Bari - ISPA main unit

Bari Headquarters: Heritage and Vanguard in Agri-Food Research

The Bari Headquarters of CNR-ISPA, the Institute's headquarters, is a scientific hub of excellence born from the strategic merger of two historical institutes, defining its current broad spectrum of expertise.

Historical Roots

The current headquarters is the result of the merger of:

• Institute of Toxins nd Mycotoxins from Plant Parasites (ITEM): Established in 1980, ITEM had its origins in the CNR Study Center on Toxins and Systemic Parasites, operating since 1970 at the University of Bari (Department of Plant Pathology).
• Institute of Industrial Horticulture (ISOI): Established in 1992, ISOI originated from the Study Center on Industrial Horticulture, active since 1972 at the University of Bari (Department of Plant Production Sciences, now the Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences (Di.S.S.P.A.)).This dual heritage ensures unique expertise spanning from food safety (ITEM) to fruit and vegetable production (ISOI).

This dual heritage ensures unique expertise spanning from food safety (ITEM) to fruit and vegetable production (ISOI).

Staff

The Bari Headquarters benefits from a dedicated team structured as follows: 8 Research Directors, 18 Senior Researchers (1st Researcher), and 25 Researchers. This core scientific group is supported by 14 Technical Staff and 2 Administrative Staff. Additionally, the unit includes 16 non-structured personnel, contributing to the overall research activities.

Thematic Areas

The scientific activity of the Bari headquarters focuses on six key thematic areas, in close synergy with national and international objectives:

• Improvement of food and feed quality and safety.
• Study of microorganisms of agro-industrial interest and their bioactive metabolites.
• Biodiversity: management of the ISO 9001:2015 Certified and internationally recognized "Microbial Biological Resource Center" (mBRS) ITEM Agri-Food Microbial Collection (https://item.bio-aware.com/), with over 14,000 fungal strains, 400 enological yeasts, and 400 bacterial strains.
• Research focused on the sustainable production of fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products. Improvement of the nutritional, nutraceutical, and organoleptic properties in feed and food.
• Characterization and valorisation of waste and by-products from agri-food supply chains, optimization of stabilization processes, extraction of bioactive molecules, and bioconversion processes.

Relevant Laboratories/Equipments

Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory:

• QX200 Droplet Digital™ PCR (Bio-Rad), UV-1900i spectrophotometer (Shimadzu), BD Phoenix™ 50 automated system for antibiotic resistance detection, Varioskan Flash multiplate reader (Thermo Fisher Scientific);
• Biological laminar flow hoods, incubators and orbital incubators, fermenters, freeze-dryers, microscopes and stereo microscopes. Agilent Tapestation 4200 capillary electrophoresis system;
• Bioscreen C automated system for microbial growth study;
• FPLC AKTA PURE 25M and HPLC Agilent chromatographic systems with DAD, FLD, and RID detectors for matrix characterization and determination of compounds deriving from biotechnological processes;
• ViscoQC 300L rotational viscometer (Anton Paar);
• VELP SER158 automatic extractor for fat quantification and optimization of solvent extraction processes;
• VELP CN802 elemental analyzer;
• 30L Cplus 30 bioreactor (Sartorius);
• Muffle furnace for ash determination, laminar flow biological safety cabinets, incubators and orbital incubators, fermenters, freeze-dryers (lyophilizers), microscopes and stereomicroscopes.
  

Pathogen Agents Laboatory:

• Biological laminar flow hood, Glove Box (Plas Labs).

Molecular Laboratory:

• Capillary Sequencer 3730xl DNA analyzer (Applied Biosystem), NGS Sequencer Ion S5 System and Ion Chef (Thermo Fisher Scientific);
• Qiaexcel advanced capillary electrophoresis system (Qiagen), GelDoc Go Gel Imaging System (BioRad);     
• Applied Biosystems ViiA™ 7 Real-Time PCR System, Applied Biosystems 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR System;    
• NanoDrop One (Thermo Fisher Scientific), Qubit fluorometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific);
• epMotion® 5075 automated pipetting system (Eppendorf).

Microbial Collection Laboratory

• 3 Criocongelatori meccanici - 150° C con backup mediante azoto liquito (ThermoFisher and Haier Scientific)
• Liofilizzatore Freeze Dryer Liosmart 8 (5PASCAL);
• Sequenziatore SeqStudio 8Flex – Applied Biosystems mod 664-0100;
• Omogeneizzatore Precellys 24 Touch;
• Sistema Gel Doc Go Imaging System (Biorad);
• Microscopio motorizzato Leica mod. DMRE e steromicroscopio Leica mod. TL3000 dotati di sistema digitalizzato per acquisizione immagini
• 3 mechanical Cryo-freezers at with liquid nitrogen backup (ThermoFisher and Haier Scientific);
• freeze dryer Freeze Dryer Liosmart (5 pascal);
• SeqStudio 8Flex Sequencer - Applied Biosystems mod 664-0100.      
• Precellys 24 Touch Homogenizer;
• Gel Doc Go Imaging System (Biorad);     
• Leica motorized microscope mod. DMRE and Leica stereo microscope mod. TL3000 equipped with a digitized image acquisition system.

Chemical Laboratory:

• sample preparation systems (grinding, homogenization, extraction, purification, concentration, and centrifugation);    
• liquid chromatography systems (HPLC and UHPLC) with the main detectors (UV/DAD, FLD, PDA, IR, QDA);
• gas chromatography systems combined with mass spectrometry GC-MS (single quadrupole, ion trap). GC-MS equipped with pyrolysis system. GC-MS equipped with an olfactometry port;      
• liquid chromatography systems combined with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry LC-MS/MS (QTRAP Serie 6500+ by SCIEX; QSight 220 by Perkin Elmer) and with high-resolution mass spectrometers LC-HRMS on OrbitrapTM technology (Exploris 240 and QExactive+ from Thermo Fisher Scientific);
• electronic noses based on mass spectrometry;
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometers FT-IR (in the near and mid-infrared region);
• readers for immunochromatographic and fluorescence polarization assays.

Horticulture Laboratory:

• walk-in growth chamber used for plant cultivation under controlled environmental conditions;
• analytical systems ICP-OES and ion chromatography for measuring mineral elements and ions, instruments (IMAGING-PAM and LI-600) for non-destructive assessment of photosynthetic efficiency and stomatal conductance;
• CN elemental analyzer for carbon and nitrogen determination;
• experimental greenhouses, both on soil and in soilless cultivation systems.

Cell Culture Laboratory:

• CO₂ Incubator, biological laminar flow hoods, LEICA DM IL inverted microscope.

Food Preparation Laboratory:

• equipment for food preservation (blast chiller/freezer, refrigerated cabinet and refrigerated table);     
• cooking equipment (induction hobs, electric/steam combi oven, microwave, fryer, griddle top, bain-marie);
• self-aspirating hood;    
• vacuum packaging machine with a bell chamber (Orved);
• other equipment (dryer, planetary mixer, extractor).

   

Responsabile
Dott. Antonio Moretti
Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari
Via Amendola, 122/O – 70126 Bari BA
Phone: +39 080 5929326
e-mail: antonio.moretti@ispa.cnr.it

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