Prof. Roberto Bassi

Roberto Bassi (1955) was born in Vicenza (I). He graduated in Biology in Padua (1977), after which, he worked as microbiologist and botanist in the same University till 1983, when he won an assistant professorship in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. He specialized in genetics in Copenhagen, Biophysics in Paris and Molecular Biology in Geneva. He has been teaching Plant Biochemistry, Physiology and synthetic biology in Padua, Urbino, Marseille, Lausanne and Verona.  His research focuses on the structure and function of the photosynthetic systems of plants and algae and the environmental stress physiology with the aim of optimizing the light to biomass conversion efficiency and devise biotechnological solutions for environmental sustainability, with special reference to the management of carbon cycle. He has published more than 300 articles in international journals with an HF of 102 and 28.000 citations. He is a member of the National Academy of Lincei, National Academy of Technology, the EMBO, the European Academy and others. He was awarded theBaccarini-Melandri prize, the Herlitzka prize, for Physiology, the von Humboldt Award, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Award and the Miller Research professorship in Berkeley. He is the P.I of the ERC advanced grant GrInSun (2022-2027). He has been serving as the chair of the scientific advisory board of  the Stazione Anton Dorhn in Naples of which he is now the President.

Segreteria del Presidente

Giovanna Di Gennaro 
Tel.  +39 081 5833215

E-mail: presidenza(at)szn.it

Code: 04894530635

The Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn of Napoli, founded in 1872, is a public Research institution entirely dedicate to scientific research. Here more than 20 Nobel Laureates have worked and made scientific progresses that contributed to the wellbeing of humanity.
In our Research Institution, marine animals and their habitat are studied and protected. The monitoring of the Mediterranean coasts and seabed is carried out with the most updated technical scientific equipment and the researches cover some of the most advanced sectors of biology.

Giving your 5 x 1000 to the Stazione Zoologica costs nothing, is simple and is upon your choice, it is an opportunity to support the non-profit organizations, such as the Zoological Station.

The 5 x 1000 at the Stazione Zoological will be entirely dedicated to protect the marine life and support the research of young scientists.

If Environment is important for you, please help us to learn more about our seas with your contribution: to protect our environment, we first need to understand it!

How to donate:
To donate your 5 x 1000 to the Stazione Zoologica, just sign and write the fiscal code of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, in your tax declaration.

Fiscal Code: 04894530635

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Supervisor: Dr. Giovanna Romano

Scientific activities

The Laboratory of Chemical Ecology offers instrumentation and support to conduct studies of Chemical Ecology on the marine plankton. The research activities carried out in the laboratory are focused in particular on the study of the effects that secondary metabolites produced by diatoms induce in planktonic organisms and in marine model organisms such as sea urchins. The laboratory is also equipped for the extraction and the first fractionation of bioactive compounds and for the study of their biological activity.

Experimental systems

• Rotating wheel for copepod rearing and experimentation.
• Thermostated chamber for microalgae cultivation and incubation of copepods in controlled conditions.
• Basic facility for microalgae cultivation.

Analysis

• Sorting, isolation and identification of live phytoplankton and zooplankton species from natural samples.
• Determination of ingestion and reproduction rates of marine organisms.
• Biological assays to test diatoms and their metabolites using copepods and sea urchins.
• Analysis of assay results by light microscopy.
• Culturing of microalgae in different media.
• Preparation of algal pellet by centrifugation.
• Extraction and first fractionation of secondary metabolites from algal pellets.
• Biochemical and colorimentric assay to study the metabolism of oxylipins in diatoms.

Equipments

• Chemical hood (total expulsion).
• Stereo-microscopes.
• Upright and inverted microscopes.
• Fluorescence microscope equipped with a PC and video camera.
• Benchtop refrigerated centrifuges.
• Rotavapor.
• Spectrophotometer.
• Sonicator.
• Ph meter.
• Oxygraph.
• Recirculating water bath.

