Research
Institute of Life Sciences
The scientific mission of the Institute of Life Sciences covers two macro-areas:
- Agricultural Sciences and Plant Biotechnology
- Biomedical Sciences
Our aim is to provide a multifaceted and challenging scientific environment to a broad spectrum of students: undergraduates, postgraduates and PhD. Courses and research activities span from classical and molecular human and plant biology to preclinical and clinical sciences, plant biotechnology, food quality and nutraceutics, agroecology and agrobiodiversity, and novel sustainable agricultural systems. Strong emphasis is placed on technological innovation.
Lecturers have strong scientific expertise often acquired in a multidisciplinary international environment.
Research carried out in the macro-area Agricultural Sciences and plant Biotechnology addresses two main domains: plant sciences and agronomy, with a focus on various aspects of plant biology, food and energy crops, agrobiodiversity, and agroecosystem management.
Research carried out in the macro-area of Biomedical Sciences addresses the physiology and pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system, the development of new diagnostic techniques, and the application of nanotechnology to medicine.
Researchers of University of Pisa, Sant’Anna School Life Sciences Institute and University of Oxford discovered an enzymatic oxygen sensor in humans that is functionally identical to plant cysteine oxidases, the enzymes that control responses to hypoxia in plants. The study in Science journal
Roberto Buizza is the coordinator of the Sant’Anna School, Scuola Normale Superiore and Scuola IUSS Pavia joint initiative addressing climate change: “No more fake news on climate change. Humans are causing global warming” is part of the text of an open letter to the italian republic president and ministers
The paper published in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry journal titled The Effect of saline irrigation on physiological traits, fatty acid composition and desaturase genes expression in olive fruit mesocarp, is co-authored by Samuele Moretti, Alessandra Francini, Luca Sebastiani, Luisa Hernández and José M.Martínez-Rivas from the Instituto de la Grasa (CSIC) – Seville. Click here to download the paper
