Curriculum Botany
Coordinator: Prof.ssa Maria Maddalena Altamura
The Curriculum is aimed to provide experimental knowledge in specialized fields of Botany, covering a wide range of interests, from plant biotechnology innovation for environment and human health, to plant pathology and biosystematics of modern and fossil plants. Research fields include plant cell biology and histology, plant responses to biotic and abiotic stress, embryogenesis, plant development, geobotany, reproductive biology, palaeobotany, palynology, pharmaceutical botany, plant taxonomy and evolution, phycology, mycology, and applied plant sciences. It also involves applications of plant biotechnology and general biology across all industrial sectors. This curriculum includes applications in agriculture, horticulture, pharmaceuticals, phytoremediation, non-food use of plants and industrial crops, and early detection of food quality. The research carried out in these fields is aimed to preserve plant biodiversity, to improve plant adaptation to environmental changes, and to sustain plant health. The Curriculum for “Botany” prepares qualified plant researchers for academic, scientific and technological Institutions, in Italy and abroad, who are able to work in autonomy and to manage innovative research.
Main research topics
- Differentiation and morphogenesis in planta and in in vitro systems
- Systematic and distribution of bryophytes and vascular plants
- Quaternary Palaeobotany and Archaeobotany
- Ex situ conservation of plant biodiversity
- Food safety: prevention, detection and detoxification of chemical and microbiological contamination
- Plant Pathology
- Fungi and their potential in bioremediation of potentially toxic elements
- Phytoremediation in hyperaccumulator model plants and in plants of agro-food interest
- Secondary metabolism in planta and in vitro systems
- Bioactive molecules in food, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals
- Nanobiotechnology as a new strategy of defense against plant pathogens and for obtaining food free of pesticide residues and / or contaminants.
Supervisors
- Abbate Giovanna
- Altamura Maria Maddalena
- Attorre Fabio
- Brandizzi Federica
- Falasca Giuseppina
- Fattorini Laura
- Iberite Mauro
- Magri Donatella
- Nicoletti Marcello
- Pasqua Gabriella
- Persiani Anna Maria
- Reverberi Massimo
- Riemann Michael
- Serafini Mauro
- Valletta Alessio