Rapid identification of organisms: form research to industrial applications.

Presentation and Programme of the event

The development of Biodiversity Informatics and molecular biology produced the creation of new, reliable and versatile tools -interactive and/or molecular - for the identification of organisms. The EU project KeyToNature, T&B e Associati Srl and the Consortium FRIEND Europe (European Enterprise Network) are organizing a Technology Transfer event regarding new tools for the identification of organisms supporting the industry sector. During the event, some industrial application are going to be presented, with particular attention to Decision Support System applications for the field of forest-agriculture, environment, food, health system and customs control and safety.

Introduction and thematic areas

All known species have unique scientific names; a necessity for meaningful communication in science and society. In many scenarios, a name for the organism under scrutiny must first be identified. Species identification underpins ongoing scientific research. Reliable identification is also important in e.g. health care, agriculture, nature conservation, border control and represents a considerable economic value. Identification involves the comparison between an object with reference descriptions (e. g., text, illustrations, sound, or data such as molecular). For certain data types new approaches allow automated comparisons, e. g. the DNA ‘barcoding’ approach.

Traditional textual keys with fixed sequence of choices are often hard to use. Users dealing with a potentially wide range of organisms need a library of keys, and a network of specialists to consult. To improve this, computer-aided keys were introduced. Today over 100 identification software packages exist; most of which specifically deal with the identification of a certain species group, and can only be used or improved by the developer themselves. Identification of organisms is important to many layers of our society. In the science domain this concerns for example species inventories (establishing the biodiversity-value of a region), bio-monitoring activities (detecting changes in vulnerable ecosystems or invasive species, early extinction warnings), or in ecological studies.

The quick and reliable identification of organisms is essential in health care (pathogens), agriculture (pests) and fisheries (infections in maricultures). Custom officers identify species to properly enforce import and export laws. In nature conservation, identification is part of monitoring the effectiveness of strategies, for compiling species inventories (establishing the biodiversity-value of a region), for bio-monitoring activities (detecting changes in vulnerable ecosystems or invasive species, for determine the degree of biodiversity protection for an area subject to Environmental impact assessment.

The talks given by the scientist representing the research community are aimed at:

• Showcasing the best available technologies where competencies and skills are robust and able to offer a wide array of applications, that considering the world-wide situation appears a valuable opportunity for leveraging further industrial investments.
• Presenting several innovative technologies developed in the research sectors, enabling the user to underpin several applications while stimulating the creativity of the entrepreneurial community for identifying new market applications.
• Propose products, services and research results at prototype level that require a further process of industrialization to reach a fully commercial product.

The event will contribute to build pathways between industry and academia.

Targeted audience

The participation is open to enterprises, universities, research centers and public administrations that offer and require innovative and advanced technologies for the identification of organisms, for monitoring the environment and alien species or for detecting micro fungi and parasites across the total food chain.

The primary target groups of the event are:

• Farming and agro-food industries and consortia, including fish farmers and mariculture operators.
• Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical enterprises, health institutes and professionals.
• Environmental enterprises, experts and authorities including the veterinary public health institutes,
• Ports and Customs operators’ and officers in charge of the management of the import/export traffic and the application of legislation regarding the alien species traffic.
• Forest-based related industries and services, parks managing authorities, urban and environmental planning authorities and experts.
• Enterprises providing quality assurance and certification services and systems.

Agenda

Morning session:

• 9:00 - 9:30 Registration
• 9:30 - 9:40 Welcome nd introduction to Enterprise Europe Network services

(Dr. Lara Dipace, AREA Science Park)

• 9:40 - 10:10 The new interactive identification tools:applications in environmental and restoration field.

Prof. Pier Luigi Nimis – KeyToNature Co-ordinator, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Dipartimento di Scienze dellla Vita

• 10:10 – 10:30 Decision and support systems: from tools for Identifying components in milk powders to identification of bird feather remains found in crashed airplane engines.

Dr. Peter Schalk, ETI Bioinformatics

• 10:30 – 10:50 Identification of fungi contaminating food products and indoor environment.

Dr. Giovanna Cristina Varese, Università degli Studi di Torino, Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale

• 10:50 - 11:10 Pathogenic fungi affecting crop cultures: an example of interactive guide to rice fungi.

Prof. Anna Maria Picco / Dr. Marinella Rodolfi, Università di Pavia, Dipartimento di Ecologia del Territorio e degli Ambienti Terrestri

• 11:10 – 11:30 Cofee Break
• 11:30 – 11:50 Fungi growing on keratin: an interactive key for their identification.

Maria Guglielminetti, Università di Pavia, Dipartimento di Ecologia del Territorio e degli Ambienti Terrestri

• 11:50 – 12:10 Distinction between the Arabic and Roboustas cooffee blends, cultivar identification and biological traceability.

Prof. Giorgio Graziosi, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Dipartimento di Scienze dellla Vita

• 12:10 - 12:30 The DNA barcoding in the distinction of animal and plants species.

Dr. Massimo Labra / Dr. Maurizio Casiraghi, Università di Milano Bicocca, Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Bioscienze

• 12:30 - 12:40 Development of microarrays for biological, environmental and agro-food systems

Dr. Anna Meneghello, Coordinamento Interuniversitario Veneto per le Nanotecnologie - CIVEN

• 12:40- 12:50 Opportunities to support technology transfer actions in the Friuli, Venezia Giulia Region.

Dr. Adriano Savoini, T&B e Associati srl

• 12:50 - 13:10 Discussion

• 13:10 Lunch Break

Afternoon session:

• 14:00 - 17:00 Bilateral meetings (on demand).

During the bilateral meetings the participants will have the opportunity to discuss, exchange information and present their technological profiles verifying the potential for future collaboration or for building joint cooperation and/or technology transfer actions to be carried out at national and international level, such as license agreements, development of joint ventures, commercial, manufacturing or technical assistance agreements, or any other agreement aimed at producing or carrying out further research in the targeted fields.

Download the Presentation and Programme of the event:

http://www.keytonature.eu/w/media/0/0d/KeyToNature_Tech_Transfer_Day_11_Giu_2009_A4_folded_(IT)_rev.pdf

Cost

• The participation is free of charge.
• The pre-registration is highly recommended, please send an email to [infodesk@tbassociati.it].

Contacts and information

• Dr Adriano Savoini, savoini@tbassociati.it , Tel: +390403755780
• Mr Nicola Dorigo Salamon, dorigo@tbassociati.it, Tel: +390403755780

How to get to the Campus

• Address: AREA Science Park, Congress Centre, Building C, Padriciano 99, Trieste

By car

• From Venice take the A4 motorway and exit at the Trieste – Lisert junction (toll gate), continue along the feeder road until you come to the Padriciano – Research Area exit.
• From Udine and Austria take the A23 motorway until Palmanova, continue along the A4 motorway and exit at the Trieste – Lisert junction (toll gate), continuing along the feeder road until you come to the Padriciano – Research Area exit.
• From Ljubljana (Slovenia) after the international Fernetti pass, take the motorway feeder road in the direction of Trieste until you come to the Padriciano – Research Area exit

By air

• From Ronchi dei Legionari airport - Trieste (40 km)
• From Tessera airport - Venice (135 km)
• From Brnik airport - Ljubljana (100 km)

• By train : Trieste Central station (Stazione Centrale)

By public transport

• Bus lines 39 and 51 depart from the centre of Trieste and terminate in Padriciano and Basovizza. Time table and route information

If you require a taxi, contact:

• Radiotaxi: tel.040 - 307730
• Taxi Alabarda: tel. 040-390039