The research group has an extensive experience in the study of molecular mechanisms that regulate the adaptation to changing environmental conditions of lichenic microalgae and vascular plants and their biotechnological application. This type of studies has been developed in different research lines:
a) Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of the response of lichenic microalgae to extreme conditions such as salinity, drainage and radiation.
b) Biotechnology of lichenic microalgae: transformation and obtaining natural products.
c) Characterisation of polyamine metabolism in the stress response of Arabidopsis thaliana. By means of transgenic manipulation, the polyamines (PAs) biosynthesis process has been manipulated, resulting in the obtaining of different plant lines with altered levels of putrescine, spermidine and/or spermine, which have been characterised at different levels, including metabolomic and transcriptomic studies. Most of the lines generated, plants with high levels of one or more PAs, show resistance to different environmental and biotic stresses.
d) Regulation of transcriptional programmes by DELLA and prefoldin proteins. These proteins act as transcriptional regulators whose accumulation depends on environmental conditions and which modulate the execution of multiple developmental programmes and stress responses by modifying the activity of transcription factors with which they physically interact.
Both the increase in competition between companies due to the globalisation of markets, as well as the greater information available to consumers today thanks to the rise of new technologies, make it necessary to focus on providing added value to the commercial offer. However, if this added value is not differentiated by a well-positioned brand, its power will be weakened, with the end result being defeat. What is not known, does not exist; and what does not exist, is not consumed.
OTHER INFORMATION OF INTEREST:
The research group has been nourished by funds obtained in public tenders (Consellería de Empresa, Universidad y Ciencia de la Generalitat Valenciana and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad.), investigating how to add value and build brand using tools such as new technologies, product packaging or the figure of the salesperson/marketer.
The group publishes every year in high impact scientific journals and regularly attends national and international congresses to share its findings. It has a total of X six-year research awards.
Likewise, several doctoral theses have been directed in this field, delving into aspects such as: brand transfer from a sponsored event to the sponsoring brand; the construction of brand capital in public and private higher education institutions; and the development of sustainable mega events as a marketing strategy to strengthen the brand-city.
We have also worked with companies, periodically signing collaboration agreements to investigate aspects such as the choice of the best brand positioning for a food distribution chain, or the study of the viability of an umbrella brand in the Valencian fashion industry.
The determination of mycotoxins present in food and knowledge of their intake and toxicity are the basis for assessing the risk associated with the consumption of contaminated food and providing data for the protection of the consumer’s health.
The COAL research group focuses its research on the analysis of mycotoxins in food, study of in vitro and in vivo toxicity, factors that influence intestinal bio-accessibility and decontamination procedures in order to assess risk. The COAL group also develops bioactive ingredients/products of natural origin to reduce the growth of mycotoxin-producing fungi in food for possible application both in the field and during the preservation of different agri-food products.
The COAL research group participates in several competitive research projects, the common points being the development of methodologies based on natural ingredients for the reduction of the growth of fungi in food and feed:
- "Integrated and innovative key actions for mycotoxin management in the food and feed chain (Mycokey) (GA 678781)". European project funded by the H2020 program based on the development of growth reduction methodologies of mycotoxin-producing fungi in maize, barley and wheat stored in silos.
- "Smart and innovative packaging, postharvest rot management and shipping of organic citrus fruit (BiOrangePack)". Project funded by the European program PRIMA-H2020 with the aim of developing an innovative packaging based on cellulose recovered from the waste of the citrus juice production industry (mainly from the albedo) containing a bioactive ingredient fermented by BALs, capable of reducing the growth of the contaminating fungal microflora of fruits throughout transport and storage.
- "Enhancing Research and Innovation Capacity of Tubitak MAM Food Institute on Managment of Mycotoxigenic Fungi and Mycotoxins (MycoTWIN)". Project funded by the H2020 where our research group will organize different activities related to the dissemination of knowledge of the most effective techniques for the control of mycotoxins present in food, including workshops, round-table conferences, info days, training school, etc.
- "Bio-preservation of tin loaf with fermented whey against mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi. Safety of use in the presence of carotenoids. (SAFEBIOBREAD) (PID2019-108070RB-100)'. Project funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness is based on the isolation of new strains of lactic acid bacteria (BALs) from the sweet whey of goat's milk liquid, its characterization of the potential antifungal, identification and quantification of the molecules that give rise to the activity object of the study, and its potential application as a bioactive ingredient in the preservation of tin bread. Another aspect of the project will be to study the beneficial effects of bioactive compounds produced by lactic acid bacteria throughout fermentation, both through in vitro tests with cell cultures and animal models.
The COAL group collaborates with different national and international companies on the development of ingredients / products to reduce the growth of mycotoxin-producing fungi both in the field and in storage.