The European Marine Biological Resource Centre 

In short: the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) is a Distributed Research Infrastructure providing services to support research on marine biological resources. Its end users are researchers and technological engineers from academia, universities, and from the private sector.

The European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) is a distributed Research Infrastructure (RI) composed of marine biological stations and institutes across the European Research Area (ERA). Teams of scientists in EMBRC engage in interdisciplinary research and technological development in marine biology and ecology. The RI is equipped with state-of-the-art research platforms and instruments organized into scientific services. External users from academia and industry can access this stimulating scientific ecosystem to pursue fundamental and applied research on marine bioresources. In particular, EMBRC aims to drive forward the development of blue biotechnologies.

The distributed nature of EMBRC enables it to provide access to the entire marine biodiversity along the European coast, far beyond what each station in isolation can offer. Each of the stations specializes in particular sets of model species, permitting EMBRC as a whole to offer a broad array of models for innovative scientific and technological applications. EMBRC gives its users unprecedented access not only to its interconnected research infrastructure but also to its background knowledge and expertise, thereby greatly facilitating the research endeavors of its external users. The integration of resources and knowledge on such a large scale over the decades to come will enhance the efficiency of training, knowledge transfer, international collaboration and EU global positioning in marine biological sciences. It will foster the development of key enabling technologies, in particular blue biotechnologies. Developments in these fields will, in their turn, stimulate blue growth, economic development and human wellbeing across the ERA. In conclusion, the RI will have an enormous potential in fostering research, education and innovation in marine biology. It will contribute to creation of excellence needed to achieve the goals established in the "Europe 2020 Strategy" and the "2010 ESFRI Roadmap".

EMBRC constitutes one of thirteen Research Infrastructures (RI) on the Biological and Medical Sciences (BMS) group and it forms a bridge towards the Environmental Sciences RIs.

EMBRC obtained three years funding from the European Commission to prepare itself. At the close of this preparatory phase, January 2014, an EMBRC Business Plan and a ready-to-sign Memorandum of Understanding was delivered, inviting countries to express their willingness to set up the EMBRC as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). The signatories, France, Norway, the UK, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Israel, established an EMBRC Implementation Board with the overarching tasks to set up EMBRC and apply for the ERIC status. The Board appointed a General Director, which has commenced her work for EMBRC. France was selected by the partners to host the statutory seat and therefore, the EMBRC core office is located at the UPMC in Paris. Each of the signatory countries has established a national node staffed by a node director and a liaison officer to guarantee optimal collaboration with the core office.

Central Core Office: UPMC, Paris, France
Executive Director: Nicolas Pade
Web: www.EMBRC.eu
Head Quarter secretariat: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Italian Node of the European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC-IT) was constituted on 05/10/2021 as a JRU (Joint Research Unit), including a total of 16 partners (SZN, CONISMA, CNR, OGS, CTN-BIG, IZSPLV, ENEA, ISPRA, UNITUS, UNICA, UNIFE, UNIME UNIMIB UNINA UNITO, UNIVPM) with SZN as its coordinator and representative institute in EMBRC-ERIC.

The Italian JRU was established according to the principles of complementarity and synergy of the partners regarding the development of new collaborative research projects and research services and in order to strengthen scientific research and foster human and infrastructure resources exchange in the field of blue growth.

The JRU agreement has set itself the following objectives:

Strategic Agenda

• Valorisation of the resources and skills of each of the Parties through their coordinated organization and best practices sharing;
• Coordination of national activities within EMBRC–ERIC and provide support to the MUR and other Ministries in organizing the Italian membership in EMBRC–ERIC and in defining strategic research agendas and roadmaps related to sustainable blue growth;
• Strengthening of Italian scientific research in the field of marine biology and promote training, scientific dissemination and communication in this area;
• Promotion of technology transfer and new relationships with national companies;
• Design and organization of pilot actions and projects, demonstrating the peculiarity and value of the Italian contribution to EMBRC–ERIC;
• Conduction of joint activities aimed at consolidating, strengthening and expanding the EMBRC-ERIC Research Infrastructure and its impact in terms of science and innovation, with particular attention to the spill overs at the national level, also by participating jointly or individually in funding programs of the Research.

