IBBR - URT Department of Biology of the University of Naples Federico II
The building of the Dept of Biology, University of Naples, hosting the IBBR Research Unit.
The IBBR research unit at the Department of Biology of the University of Naples Federico II (UNINA-DB) was established to consolidate the already fruitful collaboration between IBBR and UNINA-DB and to extend it to the entire CNR, considering that the biotransformation and the valorization of urban and industrial waste products in a circular bioeconomy perspective represent an important branch of the scientific activity of numerous CNR institutes and departments. UNINA-DB has state-of-the-art equipment and solid skills in environmental metagenomic sampling and analysis, especially in extreme environments, and platforms for high-throughput screening of enzymatic activities to be exploited in biotechnological applications. In addition, the two institutions are partners of the European research infrastructure of industrial biotechnology IBISBA (
https://www.ibisba.eu), with IBBR as the leader of the Italian national node IBISBA-IT (
https://www.ibisba.it). The URT, therefore, aims to allow the exchange between the two institutions of already consolidated competences and represents an opportunity for the development of new knowledge and tools with special interest in the (meta)genomic identification of novel biocatalysts from extreme environments for biotechnological applications in a circular bioeconomy perspective.
Research activities
Research activities at UNINA-DB division may be summarized as follows:
- Preparation of databases of metagenomes from DNA isolated from geothermal environments.
- In-silico identification in (meta)genomic databases of genes encoding for putative enzymes that modify carbohydrates (CAZymes) and degrade plastics (PETase and MHETase).
- Recombinant production and biochemical and enzymatic characterization of CAZymes, PETase and MHETase.
- Analysis of the reaction products of the enzymes under study.
- Development of the reaction conditions with enzymatic cocktails for the biodegradation of lignocellulosic biomass and urban and industrial waste.
Head: Dr. Beatrice Cobucci Ponzano
e-mail: Beatrice.cobucciponzano@ibbr.cnr.it
