Responsible Giuseppe Diego Puglia

Location: Via Empedocle, 58 - 95128 Catania (CT) - Sicily 

tel:           +39  095. 6139916
e-mail:     amministrazione.ct@isafom.cnr.it

The Catania branch of ISAFOM-CNR has been active since its establishment (1970) in the field of the collection, conservation, multiplication, characterisation and cataloguing of genetic material and the optimisation of the use of resources for the purpose of increasing the productivity of cultivation systems and the quality and certification of products, environmental sustainability with particular reference to the valorisation of by-products and the development of renewable energies, as well as in the field of food and higher education.

The Operational Support Unit of Catania is located in Via Empedocle n. 58, 95128 Catania and consists of 6 Researchers, 3 Technologists, 2 units of Technical staff and 1 unit of administrative staff, numerous students of Master's, Bachelor's and PhD theses from the University of Catania and multiple collaborations with other national and international research groups.

MAIN ACTIVITIES, SKILLS AND KNOW-HOW:

• Qualitative characterisation of products in cultivated and spontaneous species of crops typical of the Mediterranean environment, in order to acquire information that will allow better management of biodiversity conservation, improvement of plant productivity and product quality, through chemical, enzymatic and molecular characterisation of productions;
• Production of cereal-based foods fortified with different biomolecules for the production of functional foods;
• Green chemistry;
• Next-generation industrial food production technologies and related quality certifications;
• Management and valorisation of by-products;
• Development of energy from renewable sources;
• Botanical areas concerning Sicilian endemic species and plant physiology studies on plants of agronomic and naturalistic interest in the Mediterranean environment;
• Smart green city (Smart) technologies, smart sensors and data management in agriculture, semantic webs and ontologies, data analysis, knowledge discovery from big data, cybernetic social systems, machine learning, Neuro-fuzzy systems, Deep Learning and Computer vision;
• System integration, design and development of (embedded) systems for monitoring and data analysis, drones and intelligent systems;
• Ecology of coastal marine systems and transitional environments;
• Characterisation of bio-deterioration phenomena in artefacts of historical and artistic interest;
• Aquaculture of species of food and/or bio-energy interest.

GERMPLASM BANK LABORATORY. The following activities are carried out there: Cataloguing and ex situ conservation of Mediterranean germplasm; maintenance of basic collections under controlled conditions.

Responsible and Responsible: Valeria Toscano