Food chemistry and neutraceuticals

The research groups that work on food chemistry and nutraceuticals focus their activities on the chemical analysis of foods, the evaluation of their neutraceutical properties, the development of methodologies that aim at assuring food healthiness.

Research groups:

  • (PharmaNutra) Isolation, characterization and recovery of nutraceuticals from food industry wastes; ii) design and formulation of nutraceuticals; iii) discovery of traces of organic and inorganic pollutants in food matrices.
  • (FANATIC – Food ANalysis And analyTIcal Chemistry) Monitoring of xenobiotics in different types of matrices, particularly food matrices, by the setting-up of new methods for their extraction, purification and quantitative analysis. Validation of the developed analytical methods according to the official guidelines. Studies on substances from food with beneficial effects in the human body.
  • (MarBiotox) MarBioTox group operates in the field of chemical analysis of marine biotoxins, compounds produced by microalgae and cyanobacteria and accumulated in marine food web. Research activity of MarBioTox includes: 1) development of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methods for quali-quantitative determination of known and new marine biotoxins in environmental and food matrices (seawater, marine edible mollusks, fish, and plankton); 2) isolation and stereo-structural elucidation through NMR techniques of marine biotoxins from natural sources; 3) development of new LC-MS/MS and LC-High Resolution MSnapproaches for structural characterization of new toxins contained at trace levels in crude extracts. Such research line supports public health protection agencies and managements of marine biotoxins emergencies.

Partecipants:

  • Stefania Albrizio
  • Patrizia Ciminiello
  • Carmela Dell’Aversano
  • Martino Forino
  • Ettore Novellino
  • Alberto Ritieni
  • Antonello Santini
  • Serenella Seccia
  • Luciana Tartaglione
  • Giancarlo Tenore