study of the structure and functioning of ecological communities, study of bio-geochemical cycles, analysis of host-parasite relationships, population genetics, ecotoxicology. 

• Natural resource management;
• protection of biodiversity and countering the spread of invasive species;
• sustainable management of renewable resources; environmental impact assessment;
• strategic environmental assessment;
• indices, methods and tools for environmental accounting and environmental sustainability assessment;
• bioeconomic analysis and cost-benefit analysis for evaluating land-use government policies;
• ecological techniques for environmental restoration. 

• Biological control of harmful organisms and ecology applied to agro-forestry systems.
• Biodiversity and conservation of terrestrial ecosystems.
• Techniques for protection and recovery of soil quality.
• Methodologies for the control and recovery of degraded and desertification-prone soils.
• Characterization of the effects of pollution on terrestrial ecosystems, soils and contaminated sites and their recovery through innovative technologies. 

• Animal orientation and homing.
• Extraretinal photoreception in vertebrates.
• Endocrinology of behavior.
• Effects of steroid hormones on sexual behavior.
• Courtship and sexual selection.
• Evolution of courtship displays.
• Hormonal control of migration.
• Activation and deactivation of migratory restlessness.
• Eco-ethology and sociobiology of parasitic and free-living Formicidae species, with emphasis on: mechanisms of communication and social organization (chemical, morpho-functional and evolutionary aspects), symbiotic relationships between ants and other organisms (insects, plants and microorganisms), multitrophic interactions, analysis of community structure by indices of ecological and behavioral dominance. 

• Study of the health status of invertebrates and vertebrates of aquatic habitats, both farmed and natural environment.
• Parasite-induced histopathological effects and immune response of vertebrate hosts, fish in particular. Parasite-fauna monitoring of freshwater and brackish water fish species of commercial and/or wildlife importance at the national and international level. 

• DNA diversity in human and other vertebrate populations.
• Study of DNA in ancient samples.
• Study of the effects of demographic phenomena and adaptation to the environment based on genetic data. Analysis of population structure.
• Computer simulation of evolutionary processes, and testing of hypotheses by comparing observed and simulated data.
• Application of molecular and computational techniques to the study and protection of genetic variability in protected species or species of management interest. 

• Description of DNA variability for genes of disease significance and associated genomic regions.
• Development of statistical models for analysis of biological databases and for identification of association between genes and diseases.
• Analysis of complex segregation based on pedigree data and bioinformatics resources.
• Hypothesis testing of selective pressures and adaptation mechanisms that have led to the current distributions of genetic diversity.
• Pharmacogenomics. 

• Biology of ancient human populations.
• Reconstruction of lifestyle and environmental adaptation patterns of prehistoric and historic Italian populations.
• Phylogeny and reconstruction of the paleobiology of fossil Pleistocene South African hominins. 

• The immune system of teleosts: ontogeny and leukocyte differentiation, improved larval vaccination practices, molecules and function of lymphocytes, immunity, molecular, cellular, anatomical and functional adaptations of the immune system in fishes living in extreme conditions, such as polar (Arctic and Antarctic) and mesopelagic teleosts.
• The immune system of marine mammals: use of transcriptomics technologies, cellular models and morpho-functional investigations for integrated analyses of genetic, disease and environmental factors, in Cetaceans and Pinnipeds. 

• Circadian genes and evolution of the circadian system in vertebrates.
• Circadian photoreception.
• Molecular and bioinformatic analysis of genomic polymorphisms related to circadian rhythms in humans. 

• Role of both endogenous and exogenous oxidative stress on target organs;
• dietary interventions that can modulate such responses at the molecular, metabolic and cellular levels.
• Effect of endogenous (aging) and exogenous (CS and O3) oxidative stress on transporters implicated in cellular trafficking of vitamin E in both skin and lung tissue;
• Modulation of cutaneous Wound Healing by oxidative stress, in in vivo models and the use of natural or differently functionalized molecules to enhance this process;
• the role of oxidative stress, as a possible pathogenic factor in Rett syndrome. 

• Study of genetic and physiological responses to adaptation to stress conditions.
• Evolution of the multipartite genome. Genetic analysis of microorganism-host interaction and mutualistic symbioses.
• Computational modeling of cellular metabolism.
• Development of multi-omics models for applications in systems biology and biotechnology.
• Microbial population genomics. Evolution of genes and operons. 

• Mechanisms of genetic adaptation to water stress in crop plants.
• Transcriptome and epigenome analysis. Sequencing of plant genomes.
• Study of genes involved in the production of molecules of pharmacological interest.