Public-public and public-private collaborations

• Coordination of an up-to-date National Index of scientific services for the «blue» community
• National services catalogue opened to EU Projects and Transnational Accesses
• Single access point: marketing at national and EU level
• Support to efficient and coordinated technology transfer
• Shared management of orders via the Node capacity
• Improved opportunity for scientific interactions, co-authorship and for interdisciplinary collaborations
• Favourable access conditions for associate partner

Improved fundraising capacity

• HE: Participation in EU projects as individual members of EMBRC-IT that can involve the other members of the JRU and EMBRC-IT itself as Affiliated Entity
• PNRR (NextGenerationEU): Strengthening and improvement of operative units (OU) of EMBRC-IT partners
• H2020: Access to EU-IR grants
• PON 2007-2013: Action on «Potenziamento strutturale»
• POR 2014-20: Action on «access to H2020 EU projects»

EMBRC-IT Partners

• Stazione Zoologica di Napoli Anton Dohrn (SZN) – Italian Node Coordinator
• Cluster Tecnologico Nazionale “Blue Italian Growth”(CTN-BIG)
• Consorzio Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare (CoNISMa)
• Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS)
• Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale di Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta (IZSPLV)
• Università di Cagliari (UNICA)
• Università di Ferrara (UNIFE)
• Università di Messina (UNIME)
• Università di Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB)
• Università di Napoli Federico II (UNINA)
• Università di Torino (UNITO)
• Università della Tuscia (UNITUS)
• Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM)
• Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA)
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)
• Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile (ENEA)

Summary

EMBRC-IT will offer opportunities for the Italian marine research and technological development community at large because:
• The JRU supports and reinforces the cohesion of the Italian Marine Research Community,
• It fosters a higher visibility of this community at the National (MIUR) and International (EU) level,
• It links marine biological resources to innovation, supporting cooperation with universities, research organizations and industries
• It creates critical mass, capable to interact with, and advise, policy makers

The result of its common effort will be more than the sum of the capacity of each.

Contact information

Node Director: Donatella de Pascale
Liaison Officer: Pasquale De Luca
JRU Manager: Giorgio Maria Vingiani

Pezzotti Maria Rosaria

Pinto Maria Rosaria

Coordinator: Christophe Brunet

Activity

The laboratory of Biogeochemistry and Physiology of Plankton is a multidisciplinary laboratory that uses and develops different approaches dedicated to the study of biogeochemistry and physiology of marine phytoplankton. The laboratory covers research activities related to biological oceanography, biogeochemistry and ecophysiology of marine phytoplankton. Mostly, the laboratory BioFilP implements activities and techniques for the study of the responses of marine microalgae to environmental forcing, with the aim to understand the pelagic ecosystem functioning and the potential use of microalgae in "Blue Growth".

Experimental systems

• Room and cultivation system for microalgae, with development of different types of illumination systems suitable for microalgal growth.
• Pelagic mesocosms for in situ experiments.

Analysis

• Photosynthetic rate and regulation of photosynthesis in microalgae.
• Pigments of photosynthetic organisms.
• Bio-optics of water masses and microalgal cultures.
• Antioxidant activities in microalgae.
• Concentrations of macronutrients in the water masses and in microalgal cultures.
• Spectral light in the water masses.

Equipment

• HPLC analysis for pigments.
• PAMs: Dual-pam and PSI.
• Autoanalyzer for nutrient concentration analysis.
• Spectrophotometer.
• Spectroradiometer in situ probe.
• Bio-optical in situ probe (AC-9).
• Laminar flow hood.
• Room and cultivation system for microalgae.