The results of the research activity of the group have attracted a wide interest for the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and has resulted in the publication in international journals of high impact index as Food Chemistry, Food Chemical & Toxicology, Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry, Food Control, Food Additives & Contaminants, Journal of Chromatography, Toxicon, Toxicology Letters, etc. It also collaborates with prestigious national and European groups in the scientific and technical field.
Our fundamental interest is to understand how cells respond to the signals they receive by modifying their gene expression. Our aim is to address changes in gene expression by studying its different stages, from the transcriptional activation of genes to the formation of messenger RNA molecules and their translation, paying attention not only to the factors involved and the mechanisms, but also to the connection or crosstalk that is established between them and makes gene expression not a linear process but one that is interconnected forwards and backwards, in time and space.
In addition, we pay special attention to some factors that appear to be key in the control of gene expression and that often act in a multidisciplinary way in several biological processes and different cellular compartments. One such factor is the eIF5A protein, highly conserved from yeast to humans and essential in eukaryotic cells. eIF5A is a translation elongation factor required in the synthesis of proteins containing amino acid motifs with consecutive proline or combinations of proline, glycine and charged amino acids.
Our interest is to understand the mechanism of translation regulation by eIF5A, determining which are the proteins whose synthesis requires this factor and how, directly or through its targets, eIF5A acts in pathological processes such as fibrosis, cancer or during ageing. In our group, we mainly use the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism, since it is the best known eukaryote and a model for understanding evolutionarily conserved molecular processes at the cellular level. Furthermore, we have found that the conclusions of our research can be generalised to mammalian cells using mouse or human cell cultures.
This group has a recognised prestige for the numerous quality works it has carried out in inland aquatic ecosystems and for the new researchers that have been trained. The following are some of the basic and applied research topics carried out by this group.
Basic research in:
- Specific richness and dynamics of populations and communities of aquatic organisms: bacteria, phytoplankton, periphyton, zooplankton, acoto- and zoo-benthos and fish, and their controlling factors.
- Dynamics and functioning of aquatic ecosystems: biogeochemical cycles, productivity, microbial processes.
- Study of aquatic food webs, their structure, key species and vulnerability to global change.
- Community coupling: mechanisms and rules.
- Biogeochemistry of carbon in aquatic ecosystems, GHGs and climate change.
- Molecular ecology.
- Paleolimnology and global change.
- Polar zone limnology.
- Pancrustacean genomics.
- Ecotoxicology.
- Remote-sensing.
Applied research in:
- Aquatic pollution and eutrophication processes.
- Physico-chemical and microbiological water quality.
- Characterisation of aquatic ecosystems.
- Monitoring and assessment of the environmental and conservation status of aquactic ecosystems.
- Management and restoration of aquatic ecosystems.
- Assessment of the response of aquatic ecosystems to global changes, including chemical pollution.
- Ecosystem management applied to climate change mitigation.
- Water purification and naturalisation in artificial wetlands.
- Bioremediation.
- Alien invasive species in inland waters.
- Remote-sensing as a tool for the study of environmental quality and ecological status of inland waters.
Since its creation in 1988, our research group has introduced new concepts of calibration, exactitude and quality of analytic results, multiresidue analysis, solid phase extraction, conventional, multidimensional and capillary liquid chromatography, nanochromatography and on-site analytic devices. In the developed analytic systems, the sample, separation and detection manipulation are integrated in a single tool.
The research expects to meet the current demand for fast, cost-effective and clean analytic procedures. Strategies implementing new nanomaterials are currently being developed. Both instrumental and analytic objectives are being pursued (type of necessary information, sample characteristics, present type of analytes and concentration, detection-originating species, chirality). The resolution of several analytic problems was addressed in different research areas, mainly for environment, health, diet, drug addiction and industry. This work was developed in the framework of various research projects financed by public bodies and it could count on the contribution of researchers from other universities and research centres.
The carried out work was reflected on publications included in magazines of international renown, in congresses, theses and both undergraduate and master’s degree final projects. It also enabled the establishment of activities centred in the transmission of knowledge with companies, public bodies and research centres.
The REDOLi group seeks to improve society through research in the fields of recognition, sustainability and innovation. The REDOLi group develops its research in the fields of recognition, sustainability and innovation. Its lines of work include:
- Development of molecules and nanomaterials to modulate the activity of proteins, in particular the enzymes polyphenol oxidase and lipase/pancreatin.
- Development of molecules and nanomaterials for sensors.
- Development of strategies for more sustainable processes and products, in particular in agriculture and the chemical, materials and food industries.
- Dissemination of current aspects of bioeconomy, circular economy, climate change and life cycle analysis.
- Support to companies in innovation processes, identification of knowledge, transformation of knowledge into products, development of protection strategies and projects.
