Research organizations and lab facilities
Leading Organization:
Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology, National Research Council
CNR-IBBA
The Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology is part of the Bio-Agrifood Department of the National Research Council, which is the largest research institution in Italy. The Institute comprises 75 personnel units, in three different locations and performs research and technological advance in different research fields related to characterization of animals, plants and microorganisms of agrarian interest.
Research activities include studies in the field of plant biology and biotechnology with special emphasis on applied aspects concerning food, feed, fibers and fuel. Expertises are on agronomy, plant physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics and bioinformatics.
The main mission of the Institute is to increase basic knowledge on the use of organisms of agricultural interest for the help of a more sustainable agriculture, development of technologies and bio-technologies to transfer and finalized application of results acquired, formation of students and young scientists and diffusion of scientific knowledge. In Milan the IBBA occupies about 2000 square meters of laboratories and facilities. Laboratories are equipped for biochemical and molecular biology activities. Over then specialized laboratories for radioisotopes, microbiology, cell tissue cultures, genomics, microscopy, gas-chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, and growth chambers for plant cultivation are available and well equipped. The research unit located in Lodi is dedicated to molecular studies by means of new technologies as Next Generation Sequencing and bioinformatic expertise to develop innovative molecular methods. Recently a fully equipped and integrated Genome Research Resort has been create: this infrastructure bring together the latest generation of equipment for integrated studies on genome function, and an informatics and statistical resource with computing power, libraries of software and the staff necessary to analyze complex and large datasets.
The institute has experience on OFMSW treatment in cooperation with field located plant factory, where pilot an real scale test can be set up.
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences – Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, Università degli Studi di Milano
UNIMI-DISAA
The Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences – Production, Landscape, Agroenergy (DiSAA) of the Università degli Studi di Milano is aimed at the promotion of effective and efficient management of complex agricultural systems. These activities are carried out through scientific research, knowledge about farming systems, forestry, livestock, environmental and energy based on a multidisciplinary approach.
The study of agricultural systems is carried out with a multidisciplinary approach considering the whole production processes. The DiSAA is composed by 80 researchers and professors and more than 150 PhD students and post-doctoral followers. The main research topics are agricultural sciences, agricultural engineering, renewable energies generations and food sciences.
Since several years the DiSAA has been working on the evaluation of energetic environmental performances of agricultural processes. In particular, at the Department, the LCA group has started its activity performing the application of LCA methodology to the agricultural sector with 3 main focuses: mechanization of field operations and crop production; livestock productions; and food processing.
The environmental assessment of the whole agricultural processes from a Life Cycle Assessment perspective is carried out both using the commercial software and by developing specific software tools.
Regarding the assessment of the environmental burdens of agricultural processes, the DiSAA is presently provided of full licenses regarding the most important software for LCA analysis (e.g. Simapro) that provide access to the ECOINVENT Database, the most important European database for LCA studies.
Institute of Sciences of Food Production, NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
CNR-ISPA
The Institute of Sciences of Food Production (ISPA-CNR) is a centre of excellence, with worldwide reputation, active in R&D and technology transfer to improve safety, quality and shelf-life of agro-food products. The current organization of ISPA is composed of 63 researchers out of a total staff of 105 personnel in different locations. The Milano Unit is hosted by the Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences of the University of Milan (DEFENS) and is made of 3 researchers, 1 technician and 2 research grant recipients. Several graduate and doctoral students are involved in the research activity.
In addition to incubators, centrifuges, sonicator, gel electrophoresis systems, analytical balances and microbiology equipment, the laboratory facilities include: Freeze Dryer Christ Alpha 1-2 LD plus; Microscope Leitz, mod. Labolux 12; Conductance growth analyzer Malthus FLEX V; Rheometer analyzer CRM (Polotrade, Venezia; Water activity (Aw) meter Thermoconstanter Novasina TH200; Surface Air System (SAS) Monitoring Instrument; Advanced Phenotypic Analyzer Biolog Inc. Microbial ID System;Cinac System (INRA) and AMSA (Star Ecotronics, Milano) system for Acidification and Reducing activities measurement; Compact Multiparametric Immunoanalyzer miniVIDAS (BioMérieux); Milk Somatic Cells Analyzer System 150 PLUS (SACCO); Thermal cyclers: EPPENDORF, Euroclone; Eco Real-Time PCR System Illumina, Gel documentation system UVIpro;Bioinformatic Software BIONUMERICS 5.0 (Applied Maths); ELISA plate reader: Sirio S – SEAC; Spectrophotometer UV/Vis Jasco V-650; Gas chromatograph AGILENT G1530A equipped with Flame ionization detector (FID) and an automatic sampler AGILENT G1513A; Hydrogen Generator (for carrier and flame) Parker Balston H2PD-150; Gas chromatograph – mass spectrometer AGILENT 5973N (DIFFUSION PUMP) equipped with Dynamic Head Space sampler Dani Instruments Master DHS and CTC Pal autosampler, equipped with Solid Phase Micro Extraction unit.