Responsible: Maria Cristina Buia

Activities

The activities of this laboratory are characterized by the application of various and integrated approaches, classical and innovative, which are conducted in mesocosm/laboratory and in the field, to study the adaptive responses of benthic organisms (invertebrates and macrophytes), and their trophic interactions in relation with environmental factors and gradients, climate change and anthropogenic disturbances. The approaches used include the physiology of individual species, the structure of populations and the dynamics of benthic communities and coastal ecosystems, to identify early-warning signals/descriptors at different level of biological complexity, and finalized to a correct management and conservation of the coastal systems and their biodiversity.

Systems for laboratory experiments

• System for automatic culturing of model organisms.
• Thermostatic chambers for rearing and experiments of benthic organisms in axenic conditions.
• Tanks for maintenance and experimentation of benthic organisms in sea-water open systems.

Analysis

• Qualitative and quantitative analyses of benthic samples deriving mainly from hard and soft bottom vegetated habitats, and soft sediments within the continental shelf.
• Biometric and biomass analyses.
• Biological assays and test for bioactive substances.
• Sample preparation for elemental analyses, and for observation at the  scanning and transmission electron microscopy.
• Measurements of environmental variables (Temp., pH, irradiance, dissolved oxygen).
• Measurements of photosynthetic efficiency in macrophytes.

Instrumentation

• Stereomicroscopes, optical microscopes, inverted optical microscope.
• Freezer at -20 °C and refrigerators +4 °C.
• Laminar flow flume and chemical flume.
• Thermostatic cells and chambers.
• Autoclave, ovens, muffle.
• Filtration system.
• Spectophotometer.
• Analytical and technical balance, microbalance.
• Deionizer.
• Liofilizer (deep-dryer).
• Laboratory oxymeter and pH-meter, portable pH-meter.

For scientific underwater use and diving:

• Cameras and video-cameras with underwater dedicated casts.
• Diving-PAM, pH-meters, quantameter, multi-parametric probes.
• Grabs, dredges, corers for sediment and benthos, air-lift sampler, hand-towed net and plankton nets.

Responsible: Raffaella Casotti

Activities

The laboratory of Microbial Ecology carries on research on marine microorganisms (mainly diatoms and autotrophic/heterotrophic picoplankton) studying their diversity, activity and metabolic functions as well as their interactions with the environment, both physical-chemical and biological. The activities are held mainly by direct methods, that is, independent from cultivation, but monospecific cultures are also used to test specific hypotheses or further characterize microorganisms. The fields of activity cover the biological oceanography, ecophysiology and marine ecology in general.
The laboratory also implements the technical and instrumental approaches for the study of microorganisms, mainly as regards the use of flow cytometry for the monitoring of marine plankton and for the development of early warning systems for biological environmental risk.

Experimental systems

• Thermostated cabinets for growing microalgae and bacteria under controlled light and temperature conditions.
• Tanks for experiments on board ships or outdoors for incubations and manipulations of natural plankton communities.

Analysis

• Counts and measurements of optical parameters (scatter and fluorescence) on cells and unicellular organisms by flow cytometry and epifluorescence microscopy.
• Estimates of growth rates and grazing of picoplankton.
• In situ hybridization with oligonucleotide probes for the characterization of bacterial communities.
• Estimates of DNA content of algae and cell lines by flow cytometry (including dynamics of the cell cycle).
• DNA and RNA extraction for metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.
• Analysis of cellular concentrations of picophytoplankton with scanning flow cytometers at high frequency in both laboratory and on board boats.
• Analysis of concentrations and cellular properties of marine bacteria with prototype automatic coloring module.

Instrumentation

• Conventional flow cytometry.
• Scanning flow cytometer with automated sampling module.
• Laminar flow hood.
• Thermostated cabinets for algal and bacterial cultures.
• Epifluorescence microscope with camera.
• Basic instrumentation for laboratory (centrifuges, thermostated baths, pHmeter, filtration rigs, sonicators, refrigerators and freezers).