1. Analysis of secondary metabolites in plants of food and pharmaceutical interest and in derived products and evaluation of biological activities in vitro. This research field involves the preparation of raw extracts and fractions enriched in particular classes of secondary metabolites, the analysis of the extracts by spectrophotometric and chromatographic techniques, and the evaluation of the antioxidant power of the extracts by means of various in vitro tests.
2.Study of the response of plants to abiotic stress and role of plant extracts as biostimulants in modulating stress responses. Recent research has focused in particular on the response to saline stress in maize, quinoa, and in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana and have highlighted the mechanisms involved. Extracts prepared from by-products deriving from cereal and pseudocereal processing have been evaluated for their potential use as biostimulants, that is agents capable of improving the growth and development performance of plants, and of modulating the response of the plant itself to abiotic stress.
