Research

Studies at the interface between organism and environment

Making use of in vitro models of the gill and the intestinal epithelia we want to understand how fish respond to environmental and man-made stressors. 

Such in vitro models allow a mechanistic approach to tackle physiology and toxicology questions.

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Research Interests

Essential Trace Elements Homeostasis

Essential metals, like for example Copper, Zinc and Iron, are necessary for all living organisms to thrive.  The interaction between metals and living organisms is at the very base of the origin of life on our planet. It is intriguing that protein domains involved in the homeostasis of essential metals, used by the cell as structural or catalytic cofactors of proteins, are highly conserved from bacteria to humans. Several proteins are involved in the tight regulation of intracellular metal concentration and distribution that is defined as metal homeostasis. The study of this sophisticated machinery at the molecular level will ultimately help us understand how organisms acclimate and adapt to multiple environmental stressors including metals.

 

 

Schematic rappresentation of the Intracellular pathways of copper distribution

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Environmental Biomonitoring

Environmental bio-monitoring using primary fish gill cell culture system (FIGCS). When grown on transwells, primary gill cells develop a polarized tight epithelia that tollerate direct exposure with unfiltered river water. Therfore FIGCS represents an ideal system to determine the bioavailability of water pollutants.

A: FIGCS are prepared seeding primary cells onto permeable membranes (transwells); B: FIGCS are exposed directly on site to river water, C: Water chemistry parameter are collected and FIGCS are transported back to the laboratory for transcriptional analyses. Minghetti et al., 2014 Aquat. Toxicol.

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Nanotoxicology

Understaning nanoparticle-cell interactions is key in order to address mechanisms of toxicity of nanoparticles. In vitro models of epithelial barriers will be instrumental in understanding exposure scenarios and effects of nanoparticles at the cellular and molecular level.

Image of fluorescently labelled TiO2-NP aggregates on RTgutGC cells.

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Fish Physiology and Nutrition

• Fish and amphibian larvae can absorb essential trace metals from two routes of exposure from the water via the gill and from the diet via the gut.
• Interplay between macro- and micro- elements homeostasis.
• Interplay between essential trace elements and lipid metabolism.